The Southern Cafe - St. Charles, IL — Restaurant in St. Charles

This place has potential, but unfortunately, it fell short in many areas. While it looks nice at first glance, cleanliness is a serious issue. There was a rag hanging from the ceiling above our table, covered in dust. The ventilation system is chaotic—air leaks in through the windows, while the bathroom upstairs is uncomfortably hot due to blasting heat. The stairs are uneven and feel unsafe; it’s surprising that they passed inspection in St. Charles.

As for the service, our server was good, but the staff overall seemed disorganized. For example, when we asked for a coffee refill, instead of another staff member bringing it or relaying the request, they fetched our server, and we had to repeat ourselves. Additionally, we were served spoiled orange juice in three cups, though the server quickly resolved the issue by opening a fresh bottle.

The food was the biggest disappointment. The presentation draws attention to portion size, but the quality is severely lacking. I came here on a recommendation to try the “nasty biscuit,” but it was anything but enjoyable. The gravy portion was minimal and barely covered the biscuit, which was broken, dry, and flavorless. The chicken portion was decent, but it couldn’t save the dish. I also ordered a side of fresh blueberry pancakes, but they were similarly dry and lacked the flavor of quality buttermilk pancakes. While some blueberries were fine, a few were spoiled.

This was supposed to be a special breakfast to celebrate my sister’s birthday with my wife, kids, sister, and nieces, but we all left disappointed. For the $216 I spent for 6 adults and 2 kids, the experience was far from worth it. The place may look nice, but the cleanliness, ventilation issues, and mediocre food make it a hard pass. Honestly, McDonald’s breakfast would have been a better choice. Save your money and skip this place.

BTW, I take my family out often and eat out at least 10 times a month for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While we live in Chicago, we frequently visit restaurants all over and have tried several breakfast spots in St. Charles. For comparison, Tasty Biscuit Pancake House down the street is far better than this place. Don’t waste your time...

My overall grade for Southern Cafe is: A-

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and we decided to finally try Southern Cafe as we pass by the place frequently. It's a gloomy, rainy Sunday and we arrived at 9:30 AM, thinking, it would be almost empty and we'd get right in. Well, there was a wait, it was about 25 minutes and we received one of those vibrating beeper things. Huge upside while you wait, besides perusing the menu to see what we'd like to order, you can walk up to their "bar" area and order some mimosas to help you wait. The drink was delicious and apparently, (see photo) there are many, many different flavors of mimosa you can order. Blood Orange for me next time.

The menu is big and there are lots of great items to choose from. I chose to go with what they seem to be famous for, the B, G & E. Biscuits, gravy & eggs. My wife wanted to order the chicken and waffles which seems to be a big draw, but was told it would be a 30-minute wait (just like when you order an apple pancake at other places).

My only "beef" here is that the chicken & waffles, does not have (30-minute dish) on the menu, and since we waited 15-25 minutes for our tables, it would be amazing if we could "pre-order" this 30-minute dish so that it'll be ready when you sit down.

Other than this, the food was great, service was exceptional and the atmosphere is great. There are multiple floors and the place can seat a ton of people.

The next time, we'll try to pre-order the chicken & waffles and I'll make it a point to order the pancakes which for me are a make or break item for a great breakfast place.

We didn't try their coffee, but it seems to be a better than the regular breakfast restaurant coffee.

If you don't mind waiting for a table, I highly recommend this restaurant. They're opened for lunch as well.

We will be back, Southern Cafe. ...

Update: Went here for a second time and we were ignored for about 15 minutes before we went and asked someone for help. The server came out and apologized for the error and it kind of went down hill from there. No utensils were given, drinks were not asked for when we arrived and when we got the drinks, there was no spoon for the coffee to stir. The experience this time around was not the greatest. It's a shame as I really want to like this place but the last experience seems like the normal. I brushed off the server ignoring us the first time as a new restaurant still working out the kinks, but having it happen a second time is not good...

What a great experience! The restaurant is bright and welcoming compared to the restaurant that was there prior. Cant even tell what used to be there. The food is amazing and the portions are HUGE! The nasty biscuit is a monolith of food and should definitely be share by 2 people as it is so large. All the food was cooked perfectly. The wait staff was friendly although didn't come to the table as much as we liked. We had to summon her a couple of times to get her to come to our table, but she was very attentive and friendly. The amount of food is incredible and you will be bringing some home. I will be returning again as soon as i can! One note: enough with the breakfast/lunch restaurants! St Charles has too many already. We need more dinner options for families. The big chains get boring after a while, we need more family owned...