Hot Suppa — Restaurant in Portland

We are on a little road trip to Bar Harbor from Boston, and decided to stop in Portland for brunch. Read about this restaurant online and opted to give it a try. Now, we are from the south, so we had high expectations for “southern comfort” food.

Went on a Monday morning, so finding street parking wasn’t a challenge, but you do have to pay. The place is tiny, so there isn’t a ton of seating. We were told the wait was about 40 minutes, and they seated us around 25 minutes.

Super cute atmosphere - very cozy and hip. We tried the maple lemonade, and it was a bit tart for our liking. Ended up adding some simple syrup for some sweetness. But again, we’re from the south, where sweet tea reigns king.

For food, I ordered the shrimp and grits. It is usually one of my favorite dishes to try at new places, so I consider myself well-versed. This version was excellent. 10/10 recommend. My parents got the chicken and waffles and mother clucker, respectively. My mom wasn’t a fan of the cheese curds on the chicken (mother clucker), but individually they were good. She said the grits were some of the best she ever had, and I would agree. The chicken was overly breaded, but she said the flavor wasn’t bad. My dad enjoyed his chicken and waffles. Unfortunately, the waffle came out a little cold - the butter wouldn’t even melt - but he said the flavor was really good and it was soft. He had the same opinion about the chicken that came with his meal. He also ordered a side of bacon and he said it was very good.

If we were back in the area, we would probably try it again. The food was solid, just a couple of missteps. There are some similarities to southern comfort food, but elevated. The wait staff were very...

Went here for late breakfast and it was not too good. I heard from friends who lived here, social media, and Bon Appetit that this place was amazing. I should have been a bit suspicious because this place advertises itself as Southern/cajun and I’ve lived in almost all of the places where these were popularized (NYC—chicken and waffles; Texas—biscuits and white gravy; North Carolina—shrimp and grits and one of the places where fried green tomatoes were popularized—my grandmother made them all the time; etc.) I’ve really had enough of this kind of food for one lifetime. I got breakfast jambalaya and it was wet, sloppy and not good. My wife got the regular eggs hashbrowns toast; it was fine. I’m giving two stars because honestly I probably ordered the wrong thing and even much better cooks than the ones here couldn’t make a dish with eggs and rice (that wasn’t egg fried rice) taste good. Actually, it tasted like egg fried rice with way too much eggs.

The other thing: our waitress was doing her best but it was really frustrating that it took about 30-40 minutes for our food to come while every other table around us including some people who ordered 20 minutes after us got their food before us. I think it might be my fault again because I ordered the jambalaya disaster (see picture; literally almost everyone else in the place was eating either chicken and waffles or the chicken sandwich.

Anyway I won’t go back but it is worth noting that while waiting for our food to come I noted that all the tables who came in after us and got their food before us seemed to be enjoying their giant plates of chicken...

Clearly based off the amount of reviews and the high average rating this place must do something right! Also from how often this place is mentioned when the conversation of brunch or breakfast in Portland is mentioned. With tourist season finally over and the having a weekday off me and my fiancée decided it was time to check out this highly regarded spot. There were no tables open but the small bar had no one at it so we snagged two of the seats. I could describe the overall feeling of the place as crammed and small in size. I think in the future I would wait for a table to open up instead.

We both tried their special apple cider mimosa which was decent but likely would pass on next time. Food wise was tough to pick as quite a few options sounded tempting but I could not pass up on their special thanksgiving Benedict and it was very tasty! My fiancée got their popular fried green tomato Benedict due to craving it since our last trip down South. Similarly I was pleased to see they had grits and I had a similar reason for craving those. Unfortunately the grits just were not quite as good as I have had elsewhere. Some foods are just made better down south! The staff were friendly and service was good but nothing over the top or memorable. Prices were around average I thought for the area.

Maybe expectations were too high but I would not find this place worth any significant amount of wait to be seated when I believe there are superior breakfast/brunch spots around. I will let the tourists have this place and I will at most return for the Thanksgiving Benedict because that was by far...