Eggs Up Grill — Restaurant in Winter Garden

There are 3 simple things I look for when eating out...Great Quality Food, Good Service and a Fair Price.

I knew that Egg's Up Winter Garden is one of over 80 locations in a franchise-based network that began in the late 90's in Pawley's Island, SC near Myrtle Beach. The growth and success of this chain over the past 25 years certainly added credence to our decision to check them out.

Starting with price, I was shocked that a single cup of regular coffee is listed on their menu at $4.99, a price point that exceeds Starbucks. All the breakfast entrees were significantly higher in price than what I would expect to pay for standard morning fare. My wife and I dropped well over $50.00 (including tip) for a traditional breakfast with coffee...no alcohol.

On each of our three visits, the service was friendly but agonizingly slow. This truth most likely contributed to the fact that our food was not hot by the time it reached our table.

As for great quality breakfast food, it's acceptable without being exceptionable. I'm not a snob who would turn up my nose to a Waffle House breakfast. I find their 3-egg omelets much fluffier, packed with great flavor and consistently hot when served. Perhaps my expectations for a spectacular breakfast were much higher at an upscale restaurant like Egg's Up where the prices are significantly higher.

An Interesting Footnote: We were tipped off about a great alternative located just a couple miles away in a strip center outside of Ocoee, FL. Known as the Breakfast Club, we found this restaurant is nearly identical to Egg’s Up in style, seating capacity and cleanliness. When it comes to prices, however, it was night and day. We each ordered 3-eggs with potatoes (or grits) along with 2 pieces of buttered toast for $3.99. Adding our choice of bacon, sausage or ham increased the bill by $1.00. A bottomless cup of good coffee was $1.99. The total per meal came to $6.98 plus tax and tip and our final bill was under $20.00, less than half of a comparable breakfast at Eggs Up. I sought out the young owner who appeared to be in his early thirties with a single question, “how do you manage to make this work”? He basically said that he makes it work with volume sales, quick service and a strong emphasis on providing value to his community. I was struck by the thought that as a customer, I’ve always tried to support local business. It was refreshing to hear this young business owner turn it around and say how important it was for him to support his local community. I left there with a thankful heart that we all have choices along with the freedom...

eggs up grill discrimination review

lets start the review by reviewing the Florida LAW on service animals

Florida Statute: Service Animals Florida Statute 413.08 similarly defines a service animal as an animal that is trained to perform tasks for an individual with a disability. In places of public accommodation a service animal is defined as a dog or miniature horse. The tasks may include, but are not limited to, guiding a person who is visually impaired or blind, alerting a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, pulling a wheelchair, assisting with mobility or balance, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, retrieving objects, alerting an individual to the presence of allergens, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to an individual with a mobility disability, helping an individual with a psychiatric or neurological disability by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors, reminding an individual with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming an individual with posttraumatic stress disorder during an anxiety attack. A service animal is not a pet.” The difference between Florida law and the Federal law pertains to Service animals-in-training. Florida Statute 413.08(8) specifically states: “Any trainer of a service animal, while engaged in the training of such an animal, has the same rights and privileges with respect to access to public facilities and the same liability for damage as is provided for those persons described in subsection (3) accompanied by service animals

now that we have addressed the LAW lets address the wait staff that discriminated against my friends service animal.

theres no law that states you have to provided paperwork. (which i happily did) the wait staff challenged my credentials. im a disabled vet (on vacation from another state) i showed her my id and she made up some lie about her manager losing her "serving" license. really out of touch and just pure ignorant bigotry. plain and simple. the staff discriminatea against disabled individuals. maybe if my legs were blown off or i was in a wheel chair she wouldve let me sit with my service animal. be better, florida. stop being so discriminatory. i have plenty of money to spend some where else. theres more than enough restaurants in winter garden where i wont feel ostracized for having an "invisible" disability.

an absolute shame that i wont let tarnish an otherwise amazing...

Food is as expected. Coffee is hot. I have experienced some inconsistencies in service, however.

Today, I requested buttered toast as my side item, but received it dry.  When I pointed this out to my server Sabrina D (it took awhile to get her attention) I was told that the bread does not come buttered and that patrons need to butter their own. Her explanation of the policy was a bit unclear; she mentioned not having the time and also the lack of gloves (I didn't realize that the restaurant needed special gloves to handle toast).

My response to her was that I could have been told this when I first requested buttered toast instead of silently taking my request, which would have saved us both time and inconvenience.

The establishment has every right to impose limitations on how they serve their food. I only ask that these be communicated at the time of request.

I don't think asking for buttered toast is  unreasonable when I'm paying for a meal. The only other time in recent memory that this has occurred (at a different restaurant) the situation was immediately corrected (along with unnecessary apologies). Usually when eating at a diner you have to go out of your way to NOT get butter on your toast.

Interestingly enough, on my previous visit here (just yesterday) I asked for (and received) buttered toast.

ETA - I briefly alluded to it above but I wanted to emphasize how most of the unpleasantness of the situation could have been avoided by simple communication and by merely checking on the customer to verify that everything was ok during their meal. I should not have been required to waste my dining experience trying to get the server's attention (who seemed to be more interested in chatting with a bar patron and rolling...