Americana — Restaurant in Santa Rosa

This is one of those rare times I get to recommend a place that I KNOW is a great find... Let's go ahead and open up the discussion and find out who really DOES serve the best breakfast in the Santa Rosa area . If you have a hidden gem better than The Americana then I can't wait to try it. THIS is one of the greatest breakfast joints available anywhere, and I can't wait until you try it and get back to me! I've been there three times and everything I've sampled was dynamite. If you like to get stoned before breakfast you might actually cry it's so good.. but this isn't your imagination or Sonoma's finest swaying your opinion, these truly ARE farm fresh, LOCAL ingredients and the they cook it just right! I love eggs. I love eggs and I want it so that the white is completely cooked but the YOLK is runny and fit to dip your toast, your bacon, whatever you love to eat in. everything is BETTER with a real local, farm fresh egg. These aren't the eggs you get at Safeway or even the eggs the food distributor tries to sell you as he tallies up how many straws and napkins and salt shakers you need... This is a cut above that, and I challenge you to check it out. My poached egg was cooked to perfection. The hollandaise, delicately brought to perfection by hand , is what you would make for your own guests.. have you tried it? It's not that easy...it takes a double broiler and a little patience to make this magic and my sauce on my country Benedict was tangy and fresh and I wanted more. I wanted an infinite amount .. the milkshakes where outstanding...let's face it, the chain restaurants, they have gotten so expensive--for cheap stuff! Stuff unpacked from a Sysco truck (don't suit me Sysco) .. why not spend ten bucks instead of 8 and get a milkshake made with Straus dairy? You know, the stuff you see in whole foods and ya womder how the heck can afford a PINT of ice cream for 7 or eight bucks? Things have gotten expensive. You're working hard. Cut yourself a break and get the real thing. If not for you, for your mom or your girlfriend! This is the kind of meal that makes whoever takes you there look like the genius. The burgers, fantastic. I like mine medium rare. I only include the word medium so that some smart Alec kid doesn't serve me wagyo beef or beef Wellington.. in the same way, I want my eggs over medium .. I'm trying to say cook it SOMEWHAT, but I want to taste the red in it. I want the very middle decidedly undercooked. But the rest of it charred and cooked in its own grease if its too lean. I want to taste my beef and my eggs and I want to notice that the hollandaise sauce and the dressings are HOME MADE, not out of some can or bottle ..I suppose a quality base with real buttermilk and fresh organic herbs and garlic added.would suffice, but I'm talking BREAKFAST PERFECTION right now..here is my 2nd place. A virtual hole in the wall in guerneville called the River Inn..try their Cowboy Benedict ..you will love it but you won't cry. The food won't be SO good that you are afraid to smoke pot before you go because you will cry into your grass fed beef. This is a cut above a mere BREAKFAST JOINT; this is where quality meets amazing service. This is where the owners have trained the cooks to cook it exactly like there's supposed to .I am reminded of a few Italian places in town. We are gonna have a blast getting down to the nitty gritty of who cooks the best Italian food in town! But for BREAKFAST? Its the Americana. Pulling in just ahead of the Omelette Express, and any other Ma and Pa hole in the wall that DARES to make an authentic chicken fried stake with grandmas gravy recipe! Ya, it's pretty much settled, though there are MANY I haven't tried. But Americana has set the bar..if your breakfast is as good, then you are very very blessed indeed and you better give...

I am not sure if what we experience is abnormal but they have an incredibly inefficient way of running this place. We walked in and there were 3 groups in front of us (2 & 4 tops). We stood in line but there was little room in the entry way and after thinking I was waiting for the hostess, I realized you order at the "host" stand. So, there I am sitting in line with no idea how long of a "wait" there is. I had 3 young kids, who lost interest in waiting after about 10 minutes. At this point, I didn't want to leave because was hungry but I also had no idea how much longer this would take. After about 25 minutes, I got to order. I only ordered one $22 pancake plate for my 3 kids (2, 5 &6 ) because I figured they would be large and they already had fruit for breakfast. So, I pay and am expected to put gratuity on the bill even though I haven't even received any service at this point. After working in the industry for decades, I find it ridiculous that someone suggest I pay a tip for service before getting the service. The 5 of us were sat at a 4 top but we squeezed the baby in-between us. I ordered 4 waters and a coffee. They brought 3 for the kids and the coffee, nothing for me. Food arrived in a reasonable amount of time. My food was nice, the breakfast sandwich my husband got was on supermarket bread and could have easily been made at home. The big stack of pancakes were not huge, let alone large (for $22, I expected more) and there was barely any fruit on them. My older kids (who are not big eaters) ate them and were still hungry. I would normally have placed an order for more, but that would entail me having to go back to the front, stand in line to pay another $22 for below average pancakes. I know everything is expensive but that is ridiculous. So we left and went and got a snack...

Really not a good dining experience. We ordered two burgers, the chilaquiles, and a 2-stack of pancakes.

The burgers were pretty bad. I ordered medium rare and the burger came medium well. (I did mention the burger doneness to the server with the intention to pass the message along to the kitchen.) The quality of the beef was great, but there was no seasoning whatsoever in the meat. I've never once bit into a burger and said "wow, this needs salt." The tomato slice was totally anemic. For a place that prides itself on farm to table ingredients... what about just not serving out of season produce? There are no local tomatoes in May.

The fries with my burger were supposed to be "shoestring" fries according to the server. Definitely not the case. They were crispy on the outside and completely dry on the inside. Bad.

My wife had the same complaint about her burger. She got onion rings and they were decent for the first bite or two but became completely limp and inedible after a couple minutes.

The pancake was dry and very average, unbecoming of a $12 plate of two pancakes.

My sister's other dish, the chilaquiles, looked pretty good. I had a bite of the chips with the green salsa and they were tasty, though quite soggy.

I am quite appalled at how expensive our meal and two iced coffees cost. $88.49 before tip. I will under no circumstances be returning.

Better burgers at Beer Baron, Superburger, or pretty much anywhere else. Better prices literally...