Early Birds Breakfast — Restaurant in Newton Township

What a fantastic addition to your Saturday. We made it in about 30mins from 270. You know you're hoping this isn't going to be a bust. If the weather is going to be nice...GO! "My parents used to take us on trips like this, where we never knew where we would end up. I sure didn't appreciate it back then", remarked my wife.

GPS will help. You approach a small house? Building? Used car lot? Hard to tell with so many cars lining the perimeter of the building. Gravel lots on two sides, with an entrance at each. Jingle, Jingle. Yes, they have the little bells that jingle on the door as you enter. To us, that's a nice tiny touch. We first thought it was a pavlov's dog reaction that made everybody turn around and smile, calling out welcome greetings. This was like going over to Grandma's kitchen to get fed. And it smelled like Grandma's kitchen too. That savory aroma was permeating the air, all the way out to passing cars. No wonder so many stopped. As my eye quickly stared down the daily specials, and it was Elizabeths 40th birthday, my wife had already spotted the sign-in board that she read about on Yelp. No need, the young man was quickly bussing a table that was just vacated. He scrubbed, and wiped that table with such detail, that you were sure Granny was going to check his work. This whole place is run like a family joint. Our server, like everyone else was so warm and friendly. She made some suggestions, and we were off to the races. Hot coffee never hit bottom. Always someone carrying a pot by, topped you off like you were her customer. Grits with cheese, and a grilled Honeybun(I was weak, and couldn't resist) started us out."These are real grits" my wife exclaimed. She mentioned controlling her impulse to devour them in an un-ladylike fashion. A local made pastry thrown on a hot griddle, with butter no doubt, is one of those things that just turn your food up to an eleven. More checkbacks, more people stopping by to welcome us. Breakfast has arrived. My Tater Tot Stack with spicy gravy, whose photo on Yelp compelled the drive, and her Corncake breakfast. Back to breakfast... There are 2 choices of gravy, regular or spicy. Yeah, I'm always spicy. With my CaJohns Fire Dust sitting on the table, she offered their homemade hot sauce. RAMP ONION. That's it. Thanks sweetheart. So she picks up a glass bourbon bottle from a nearby table and plops it down. Yep, just like Grandmas house. Red residue and chunks are visible, like an old ketchup in a diner. I pull the cork and sniff. It's got some heat. I pour some out on the plate. It looks like chopped red hot peppers with seeds and some minced onion, with garlic, in a pickled formation. Like a spicy chutney. Decent flavor, but a bit one dimensional for my spicy pallet. A+ for small town unique effort. They call it Blackmarket hot sauce. I mixed it into my Tot stack. Then I hit it with the Fire Dust. But thats just me. Trust me, I left a ramekin sample behind for the girls who inquired about the magic dust. The gravy was great. Tasty. I don't know how much sausage comes in it, because you can see from pictures that sausage crumble is part of this dish. Tots were still a bit crunchy, not undercooked soft and soggy. My eggs were overcooked, only to find that on our check, she wrote it wrong. Now the corncakes. We were so lucky that Mae told us to try it first without anything. 5 stars just for these. Light, moist, and so tender, it was like eating cake. Oh yes, we did step off and try some syrup on it. We were lucky enough just to add a little to a bit. The flavor and texture are defiantly disturbed by this. There will always be a corncake on our table every visit. Bacon was outstanding. From a local, it was thick, flavorful, and just the right crisp. "Don't worry it's just one time" says Sarah, just before she shouts out to the entire restaurant, "We got us a first clean plater". The whole place cheered. There were hugs and "ya'll come back", just like at Grandmas

Jingle, jingle rang the door as we left.

So many of my photos posted on Yelp or...

We got up Sunday morning 11-10-2024 and wanted to go for a little drive and get a nice breakfast. We had heard good things about Early Birds Breakfast in St Louisville.. So we made the 45 min drive from the East Side of Columbus. We arrived about 8:45 and it was busy already. We waited a few and got a table. The staff was friendly and pleasant. They were all having fun in the kitchen, and the restaurant had a good vibe. I ordered the Pancake breakfast. Once pancake, two eyes and one breakfast meat. The other person in my party ordered the standard breakfast with, Two eggs, Bacon, Hashbrowns and toast. We got coffee with our meals. This is when the visit started going downhill. The coffee was like brown water with NO flavor or taste. When our food arrived!!! I was thinking to myself, just try it. It might taste better than it looks. I ate my two eggs and one sausage. Then I went for the pancake that was almost totally white! Like, did this thing even touch the griddle? With some butter and syrup I took a bite. It was dry, and flavorless!!! It was HORRIBLE!!! How is the only thing you do is breakfast and this pancake makes it out of the kitchen to someone's table! With one bite gone, I pushed the plate to the edge of the table. A lady wearing a browns shirt walks over and asks if I was done. I said yes with disgust. She looked down, saw one bite missing, and had to notice how HORRIBLE the pancake was and just picked up and walked away! She didn't ask if everything was ok, if I needed anything else, nothing!! She didn't even give me time to say anything about the situation. Long story short, the other breakfast, the toast wasn't toasted and had too much butter, so it was just soggy. They cut their potatoes, in very small cubes and deep fry them. So, they are tiny little hard pieces of potatoes that are more like sand! Try eating that with a fork!!! Our tab was 30.00! for something that was awful! If they would have noticed my white pancake with one bite missing, and addressed the problem I would not be writing this review!! Only takes one time to make a...

Their motto should be overpriced food with rude service.

Sure, the food isn’t bad - for Licking County, but I can think of at least two places that serve a better breakfast.

What really doesn’t work for me though is the service. I’m not sure what restaurant all of these glowing reviews are referencing in regard to friendly service, but that’s not what I’ve seen or experienced firsthand. The staff yell at one another, sometimes at patrons, and terms such as “welcoming” and “friendly” aren’t exactly words I’d use to describe the atmosphere.

The owner in particular has a biting attitude, which has often left me to wonder if she was trying to be funny or was she actually being mean? And I truly think it could be the latter. If you have any level issue of social awkwardness or anxiety, this isn’t the place for you because you’ll come away feeling small and agitated when you just wanted a meal.

If you want a decent meal and rude service, where the staff might yell at or make fun of you, this is your place. However, if you’re looking for eggs without the added bonus of feeling stupid, try...