Seaside Cafe and Bakery, Great Food but…

I’ve been to the Seaside Cafe and Bakery before for their coffee, which is excellent, and had once ordered some of their fabulous Lasagna for a party, but I’d never been there for breakfast. A friend had told me the breakfast was incredible and judging from what I knew of the owner’s passion for food, I was salivating at the thought of trying it.

So a few weeks ago, one beautiful Sunday morning around 10 AM, two of us went there for breakfast. I grabbed the only available table in the small and busy cafe, while my companion went in to order (counter service only). I already knew what I wanted because I’d heard about the incredible French Toast.

There were only four people ahead of us in line, but it took 20 minutes for her to come out, and although the order had finally been placed she didn’t have our coffee in hand. They would bring it out. She told me a story of the woman in front of her in line that asked for the egg sandwich, but requested nicely that the bread be on the side instead of with the egg scramble in the middle. A simple request, but the answer was that they could not do that. Bad sign.

I really needed that coffee, but we had to wait about another 20 minutes for it to be delivered. That’s about 40 minutes so far. While we were sitting there, I overheard a woman at a nearby table say, “That’s the last time I eat here, they always screw up my order.”

We suspected that it might be a while for our food to arrive, so we sipped our coffee ever so slowly, trying to make it last until our food was on the table without letting it get too cold. I’d say it was another 20 minutes after we got our coffee that my French Toast came, followed a few minutes later by an egg sandwich. We had to get up and get some water because by then we had no more coffee.

The food was great and in large portions. But by then the excitement had worn off. After wating an hour, we were already disappointed. It’s unfortunate, because I know the owner is serious about the food, and it is damn good. But to me, service is just as important. I know it was busy, but I suspect it’s always busy on the weekends. And the staff said nothing to lead me to believe the wait was unusual. So, I won’t be going back for breakfast; just coffee perhaps when it’s not crowded. Some people don’t mind a wait; if that’s you, give it a shot; the food won’t disappoint. Or, perhaps go earlier than we went.

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