Keke's Breakfast Cafe — Restaurant in Lady Lake

A friend of mine highly recommended Keke's Breakfast Cafe in the Villages. Today was the first visit for my granddaughter & I. We were greeted by the most delightful staff & our waitress, Rachel, was amazing. She had a bubbly personality & she was so pleasant & attentive to both of us. She is definitely a "5 Star" in my book.

Sadly, however, from the moment our order was turned into the kitchen, that is where it all went south. My granddaughter ordered toast & I ordered a Belgium Waffle & Bacon medium. The food arrived at the table & at first by all appearance, all seemed well. The granddaughter began putting the grape jelly on her toast & with the first bite, a big smile spread across her face.

But the was not the case for my Belgium Waffle & my Bacon. The Bacon which I had asked to be medium was so far beyond crunchy that it was brittle. As for the Belgium Waffle, the inside was not done. Therefore, with butter & syrup, it was a soggy hot mess.

I asked for the waffle to be cooked until the outside, (meaning the top & bottom) was crunchy. The first one that came out softer than the first. The third one which arrived at the table, the outer edge which runs out of the Belgium Waffle maker was crunchy but nothing else. It was not much better than the first & I only ate 1/4 of that waffle as well as the first.

Maybe my Belgium Waffle maker at my home is a different brand, but I can cook a Belgium Waffle with the outside top & bottom of the waffle crunchy, while the inside is still cakey.

I next sent the bacon back as well. You could press down on a piece of bacon on the plate, with one finger, & it would break apart into many pieces. The first time the bacon returned to the table it was evident the cook was not pleased that it had been returned to the kitchen. Looking at the plate of bacon you could readily see that the four slices weren't even cooked to what I would consider an edible level. The third time the bacon arrived at the table it was exactly as bacon should be prepared & which I had ordered.

Rachel saw that I didn't eat any more of the Belgium Waffle than the first & asked if I wanted her to speak to the manager, which I replied that I was very pleased with all she done for us but there was no need to speak to the manager. I was going to pay for the meal because I believe having the Belgium Waffle comped or even the meal comped, would not satisfy me. I truly feel that all written reviews are read, which means this review will carry more weight than one comped meal.

The restaurant is bright & cheery. The staff outside the kitchen were all very pleasant & this truly makes for an enjoyable environment. However, for those who are in the back, in the kitchen (cooks), I can't say that I am impressed. I cannot speak to their love of cooking, I can only state that I was not impressed in the least with the meal that was delivered to my table, which is a direct reflection of...

We just ordered to-go breakfast from here. My husband ordered the cheese steak omelet, and I ordered the pancake combo with the granola crunch pancakes. First impression: the food was somehow still warm, despite the restaurant being very busy when my husband picked up the food and it taking him a while to get back home! Awesome! Second impression: the pancakes were massive!! I was seriously blown away. lol I’ve been to a lot of breakfast places and have never seen pancakes so huge. I ordered 2, but I should have only gotten one, because WOW. Third impression: so much bacon! Most places only give you 2 or 3 slices with breakfast combos. I think I got 4 or 5! Wonderful first impressions. :) However, the pancakes were supposed to have granola and bananas on top, and they only had granola. I paid extra for the “granola crunch” upgrade for my combo, so I was really disappointed. The pancakes were fluffy and flavored well. They tasted fine, but they probably would have been amazing with the banana. The granola was no longer crunchy (which was ok, since we ordered to-go, and they gave me extra granola on the side without us asking!), so it was almost like an oatmeal pancake. My “over medium” eggs were a little over cooked. I love my yolk runny, but it was mostly cooked through. And the bacon was quality bacon—not the thin cheap stuff—but I think the bacon at First Watch is wayyyyy better. You get less at First Watch, but it’s super thick and a little sweet. The bacon here is good, but nothing to write home about, in my opinion. But again, you get a good amount of it, so if you like salty, semi thick bacon, it’s perfect! I wasn’t blown away by the taste of the food, but I would definitely love to eat in some time to get the full experience—including bananas on my granola crunch pancakes. lol (Oh, and my husband liked...

FIVE STARS for our server, Shauna. If I could give this restaurant less than one star overall, I would. When we ordered, she let us know the fryers were not working and couldn’t get fries or onion rings. I ordered a sandwich to eat with a side salad, then asked the server to please bring it out first. She told me ‘no problem’ and went to the kitchen. She came out a few minutes later and told me that her manager said I couldn’t have the salad before my meal because they ‘don’t do appetizers’ and I would have to eat it with my food. She offered to get me a manager, but from being in the service industry for so many years, I didn’t want to be confrontational or get her in trouble. She was visibly upset about having to come out to tell me and was trying to overcompensate for her manager. I let her know it’s not her fault and I’ll just eat the salad with my food. When the salad came out, not only was it the wrong salad, but the lettuce was so wilted and brown that I didn’t eat but half after picking out the bad pieces. The server was so nice and offered to swap it out but I let her know it wasn’t a big deal since I had already mixed my dressing in. So I let my food get cold while I ate my salad. I wasn’t expecting for anything free, but it would be good customer service to at least take the salad off the bill considering everything. When she brought out the bill, $2.80 was taken off the salad that was $5.47. How much trouble is this restaurant in that they can’t fix their fryers or take care of their customers? A manager never came out either. He just hid in the back and had his server do his bidding. I will never be back and will be letting everyone I know that this restaurant...