Maple Street Biscuit Company — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

So I came to St. Augustine with some folks for a wedding one weekend, and I decided to stay in a nice AirBnb (look up Mitch's properties) and play tourist the next day. Checking out the reviews, I find that this chain restaurant is allegedly one of the best brunch places in town, so I had to check it out. We walk here from the AirBnb and walk through the delightful looking outside dining area to get in the restaurant. It's really nice inside. Super clean and super mapley, if that makes sense. I liked being in there. The employees weren't like the friendliest I've ever encountered, but no one did anything mean, so I'm not docking points.

My girlfriend and I order some food. I get the Bam! Yo Yo (Add a little Yo Yo to your BAM! [House-made vanilla bean waffle with asiago and pecanwood smoked bacon baked in] Top your BAM with our fried chicken, honey butter, and maple syrup). She got The Squawking Goat (Flaky biscuit, all natural fried chicken breast, fried goat cheese medallion and house made pepper jelly).

My chicken and waffles were pretty good. It was cooked well and it was nice and crispy. The bacon in the waffle was pretty unnoticeable, but the people like bacon, so give it to them. The maple syrup was legitimate maple syrup, by the way. You can tell. It was good.

My girlfriend had the far better tasting dish. The biscuit was so flaky and moist. The chicken was cooked as awesomely as mine was. Warm goat cheese added an Amazing goat cheese flavor and texture to everything. And the pepper jelly was a nice sweet/spicy addition that really added depth to this thing. Not real spicy, so don't be afraid.

We got a couple of sides, too. Fried Green Tomatoes and a Hashbrown Cake (Hashbrown potatoes stuffed with smoked gouda cheese topped with chives). The sides were honestly what pushed this restaurant from a four to a three star restaurant for me. The fried green tomatoes were nice and thick and had a good bite while still being cooked all the way through. The hashbrown cake was nice and gouda-y while being insanely black pepper-y, which I enjoyed quite a bit, but if you aren't down with pepper, avoid this.

Overall, this place was solid. It's a chain, but it produced good...

So my wife and I had an opportunity to get away to St Augustine. This is the first time we took a trip alone without kids since our honeymoon 22 years ago.

We looked at some reviews and decided to eat breakfast one day at the Maple Street Biscuit Company. I guess we made a good choice, because the line extended down the block!

30 minutes later, we entered the doors and placed our order at the counter. But instead of leaving your name with the order, they ask that you answer the daily question written on the chalkboard. When your food is ready, they yell out your answer. This makes for a fun time to be had for all. You start listening to other people’s answers and can’t help but laugh.

When we received our food, the first thing we noticed was the portion size. They definitely want to fill you up. Which is good, because there’s a long day of walking around Saint Augustine. You’ll need all the energy you can get.

I had the “Sunshine in the Garden” bowl. It has a tomato-based sauce, with shallots and green peppers, topped with feta cheese, fresh basil, two sunny side up eggs, and of course, a homemade flaky biscuit. The food was worth the wait, but the breakfast can get a bit pricey. There’s a full array of coffee for any taste.

I took my first bite, and the yolk of the egg was perfect. Dripping it’s succulent secret over the rest of the bowl. Giving it a dimension that makes your taste buds to want to dance. The fresh Basil gave it some brightness, while the feta cheese helped cut the tartness of the tomatoes. Putting it together in a bowl showed that the chef that created this dish, knew what they were doing.

My wife and I sat down with smiles on our faces, filling our stomachs, drinking coffee to help wake us up for the day, all we could think of was how blessed we are to have each other. This was a great way to start our vacation.

If you want to have a place to eat breakfast, have a little fun, and don’t mind a bit of a wait, go to Maple Street...

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this place considering the reviews were like a swinging pendulum, swinging either really good or really bad. Well, I can’t say it was bad but it wasn’t great. My first time visiting St. Augustine we heard about this place and wanted to see what all the rave was about… well I personally, was disappointed.

Upon walking up you are faced with a long line, I’m talking outside going down the street some distance. I was like “wow, this place really is the spot” I wasn’t sure if it was a line to dine in or for take out but everyone was lining up so we did the same not having an idea what we were actually waiting for. 45 minutes later we finally make it inside to order. You actually order and then go sit down and the servers bring you your dishes, I’d say it’s an okay system but I think there needs to be a sign or something that lets you know how their system is. Maybe it works for them and I can see why but as first time guests we were in la la land.

We walked up and ordered the sticky maple chicken biscuit sandwich and the potatoes o’Ryan bowl. 1st let me tell you, the sandwiches are massive, almost unable to bite into and the potatoes are deep fried reminding me of French fries which I was not expecting. We were both disappointed with the food. My husband chicken was slightly undercooked which turned him off and for me it was the deep fried potatoes. I know, who gets potatoes at a biscuit place…well I wanted to try something different. I wanted to love the food but I just could really enjoy them as much.

The service, however was exceptional and the ambiance was very nice. I can see their system working for the locals and on non-busy holidays and weekends but we were there New Year’s Eve weekend and it was packed everywhere. I’m not rating based on this but just my experience with the food.

I’d give this a second try in the future but it will be a while before then. If you go, I hope you have a better experience...