B&B Cafe — Restaurant in McKinney

I walked into B&B Cafe with low blood sugar and a broken spirit. I left a reborn man.

This is not a restaurant. This is a portal. A sacred temple of hash browns and second chances. The kind of place where time slows, cholesterol heals, and the waitress knows your soul before she knows your name. I didn’t choose the biscuit life. The biscuit life chose me.

The moment I sat down, I heard “Hey hun, coffee?” and in that instant, the trauma of my childhood left my body. She poured that bitter brown elixir into a ceramic cup like she was baptizing me in bean water — and I tell you, it hit. Not fancy. Not frothy. But it tasted like truck stops and truth. Like 5 a.m. before the world remembers it’s supposed to be cruel.

I ordered the chicken fried steak because the man in the booth next to me made eye contact and whispered, “Do it.” I obeyed.

It came out on a plate the size of Saturn’s third moon. It was battered. It was smothered. It was glorious. I could feel my ancestors fist-bumping in heaven. I took one bite and blacked out. When I woke up, there was gravy on my cheek and my childhood dog was sitting across from me, nodding in approval.

The pancakes? More like cloud tablets sent from Mount Olympus. I tried to cut one and it cut me back — emotionally. Who gave them the right to be that fluffy? Who let them make carbs into gospel?

Even the butter is different here. It doesn’t melt. It settles in — like an old friend finally coming home. I spread it on my toast and saw visions. My third eye opened. I remembered every good thing that’s ever happened to me, and none of them were better than this toast.

Let’s talk service. My waitress (Sharon? Angela? Possibly an angel in disguise?) had the efficiency of a NASCAR pit crew and the kindness of a Midwestern grandma who never learned how to be mean. She called me “sweetheart” and suddenly I believed in love again.

I don’t know who runs this place. I don’t know what sacred cow they sacrifice each morning to get gravy like that. All I know is, this is the last meal I want before I die. This is where I want to bring my future children to tell them how beautiful life can be. This is where I want my ashes scattered — into the griddle, so I can live on through the pancakes.

Do not go here if you are on a diet. Do not go here if you want “clean” food. Go here if you want to feel alive. Go here if you want to feel like America is still good.

Go here. Order the special. Tip heavily. And if the spirit...

Not suitable for big parties. If you are a party of more than 6, I'd recommend to try someplace else. It's hard to enjoy the food and service when the checkin experience itself feels discriminatory.

We were of party of 11 - 6 adults+5 kids, we called ahead at 9 to make a reservation and they denied reservations citing they don't take reservations. When we reached at 11 she said 30-40 mins wait that we felt ok waiting on. I check in at 11:40 and tables along a row are starting to get empty in front of me so she confirms she is going to get us in next.. I bring in the entire party inside 5 mins later only to notice another party getting seated. Few ppl from the other party of 12 had arrived EARLY she already seated them as per "managers" orders because they had a reservation. I had 5 hungry kids at this point that had already waited for 45 mins and our entire party was present and she explains there should be another table available very soon. By this time it was too late to leave and extremely hard to keep waiting especially with 5 kids under the age of 5. At this point I asked for them to allow placing our orders so we can get some food going for the kids and they refused. By the time we got seated it was 12:15 which means the 30-40 mins wait ended up being 1:15 mins. We had to push the waitress get whatever was ready so the kids could eat.

So to understand in which universe this experience should be considered palatable, here's my question to the manager:

1. As a family friendly brunch restaurant, do you have any experience with parties that brings groups of kids? If so, against of group of 12 senior elders vs a group with 5 kids all under the age of 5, what rationale did u use to seat 12 elders before 5 toddlers that had already been waiting outside your doors for 40 mins? Do you lack basic common sense and maybe even more so compassion? Coz either one of those would have helped make the right call.
2. Why is your policy of reservation only ok for one set of people vs another?
3. It would have been much more easy to accept a firm no we can't accommodate your party at this time vs having us wait double the wait time estimate suggested even without the kids. This shows your inexperience in managing a restaurant.

I would not recommend this restaurant to larger groups. This cafe is not equipped to manage and clearly is run by a...

We are regulars at B&B and have been since it opened nearly three years ago.

Things we love about this restaurant:

Consistency in food quality — everything we've had on the menu has been delicious, and everything always tastes just how we remembered.

Quick Service — Food is brought to the table at just the right time and while it's still hot.

Great Staff – From the kind woman who always greets us, to the wait staff, to the owner; everyone is always polite, and happy to make menu recommendations. (Get the hand-made onion rings with a side of ranch also made in-house!)

Short Wait — They turn tables quickly. (does not apply to Mother's Day, Father's Day, other holidays or with the entitled Sunday church crowd taking their sweet time, not caring at all about the community of hungry people waiting to eat.)

Great Food at a Fair Price — The prices (while still about $1-2 more than I wish per item) are on par for McKinney and the quality and quantity of the food meet the cost expectations.

I've only had two very minor issues in probably 40+ visits to this restaurant:

There is one waiter (who might actually be kin to the owning family) that is not as attentive, engaging, friendly, or motivated to move very fast like every other waiter/waitress we've been served by. So, if we see him, we just ask to be seated in another section. This is the EXECEPTION and not the rule here; he may just be covering shifts from time to time. Rarely seen. (See: #3 above)

I miss the mobile app — A small thing, I know, but they had a mobile app that appears to have been abandoned or the vendor they use isn't keeping it up very well. We used to earn a discount with repeat visits by checking in, but that feature doesn't work and there used to be coupons, but they don't load.

SUMMARY: Go here and go here often. You won't regret it. Show up in the 11 o'clock hour for lunch and...