Sunlight Cafe — Restaurant in Seattle

Be weary of takeout/pickup orders, service is slow and they didn't respect the ETA that's given

I ordered from Uber Eats for pickup and I arrived about 5 minutes before the absolute latest that the app suggests the order will take (restaurant is able to see this ETA by the way). There's about a dozen or so folks here, so not incredibly busy. I asked how long it would take and the hostess says 10 minutes after briefly talking with the chefs. Sure, 5 minutes over ETA is fine. I wait 20 minutes at the bar and I still haven't gotten the order. They haven't given me updates either, so I ask the hostess again for an ETA and get an answer from the chef "we're working on it", not giving me useful information. After another almost 10 minutes I finally get the order (totalling almost 30 MINUTES past the original ETA). It seems like they prioritize the sitting guests tbh.

The food itself was OK. The vegetable and Tofu dish had a lot of sauce so the rice soaked it all and was pretty salty. The Tempe burger was missing grilled onions that I ordered. One of the buns was also a bit stale because they dropped one and didn't give ample time for the replacement one to get moist.

What frustrated me the most about this is that the staff was not very busy (chatting amongst each other) and they seemed to have ignored or forgot about the ETA they provided. I was very visibly there at the bar and the hostess walked past me a couple times. They also didn't feel apologetic that they were making me wait such a long amount of time. I felt no empathy from them and felt quite disrespected.

Not...

We were eager to try a new vegan restaurant so we chose this one because we were in the area. When we walked in there was a “Karen” complaining about her order but we just chuckled and didn’t think much of it. Wait staff was polite and punctual, but we did have to ask for a forgotten item from our order. I ordered the tofu and home fries with a fruit cup, bf ordered French toast with blueberries. Our food was brought out fast, but it didn’t look like anything I would choose if I saw it beforehand. My plate was a collage of brown and black cubes and mush. I tried it anyway and was immediately disappointed- I knew what Karen was talking about. The tofu seemed to be seasoned with only salt and burnt edges. I tried to mix it with the potatoes to help stunt the salt burn on my tongue, but the potatoes were so burned that it was difficult to find a piece that was big enough. I really tried to eat it because I don’t like wasting food, but even adding fruit from my fruit cup wasn’t enough. Oh, and I added honey to both items, but again, it wasn’t enough to overpower the salt. As for my bf’s French toast he said it was like rubbery eggs wrapped around the plainest bread ever, with absolutely no seasoning (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) I did appreciate that they offered oat milk, rather than only soy, as an alternative for my coffee, but that is the only positive thing I can say about the...

I don’t make it down this way very often but I make a point to hit up Sunlight whenever I get the chance. Great breakfast food! Great atmosphere and the staff are friendly and attentive.

The huevos rancheros is my go-to.

I would really appreciate if some different hot sauces were offered. I notice that there is a nice selection of local beers and ciders available on tap, however the hot sauce selection is Cholula. That feels very inconsistent to me. In a greasy diner establishment I can understand the expectation of bud light and Cholula, but in a place like this, it doesn’t make sense. There is a huge variety of local hot sauces available that are much better tasting and be more in line with the vibe of this establishment than Cholula or Tabasco or any of the other standard choices. Might I suggest Callahan’s, Hot Dame, or even Secret Aardvark? The taste of any of these options far surpasses the usuals. The retail prices seem to align to what is currently offered, though I am sure there are other considerations from the owner’s POV.

Thank you for so many outstanding breakfasts! Please get some better...