Brownstone Cafe — Restaurant in Middletown

Sooo. How did I manage to never leave a Google review for one of my favorite breakfast spots is beyond me. As much as I'd like to get here to see Suzanne, Ash, Misty, Clarrisa, etc., it's a 30 minute drive for me to visit my favorite hometown breakfast spot, so it's simply not feasible to be there everyday.

I cannot speak on much beyond what I always get... and that is the Strawberry Balboa French Toast, with fruit cup (in place of hashbrowns/homefries whichever is served) and a side of "chewy bacon."

Where to begin? I'm writing this at 9pm and I'm wishing it were breakfast time, so, I suppose let's begin with what I order. If you like french toast, strawberries and cream cheese, then the balboa french toast is for you (there is also a blueberry alternative which thankfully I've only ever had to "endure" once - it too was excellent, albeit I prefer my strawberries). Their bacon is great.. I mean, how is that? Well, it doesn't taste like it came from the pigs rear for starters (odd way to describe it I know, though know I have had bacon elsewhere that tasted precisely like it came from it's rear). I mean, it has a great bacon taste, just enough saltiness to it and it just tastes like a quality pork belly... the fruit cup, yum. I love every part of the fruit cup, which varies slightly, in the fruit that it comes with (however, it seems it's usually a mix of cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries, blueberries, grapes and tangerine).

My wife will often order the breakfast burrito, which she loves. My children usually follow suit and get a balboa as well, so that concludes my knowledge on the food offered (for breakfast), sorry to say. I've only ever eaten lunch here once and it was years ago, I couldn't even tell you what I had, but, I can say I left with zero complaints.

The coffee is a nice smooth mildly bitter coffee with a nice sweetness to it. I cannot place my finger on the brand, but I suspect it is 100% Colombian? They offer half and half, artificial creamer (as in just plain creamer), and coffee mate french vanilla (and I believe hazlenut?, sorry I don't use those so I cannot say for certain).

The staff is always welcoming, attentive and accommodating. I'm stingy with my stars, though giving them five is easy to do... see you all, umm, sometime real...

We have been dedicated customers for 34 years at the Brownstone Cafe in Middletown, PA Recently on (09/10/2025) my 81 year old mother & I went here to have their famous fried oysters. Before we could eat, my mother suffered a heart attack & was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where she remains almost 2 weeks later. Just to be clear, the ambulance picked her up at the Brownstone. I paid the bill & a few days later, Denise (manager) spoke with me on the telephone & decided to leave us a gift card for our next, considering what had happened. I thanked her. It was kind gesture. Then a few days later, some heartless lady named Carissa called me & thought we had a problem or issue with our server. (Apparently the situation wasn’t explained properly & there was a communication breakdown between Denise & Carissa. Carissa the told me that it’s not their fault that my mother had a heart attack & reneged on the gift card. I thought this was just cold & heartless, considering the amount of years we have been eating there. They are willing to throw away great customers over something so ridiculous is mind boggling. When I asked to speak to the owner, Carissa told me the owners are The Matincheks in Middletown & they don’t call customers! I googled the owner & it comes up Lawrence Mordaunt. Denise never should have offered our family a gift card if she wasn’t authorized. However she felt compelled to do so after hearing about the ambulance & the fact that we did not get a chance to enjoy our meal. Consider this prior to visiting the Heartless & rude people running the place. Absolutely the wrong thing to do in this situation. I would still like a call from the owner. Carissa has my phone number if she changes her mind. Absurd...

Well to start once we sat down to order the waitress informed us the wings will take a while to cook. ??? Ok. Not sure why they weren't busy. We ordered the New York strip steak with crab cake. Also a quesadilla. We got the quesadilla first. It was clear the chef or someone was lazy or felt rushed because the lettuce was barely chopped most pieces bigger then the quesadilla. But that aside the taste and ingredients were very good. Everything was cooked properly and fresh. The wings came and they were almost completely dry as in no sauce. Not even a drop in the bottom of the basket. The waitress asked if we wanted a box for anything we said yes. Never brought one till end of the meal. The main course came and at first we thought the steaks weren't cooked correctly. As we talked about it while just eating it we notice we had the others steak. Not a big deal as I'm sure the waitress had no way to know the difference. The cuts themselves were poorly prepared and we were very disappointed. The crab cakes were actually mostly all crab. And others then being a little undercooked was ok. My opinion is the this restaurant has the fundamentals down to be a great restaurant just needs some one who cares about the dishes they serve to take them there. And a staff that's on the same page with...