Morning Glory — Restaurant in San Diego

As a chef, I try to have an open mind whenever going out to eat since I know first hand how much goes into operations, how expensive overhead is, how most kitchens run on a skeleton crew.

But when I came here with my mother, I was truly baffled at the way things seemed to fall apart once you got past the beautiful atmosphere. My biggest gripe was that a simple request was not only not granted, but I was made to feel incompetent about food.

I had requested to have the french omelette without cheese- I even made sure to check that they sold eggs as a side, knowing that if they did, they’d have fresh eggs in the back & could easily crack three and make a fresh omelette if they had already batched it out with cheese in the mix. The minute I asked for this, the (very kind) bartender immediately went into a speech that the chef had clearly versed her on, saying that they literally can’t serve it without cheese because that’s how it’s made and traditionally done and it has to have it.

I went to culinary school, worked at a 5 star hotel, and even did shifts at a restaurant owned by a renowned French chef (Daniel Boulud). A French omelette simply means lots of butter, no browning, and maybe chives or parsley. I debated my options and decided it wasn’t worth making the bartenders life difficult over the choices the chef was making, so I ordered the chicken and waffles.

The chicken was sad- dry, breading soggy & fell right off, it’d clearly been fried some time ago and was wasting away under a heat-lamp losing all the good aspects it possibly had.

My mom enjoyed the soufflé pancakes, so there’s a positive, and the cocktails were good.

But I’m stuck on the way they had the audacity to speak on how a French omelette is made while failing at something as simple as fried chicken.

Consortium Holdings makes beautiful restaurants that will stay in business for that reason- they’re gorgeous and bring in a vibe the SD food & bev scene needed. Tourist will always flock, whoever is in charge has a hold/connect to solid real estate in the area, and is quickly buying up spots I wish would go to good restauranteurs.

But beyond that? Their establishments are a wash. There’s multiple Reddit threads in the culinary subs about the many misses of this group. If you just want a pretty IG post or tik tok, this is the place for you. If you want good food, avoid avoid avoid and take your time & money elsewhere.

Per the menu description (zoom in & read, it’s worth it) for the omelette- ya’ll blew it without...

Morning Glory is worth the hype. It's incredible and one of our all-time favorite breakfast / brunch places in San Diego by far. My boyfriend is a huge breakfast person and he's a big fan. Personally, I'm not really into brunch or breakfast - seriously, I'm really not - but Morning Glory has time and time again proven to be the exception.

But before we start the review - is the wait really worth it? Absolutely not, lol. No place is worth 2.5 hours, haha, but if you're somehow in the area already, have some friends and want to frolic around Little Italy and/or the Harbor and have some time to chill, I think you can make it work! Luckily, my partner and I live nearby, and are close enough to swing by to put our names on the list and wait back at home.

I've probably been to Morning Glory more than five to six times, and there was just one time that it didn't live up to expectations. The kitchen must have had an off day, but the other five times - simply outstanding.

Our go-to orders: Morning Glory Fried Rice. I know, I know. Trust me, I was reluctant to order an Asian dish at Morning Glory too, but I'm so glad I discovered this. You'll be too. The dish is absolutely delicious and mouth watering good. We've ordered it each time we've been here, and it's a solid addition to any meal. Khachapurri. Get it. Don't ask anymore questions. Yes, it's good. Souffle Pancakes. You'll see a ton of tables ordering this. If you have kids in your party, get it. They'll love it. Heck, we're adults and we still order it each and every time we're there. It's soft, fluffy and absolutely delightful.

The service speed can be hit or miss depending how busy they are and/or how they're staffed. We've had our share of very quick and attentive waiters as well as waiters who weren't to be seen for many, many minutes. It's a genuine gamble, but at least the food makes up for it! Plus, the servers are doing their best at all times, so we try not to hold it against them.

Overall, we're definitely huge fans of Morning Glory and will continue to come back here. It's definitely a popular place that we take friends who are visiting from out of town and are looking for a good brunch / breakfast spot.

Pro-tip: If you're trying to avoid the insane wait, try to visit this place on weekdays, which isn't too bad. You can also try coming around 2PM to get a spot! I've done this a few times spontaneously and was able to snag a table. But be warned - they may run out of a few items, as they do close...

It's a very cool looking place to see, the food was okay, the service was great at first but they really rush you to leave. We told the server and 2 waiters that we were celebrating my birthday but still were very much rushed to leave.

We arrived at 7:30AM, 30 minutes before they opened on a Saturday morning, and there were already about 15-20 people in line. We waited, were offered the bar seating since we were only 2 people. Sat at the bar, the seats weren't the most comfortable, no back rest and no footrest in our area (and we're pretty tall and normally find the bar seats comfortable enough). We ordered the chicken and waffles and the fried rice. The chicken and waffles portion was small compared to other restaurants. The flavor was okay, but I wouldn't say it was the best. The fried rice was okay, but in our honest opinion, it was not the best or some of the best we've had.

The coffee was not great, it didn't taste fresh, it and it was almost tasted like it was 1 day old . I normally drink 2 cups but could barely finish the one. I didn't drink it as fast because the flavor wasn't great, and I did attempt to since I needed the caffeine to. I tried to finish the rest of the cup of coffee, but we were rushed to leave. Also, they never offered drink refills, probably a tactic to get people to leave faster. After waiting 30 minutes in line to go in and another 30 minutes for the food, we were being asked if we needed 2 to-go boxes just half way into our meals, while half our food was still on the plate and we were still eating. We're not super slow eaters. It had just been about 10-15 mins. Maybe we were chatting too much and not eating fast enough? We were quickly brought the check along with the boxes, and even after paying as I was trying to chug the rest of our drinks we were once again asked if they had already processed our check for us or if we needed that, we explained that we had already paid and were just given a "well why are you still here" kind of look.

We figured we could at least take our time eating while we caught up, and while we celebrated my birthday...

Maybe we went on a bad day. We may try it again some other time in the future and order something different, maybe... I can not say that it is at the top of my list of places to return to very soon, though. I had heard great things about this place , and the decor was super cool to see, but I'm not sure it deserves all the hype or that it's worth waiting...