Another Broken Egg Cafe — Restaurant in Huntsville

I love Another Broken Egg in Madison. I know it's a chain, but it is my favorite brunch place. I live on the other side of town, so I always pick it for a treat. Like a girlfriend catch up.

This Sunday, we went there for my wedding anniversary. I genuinely do love the food. They usually have great seasonal specialties that make me drool (pumpkin waffles? Run butter?). However, I really love how easy it is to accommodate different diet restrictions here. I think that would be true of most breakfast places, but do they have the atmosphere to match?

My friend loves the vegetarian omelet. Another friend lives the goat cheese. One always gets the Salmon Benedict. Once they had cinnamon roll french toast! My girlfriends always get the beignets with orange marmalade. Mom loved those too! My husband can't stray from the classic Belgium waffle. Even if I just go with my girlfriends, he always requests I order him one to-go.

I'm keto, myself. So it's nice to go to a place with good food and a nice atmosphere where I don't have to highly customize my order.

My personal favorite is the baquizo omelet. It's a bacon omelette with cream cheese topped with chorizo and jack cheese. Honestly though, I find the cream cheese to be off so I just ask for more jack in its place. I get the side of fruit but ask for all strawberries. I love strawberries. It's by default a mix of fruits, but they let me get just strawberries and I love them for that. The default accompaniment is an English muffin but you can request a biscuit instead. I usually ask for a biscuit with orange marmalade instead and give that to my bestie.

I don't do cocktails or coffee myself, but my friends always do and always seem pleased. Especially in fall when the cidars come out. I do love how they have seasonal dishes and new things available.

Also, their mugs are adorable. I love that they stamp them with the location. I do prefer the Huntsville location's mug because it has a little rocket next to it, but the Madison location has a far better atmosphere. I only gave it 4 stars on atmosphere because I do find the tables to be very close together. On Sundays when you have families getting together after church, there can be a lot of boisterous people and chatter, so I do wish I wasn't back to back with the next table over.

That said, I could have asked for any restaurant I wanted for our anniversary and I asked for brunch here. Thankfully, we got there early before the big after-church rush so we did get to have some quieter time before the rush.

They do not take reservations, but they do accommodate call ahead seating. I recommend using this. I would never try to just show up here. There is always a wait for brunch. It's hoppin. So we call ahead and ask how long the wait is and get on the wait-list before we even leave the house.

If you do find yourself with a long wait, you can mosey over to Piper and Leaf (a door or two over) for a cup of local artisan tea to enjoy...

Double disappointment.

Had the Supreme Omelette with a side of "fresh country potatoes," an English muffin, and extra side of bacon, and iced tea. It was 9 or so on a Sunday morning, and the restaurant was perhaps half full, with no wait. It was from 5-10 minutes after being seated before my server came to take my drink order and greet me. When I returned a "how are you," there came back an odd, loud sort of pronouncement that she was fine, and thanks for asking, and it really meant a lot to her for asking. (???) Not sure what that was, but it was odd.

It was nice to see the manager come through while I was waiting on my tea, and stopping to speak to all the tables and ask about their needs. I didn't have anything yet, so he didn't stop at my table.

I was brought complimentary beignets just after my drink, and was disappointed to find them a) hard, b) undercooked, c) not fresh, and d) buried in drifts of confectioner's sugar. Feeling conspicuous because they were given me, I tried to cut one and eat it. Doing so covered me in the sugar. I've never had beignets that weren't hot before, so maybe this is normal for old & cold.

My breakfast came right away, and I was very disappointed to find the potatoes just chipped potatoes deep-fried. I'm from country people, and no one I know deep fries potatoes for breakfast. They are often skillet fried, but that is a whole different dish. Deep frying chipped potatoes is an expedience, to save time from dealing with hash browns or other demanding short orders, and are papery and unpalatable.

My omelette tasted fine, but was actually a frittata, having been browned thorougly and apparently cooked on a grill and not in any omelette pan. The difference is consderable, as eggs run out on a grill and have no puff or lightness which is the whole "trick" of omelette making. Additionally, browning omelettes toughens the eggs.

The side of bacon was perfect. The four pieces were $5.99, so an expensive splurge.

The english muffin was split but inexplicably not toasted at all, as blanched as an embarrassed debutante It was also served without any butter. (???) I would have asked for another had my waitress returned to check on the food before I finished my entire omelette, but she didn't. When she did appear, I asked for my check and mentioned the untoasted muffin, and she did offer to get another then, but it was too late with my meal eaten already.

When she brought the ticket, she brought a toasted muffin to go, which seemed almost retribution for not liking the blanched one, as I had already said I didn't want it.

There were lots of fancy things on the menu, some of them surely good, but I have no confidence now after bad potatoes and toast, and an omelette that wasn't.

EDIT: I appreciate the restaurant's reply. A management that cares is...

Took my family here today for the highly advertised Veteran’s Day “free Patriotic French Toast breakfast combo with coffee.” After waiting ~1 hour+ for a table (the usual), I received an apology from the waitress that they had run out of the special earlier…and instead “all they could give me was a 10% discount.” Thinking, ok, kind of a bummer that the discount wouldn’t even cover the cost of a small meal, but still appreciated.

Honestly, the food was pretty good and the waitress did a great job despite being very busy, so other than the “bait and switch discount,” I was overall pretty happy until wait for it…when the bill came I was again surprised when the “discount” to my bill was only $1.80. When I asked the waitress she again apologized saying the 10% discount was only to my meal. Guess it covered some of…a cup of coffee??

To be clear, I’m not someone that expects or is looking for a handout, but the reason I came to Another Broken Egg on this occasion was purely due to the advertising on multiple sites for this special meal. I also get that times are tough these days and there were limited quantities. But bottom line, I DO think these things need to be clearly stated and businesses need to honor the intent of their advertisements. A lot of places offer discounts on Veteran’s Day and myself, as well as other vets chose this establishment only to find out there really wasn’t much of a discount at all.

So to all the other Veterans out there that went to ABE for this meal, only to find out they were paying full price for their/ family’s meals, I would like to apologize on ABE’s behalf for their poor planning and lack of consideration. And kudos to ABE for the generous amounts of extra business that was generated on a Friday as a result of your limited quantity, advertised deal.

Finally, I would like to thank ABE for the $1.80 off my bill, and let you know that I really appreciated the nice, hard-working waitress that apologized on your behalf.

Sincerely, a previous semi-frequent customer and 21-year veteran that will not be returning to your, or any other Another Broken Egg establishment on Veteran’s or...