The Roost — Restaurant in Lawrence

I was very disappointed with my most recent experiences here. A friend and I experienced a long wait for a table, even though we were assured we were the next in line, there were several empty tables available. The menu needs updates, as it hasn't been updated since they opened. If you want to substitute anything, there is nearly always an upcharge. The "breakfast" potatoes are inedible, they are dredged in rosemary and taste medicinal. If you ask to have them without rosemary or extra crispy, they say they "can't do that because we bake them in the oven and they are already made." If that is the case, they should also make plain ones for people who don't want medicinal potatoes for breakfast. Also, I don't understand how you can have a griddle to cook bacon, eggs, pancakes, etc., but cannot throw the potatoes on there to make them crispy. Any novice chef knows this. When we asked if we could substitute our inedible potatoes for something else, there was another upcharge for anything similarly filling (unless you think a slice of avocado or tomato equals a large amount of potatoes). The owner came to our table to inquire into why we were unhappy with our meal, then proceeded to act like everything we discussed was a personal attack upon herself. She offended my friend who is a very kind and upstanding member of our community. It was embarrassing and completely uncalled for to have the owner of a restaurant overtly argue with a customer and refuse to make any changes to the menu or even listen to suggestions, responding instead like we were insulting her, and then walking away without offering to take off the charges of the items we didn't eat, nor make any attempt to correct the situation. The owner made a fool of herself arguing with my friend in front of other customers, and we will never come back to this establishment. Terrible experience....

This is the worst breakfast I have ever had... I rarely complain if I go out to eat, as I know it isn't the server's fault and I don't wish to inconvenience them or cause a commotion and more problems but the food was unacceptable. I went with my boyfriend and some of his family today and we had a smorgasbord of issues. My food was over-seasoned and the potatoes were overcooked and mushy as could be. My boyfriend was complaining about his potatoes too and I tried a bite and his were actually under-cooked instead. The coffee was good, but that was about all that was... The gravy for his family's biscuits and gravy was awful and described by them as "dog quality". We were disappointed all around but with how busy it gets and that we waited an hour to be seated we wanted to try and salvage the trip so we ordered dessert and crossed our fingers. We got three different slices of cake to try, and all of them were dry... The flavor was alright though. Overall, I will not be giving this place a second go and I feel gassy and bloated from eating there. I saw almost all good reviews and though I have never seen the need to write any reviews before I thought people should know there is a chance this place may not live up...

We visited on Sunday July 13 and it was busy but we were willing to wait 45 minutes since reviews were so good. To the good first, cute place, good location, good table service. Now to the not so good. I ordered the Smoke Salmon eggs Benny. The salmon was so salty I couldn't finish it, the egg white on my poached eggs were still watery, turning my English muffin into mush. My husband ordered pancakes. They were almost burned and tough. My daughter ordered the smoked Salmon bagel and that was good although she was missing the cream cheese and the table next to us gave her theirs. Our breakfast was plus $ 70.00. We expected something different even with that wait time to get in and the wait time to get our food which also was long. From the time we checked in to the time we walked out was 3 hours. We did not linger around eating either. I usually don't like to leave bad reviews but for the price we paid we were that underwhelmed. So sorry to the owner but maybe your cook was overwhelmed and needs help? Also frying up the smoked salmon for the eggs benny might not be a good idea. It makes the salmon slices tough and super salty. Not sure we will be back. To be fair it was crazy busy but still, food...