Sabrina's Cafe — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Put my name on the wait list and received an initial text letting me know they received my correct number and never ever received a text that our table was ready at all!!! Who does that??? How awful! They also told me "give or take" how long the wait would be with no definite response. Obviously they weren't ever planning to seat us. Extremely unprofessional. Looked crowded and busy in there when I walked in and people are sitting elbow to elbow with no room to walk. Don't bother with the wait list because they won't text you or serve you. I came back with a friend because I wanted to give it a chance. They said a table was ready but we still waited 20 minutes. The hostess was wearing huge handmade frowny face earrings that screamed "I hate myself and I hate life" what restaurant workers whose job it is to help people wear frowny face apparel?? So inappropriate and unprofessional. Workers were talking about how the Yelp wait list doesn't sync with their system and doesn't work but before I came I tried to make reservations and they said they don't take reservations over the phone and to put my name on the Yelp wait list. Why have a wait list and why literally tell people to use it if it doesn't work. Also I heard people walking in who said they called ahead. Why would I get told that I have to put my name on Yelp when other people got to make reservations? Their whole system is disorganized and unprofessional. The food is good, and it came out quickly. That was the only good thing. The tables are all so close to each other so there is absolutely no room to walk without your butt rubbing against other people's faces or their food. You sit elbow to elbow with other strangers and there's no room on the table for what you order. Our waitress had smudged black makeup all over her eyes and face like she left it all on from the night before and was very unkempt. That's an uncomfortable vibe to give customers. The seating area is covered by a filled coat rack. I also asked for a box for my food that I didn't eat and they insisted that they take the plates from me and box them up themselves and they only boxed up about 75% of MY...

Wow!

As we were leaving Sabrina's Cafe, we passed an older gentleman standing at the door greeting people. We thought perhaps he was one of the managers or owners. We thanked him for the most wonderful breakfast we have had in quite some time...

...but I am getting a little ahead of myself.

We were staying overnight in the Philadelphia Museum District area and I had mapped out an excellent garage to park my car close to the hotel. Doing a related search, I was looking for a recommended place to eat breakfast before we left town. Sabrina's was right across the street, and upon further searches, it came up as one of the best-rated breakfast spots in the city. Wow.

To take that recommendation one step further, as we were checking out of our hotel, which was a 15-minute walk away, we mentioned to the girl at the desk that we were going out for breakfast. She immediately guessed we were going to Sabrinas. She said it was the most notable breakfast joint in the area.

We arrived on a Monday at around 10 am, fearing the place would be packed. That wasn't nearly the case and we were immediately seated. Our server was Shannon, a girl that we learned grew up in NJ not too far from us, and was the most delightful person we could ever want to be our waitress.

I ordered the Eggs Benedict Florentine. My girlfriend ordered a Mexican scrambled egg combination. When they came out, the portions were quite huge. We ordered toast as a side, and the quality of the bread was fantastic.

Best of all, the huge mugs of delicious coffee that were refilled during our meal.

The place gets noisy between the fairly loud pop music they play and screaming kids (your experience may vary), but it's quite lively and the quality of the food and service is top-notch. This place lives up to its reputation as being one of the best...

I have been coming here everytime I come to Philadelphia which is about 4-6 times a year. I have always enjoyed the food very much and have given this place 5 star reviews everytime I've come. Sadly this is no longer the case, after a 45 minute wait (which isn't uncommon and I'm completely fine with) because I know that it's usually worth the wait. Our waitress was very unfriendly from the moment we were seated and her attitude just got worse from there, she didn't bother to supply us with utensils, salt and pepper or any other basics that were on all the surrounding table. She took a while to take our orders and then dissapeared. Our food was delivered by someone else who disappeared before we could request utensils so we sat there looking at our food getting cold, our waitresses came by about 5 minutes later to ask how our food was and acted like it was an inconvenience that we asked for utensils. Then I spotted a hair in my food which I didn't bother to tell her about because she didn't come back until we asked the busboy for our check, it took him a while to locate her as she was chatting with a different waitress behind the bar. He got her to come at which point she threw the check on the table like we'd offended her in someone. I want to add that we were both polite from the minute we met her. At one point a different waitress remarked that it was strange that our table lacked all the "basics" when I asked if I could have some salt. Between the very poor service and the hair in my food. I am very hesitant to come back here...