Fort Jesse Cafe — Restaurant in Normal

This is my third time being here and probably my last. This last time we had a group of 9 that waited well over an hour and a half to be seated. We had many people come after us, get seated, and left before we were seated. Understandably, we had a larger group, but the straw that broke the camels back, was that a group took our reservation and they did nothing to fix it or correct. Instead they gave us a half sincere apology, more out of fear of us ripping them a new one rather than being truly apologetic for their mistake and we had to wait longer until they cleared another table.

Now to get to the building and environment itself. It is constantly noisy and echoes in the dining area. They ought to invest in some sound dampening material so you don't have to yell at one another just to ask how their food is (which I'll delve into later). The first time I went they had no clean cups for coffee and instead only had dirty mugs where the clean ones should be. It's a big feature of the restaurant itself and it is almost always unkempt and the last thought for most of the staff. The floors are almost always dirty and look unmopped and at the least, not scrubbed clean and inviting for a food service place. If you aren't distracted by the unclean floors, the vents offer another dirty view. Each one has dust covering the fins and have dust bunnies about to fall on the food you waited nearly 2 hours to eat.

As far as the food goes, it's ok. Not great, certainly nothing to brag about, but isn't bad. The food isn't quite what they claim it to be. The sign says "homestyle food" but that isn't accurate as they have homestyle food masked in a new age, lighter and "fresher" disguise. Their hash browns are typically undercooked and offer no crunch but are old, stale, and mushy. There is a 50/50 chance your waffle will be undercooked and soft, which is not a good thing when it's a big part of your signature dishes.

I am a biscuit and gravy fanatic and will order them at any breakfast place I go. I appreciate good biscuits and gravy and can generally enjoy them from any hole-in-the-wall or fancy place. Not these. The biscuits and gravy is far from homestyle. You get their undercooked, stale, hasbrowns as the bed, topped with a firm biscuit, topped off with a light, sad gravy that is anything but "homestyle" as they claim. It's not the "stick-to-your-ribs" gravy that is associated with good home cooking but is light, has a mild, gristle filled, sausage and topped of with green onions to try to make it "fresh" or "brighten it up." It just adds a bitter note that isn't welcome on a savory dish.

Their green onion obsession doesn't stop at just the one dish, but is instead an invasive part to many of their dishes and just adds a flavor note that doesn't belong and completely changes the flavor profile for any dish they add it to.

The Fort Jesse Cafe that offers "homestyle food" is far from that claim and you're better off spent waiting elsewhere. If you're itching to get good breakfast food like Fort Jesse has, I'd suggest and IHOP...

The location for this newest spot for my husband and I was a little unexpected. If your familiar with Cute As A Button's location then you can understand that finding this place was def not what we thought to look for it's located in a little strip location kinda off to the side of the road and if your not looking you'll surely miss you turn. Let me tell you traffic for this place during a Friday around 8 was not easy when we missed our turn. The resturaunt itself was pretty busy as well with just about every seat taken with the exception of about maybe 2-3 tables. When entering your greeted by a makeshift stand where you can then be seated. We waited about 5-7 mins before our order was taken which for us wasn't too bad since you could see it was obviously busy. Once our order was taken it was about 10-15 mins before we got our plates which I have to say the portions are amazing I def ended up taking food home. The food was delicious, hot and fresh. The pancakes I could have eaten twice over they were fluffy and thick. It was my first time trying a Bruschetta palette which I choose a scrambled egg, gouda cheese melted down on it, cheese curds and roasted tomatoes which were seasoned. I enjoyed every bit of my food. The waitress was pretty nice to a point at times I felt somewhat ignored when she asked my husband for a refill I later came to find out that I would have needed to repurchase another drink if I wanted a refill when I asked for my drink to go and it would have been nice to know that beforehand so I didn't feel that way during our visit especially it being our first time. Otherwise the staff was friendly. I will say if you are going there to have conversation I wouldn't say you'll be able to have one since the place is pretty small and compact it's about the side of a living room and dining room combined maybe a tad bigger with about 20 or so tables in it and they are pretty closely placed to one another so the conversation could easily be drowned out by the other conversations going on. Overall it wasn't too bad a visit and again the food...

Fort Jesse Cafe is a standout in a sea of big chain restaurants. Big taste for a reasonable cost in a modest an unassuming atmosphere. I've been here a few times and never left disappointed in the quality of the food or service. I really need to eat here more often than I do.

The restaurant closes at 2 PM, so get in there for your breakfast/lunch. Call ahead for reservations unless you're willing to wait, especially on the weekends.

I ordered the Chicken Waffle Benedict with a side of grits during my last visit. I could have easily eaten two orders—it was that good. The eggs were poached properly and weren't a watery, coagulated mess, the chicken was great, smoked bacon bits were a nice complement, and the hollandaise was well made without being too thick or heavy. Change out the poached egg for an over medium, slap the egg, chicken, bacon, and sauce between two waffle quarters — voila — an awesome breakfast sandwich is born.

The grits. OK, I'm not from the South and wasn't raised on grits. But I spend an awful lot of time down there for work, and I'm comfortable stating that I've gotten the hang of grits. The South has good grits. Grits that supposedly set the benchmark. I can tell you this: there are absolutely no grits that are so good that you'd want to slap yo' mamma. But I can also tell you this: the grits at Fort Jesse are as close as grits can get to making one want to channel their inner John Witherspoon. They're that good. Start here if you don't like grits. You're forever not going to like them if Fort Jesse's offering doesn't convert you.

A definite must have if you're looking for good food in...