US Egg Brunch + Cocktails — Restaurant in Phoenix

Holy cow! What a difference a decent place with friendly staff can make to a Sunday brunch. Upon entering the host is happy to see us, looks us in the face when talking to us, and because it wasn't overcrowded, he took us to a large booth right away. In fact, I do not think they have any tiny booths. They do offer counter seating. The host leaves us clean menus, the waitress is about ten seconds behind him asking us our drink order and offering suggestions from coffee to tea to mimosas. I ask for a soda and my better half goes for iced tea. Our waitress comes back with good drinks and plenty of lemon wedges on the side for my husband. We never had to ask. We are ready to order so she takes our order and has no problem with any of the changes we ask for. I was annoying bc at first I wanted poached eggs only to alter to over-easy eggs thirty seconds later. She never minded. She was positive and cheery. (Thanks for treating us like we matter, Serena!) Our food is served hot and tasty by a separate waitress, missed her name, but she was kind, verbal (she could make communication) and happy. Both waitresses helped each other out during our visit. Both tended to extra napkins, drink refills, questions, and cleaning the the table unobtrusively. Our bill was brought with drink refills to the glasses (not to-go cups) even though it was past 2:30 pm. This means they were not rushing to get us out of the place. We paid when ready and upon leaving, three non-wait staff wished us a nice day and goodbye, which was really nice to make us feel appreciated and not invisible. My husband and I left very pleasantly full and content. We were so glad we left the restaurant we had been at earlier that day and chose US Egg instead. For reference, my husband had "The Border" and I had "The Santa Fe." Talking about the food on the way home, we both remarked on the amount of meat in our dishes- lots. My chorizo was not super spicy but decently spiced for a place that must satisfy all palates. The chicken pieces big, moist, tender and flavorful were a perfect combo in my dish with the eggs and hashbrowns covered in plenty of melted cheese. My husband who loves super spicy was happy with his chorizo. This means that although it was not his preference (usually habenero-level spice) he didn't feel like someone from Canada had been cooking. He raved about the good quality flour tortilla. Some places use gringo-esque tortillas that are just not authentic at all. My husband was so happy he laid down upon getting home to have a siesta instead of working on his "Honey-do list." I headed off to read a book in the pleasant afternoon with good feelings of contentment, and all because the breakfast spot we went to decided they enjoy their jobs and care about what they are doing and who they are serving. Thank you, US Egg for going above and beyond. We, like most people, only splurge and go out once a week for breakfast, and only have two days off; so it's special for us and apparently it's special to you too! I definitely recommend...

US Egg is usually our go-to, but this time? 🚨 A hot mess from start to finish.

We came in on Labor Day and were happy to see the place wasn’t very busy--perfect, we thought, we’ll be in and out quickly. Nope!

Right when we sat down, we handed over our scratcher/coupon. Our server, Brando D., scratched it and told us we had 10% off our meal. Fabulous! 🎉 He left it on the table and said he’d be “right back” to take our order. Spoiler: “right back” turned into forever… and that became the theme of the meal.

When we finally ordered drinks, it took forever for them to arrive. And when they did, we asked for straws. Simple, right? Absolutely not. Brando had to leave to grab them & he came back with one. One lonely straw for multiple drinks. 🤦‍♀️ When I asked for two more, he disappeared into the abyss and eventually returned, like he had to go hand-carve them in the back. Side Note: every time he did swing by the table, he was gone again in a flash. 🏃‍♂️💨

The drink situation didn’t get better from there. Their glasses are like kids sized, which is totally fine cause they normally they bring out a carafe so you can refill yourself. I absolutely love that system! But this time? I got the tiniest glass ever for $4.25 which I finished halfway through my meal. 🥤Since Brando had basically disappeared, I ended up drinking the water I brought from my car. Classy, right?

Our food finally came out & it was delicious! 😋🤤

We were almost done with our meal, when Brando suddenly swooped back, grabbed the scratched-off coupon from our table, and said, “Oh, actually I need to check with my manager if this works on holidays.” Like… sir, you scratched it before we even ordered. The scratcher literally says the server has to scratch it. If we can’t use it after it’s already been scratched, then what’s the point? That’s the part you check before we eat. 🙄 Normally I wouldn't care that much but...we were already pretty irritated. So instead, we sat there waiting longer than it took us to finish the meal.

And don’t even get me started on the check. He finally brought it, didn’t mention the coupon, and then tried darting off again before we could even open our mouths. 🏃‍♂️ He confirmed the coupon was applied. We put down our payment within 30 seconds, thinking this part would be quick. But silly us...he was already gone again & we had to wait longer. By that point, I was ready to crawl behind the counter and run my own card.

When he finally reappeared, I asked for a box and a tea to go, because seriously, $4.25 for a kids-size drink?! 🤷‍♀️ Of course that dragged out even longer. We just sat there waiting (again) for our card to come back so we could finally leave.

We’ve never had service this slow here, and with the place being pretty quiet, there was no excuse. I didn't see him on the floor very much so I'm not sure what was going on but it was a total buzzkill on what should’ve been an easy, no-stress breakfast. Next time, I’ll just stick with my...

We would frequent this location roughly every 3-4 months before covid-19 hit, and we did not go anywhere for essentially 2 years. The staff was always accommodating and observant, and the food was tasty and bountiful for what was ordered. We went back the day before Easter, and arrived a little more than an hour before they were closing. It was the least busy we've seen (normally was at least a 15 minute wait, even when we would arrive late) and we were sat near the cashier area. I'm not sure if it was because it was near closing, or a holiday, or the staff, but we listened to the wait staff yell at each other, yell at the cooks, joke with each other, and just be loud and detracting the entire visit. What I would consider being actions from a staff used to working harder and not knowing what to do with themselves during a slow period. The wall-side connection of our seats had a lot of old wrappers and pieces of food, obviously not cleaned in a while. Our food was ok--I had the California Benedict and the muffin was nearly burnt, and the avocado already showing brown spots, and the hash browns were flavorless. The wife ordered buttermilk pancakes but was given wheat (or whatever the other option was), but the rest of her meal was OK. Our waitress was distracted, didn't check on how things were, and left the bill without asking if we wanted anything else (I was going to order a breakfast sandwich to go). I'm hopeful that it was just an off day and that things will be better...