Blackbird Cafe Inc — Restaurant in Long Beach

OK I'd give this place 5 stars for the food, but 3 for the set up. While I'm not a fan of the building, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the food! I'll give ya what I don't like: This place is great for brunch, but the windows face East, so tables by the windows get drowned in sunlight and it's uncomfortably hot. There is no place to wait for a table (and it can take a long long time), so you're stuck waiting outside in the sun, or scrunched up by the front door.

Ok now that I've gotten that unpleasantness out of the way, let's move on to why you want to come to Blackbird Cafe and often: The FOOOD!!!! Now I'll be frank, I've only eaten breakfast here so I don't know how the whole menu plays out. But, they have very creative Benedicts, Omelettes, and Pancakes. I like the Elvis inspired pancakes with banana and peanut butter! To die for! If you're a coffee drinker, splurge a little and get a Cinnawhip coffee. It's basically coffee but with a mound of whipped cream that's mixed with cinnamon. Very tasty, and they'll refill the coffee, but not the whipped cream. And for the Sunday morning lush, they make bloody mary's and mimosas.

Other housekeeping issues, there is indoor and outdoor seating. Wait staff is attentive and knowledgeable, prices run around $10 for most plates. The meals are big enough to share, so come hungry if you like to hog...

This is a VERY popular breakfast eatery in California Heights. If you show up without your full party, expect to wait until everyone's arrived before you are seated, even if you're handicapped. That I saw, their eggs Benedict are very popular, in all the forms they offer. They also offer tater tots as a potato alternative to hash browns and homestyle. I ordered the halfer: the half soup, half sandwich with homemade potato chips. The sandwich can be one of the many they offer, which are all good! Many places just offer a selection of two or three sandwich options. The soup i ordered was their Rosemary-Bean. If you like strong Rosemary broth, you'll love this, because they were very stingy with the beans; I spent the afternoon searching for some in the soup to little success. Order the white chicken chili instead; i heard it was good. My order was obviously done and waited to be picked up for a while, since the weak bean soup was cold. Don't hesitate to send it back for reheating if it happens; it's not gazpacho. I think the food here must be consistently excellent or they wouldn't have crowds. There is another breakfast shop a half- block away, since there are options in this neighborhood. I would suggest maybe coming early or arriving a little later; they close at three p.m. Parking is on the street and...

Honestly...... had high hopes of this place becuase of the pictures and reviews but, the food care or customer service was not good at all! Very disappointing on how the host or waiters didnt seat us or greet us at the door and besides the manager and a few waitresses being nice to us, the customer service was not what i expected it to be and to make things worse i found a hair on my food before i could even take my first bite, i was super disappointed, im a germaphobe so i have a phobia of when i see things like that i instantly get turned away and get sick to my stomach, i understand people make mistakes and i didnt want to make a seen, i let the manager and workers know it was cool and i still paid for my girlfriend's food, they offered to make me anything else or bring me a replacement but i just wasnt interested at that point i already felt grossed out and wanted to throw up, i just cant trust a place like this even if it was just on a piece of my food becuase i use to work in the food industry and the most important thing was how to handle food becuase of cross contamination, if i as a chef or line cook and o couldn't take care of people's food then why am i in that position? Regardless im not taking my chance's on coming back to this...