Metro Diner — Restaurant in Sarasota

We stopped by this place on a hunch after arriving in Sarasota from Miami at the crack of dawn. We were tired and hungry from the drive, so we went on in and were actually the first customers of the day. The staff were immediately jovial and welcomed us like we were family. The menu was extensive but had a vast array of southern US classic options, including some new and unique ones.

Since we had a long day ahead of us to explore Sarasota, we opted for a generous brunch rich with protein. My mother opted for the fried chicken and waffles, while I enjoyed the classic Bissell Breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, a biscuit, and replaced the pancakes with perhaps my new all-around favorite breakfast item: the Lemon Blueberry Waffle! It was pure heaven the entirety of our time eating. We were particularly surprised by the house-made fried chicken, which for the price offered a lot of cuts each chock full of meat and little excess oil/grease.

As cliche as it is to say, it all tasted like how we would home cook our own breakfast times 10. Our server Jacqui spared no small effort to look after us and strike up some nice morning conversation, which we greatly appreciated. Not to mention the ambience and general energy of all those around us, which harkens back to good old southern hospitality, which as it turns out is not dead this side of Florida. Overall this place excels in all categories and we will absolutely be returning here next time we come to Sarasota, which hopefully will be sooner than later....

Ordered a simple French toast breakfast for kids To go and this will be my last order. Whoever packaged the food left out the eggs bacon and hash browns to begin, French toast was so soggy after a 4 minute ride home children could not even eat. Called to inform them what happened was placed on hold for 10 minutes talked to three different people before a manager finally offered a voucher. Your better off going to McDonald's across the street or peaches in the same plaza seeing as how they can not read tickets or double check orders at Metro. Additionally the soggy french toast must have been soaked in batter too long or dunked completely so the cooks obviously have no idea what they are doing. As for my western omelette with salsa look at the actual pic I just took versus the menu pic they falsely advertise on their website. Last of all after I grudgingly decided to eat this "omelette" the egg is not even completely cooked and the omelette is watery and not egg not cooked properly. Not sure who is running this kitchen or staff but definitely needs an overhaul or retraining all the way around the board. This place is a complete joke stay away! Jacqui was the server who took the order Jill and Heidi placed me on hold for 10 minutes over two phone calls and Michelle was the "manager" I waited for in those 10 minutes. I wouldn't trust this kitchen staff to use a microwave to reheat my McDonald's let alone cook another meal for me...

When we arrived (6/23/19, our first visit by the way) we did have to wait a little bit for a booth to be cleared. Keep in mind, we wanted a booth so we were willing to wait. The only thing that annoyed me was the lack of a sense of urgency from the hostess and the gentleman (waiter? management?) that just kept talking to her while we waited over 5 minutes for the one empty booth to be cleaned off. Things did start to look up once we got to our table and we were greeted by our waitress and she was amazing. We watched her the whole time we were there and she flew around that restaurant and was the only staff person there that had a sense of urgency. She took our order and I don't think 10 maybe 15 minutes went by and we had our food. I had the Eggs Benedict with hashbrowns and both were excellent! My husband had the Denver Omelet and it was huge! He said it was really good but his only complaint is that the onions and peppers weren't grilled...it was like they were baked and put in the omelet with all the moisture, so it kind of had a "wet veggie" consistency inside, but overall tasted good. Again I would have to say our visit overall was great and made even better by our fabulous waitress! We will...