Dined Monday August 25th

The Breakfast Room

The Eggs are Crying..

Address: 676 Main St, West Dennis, MA 02670

Website: The Breakfast Room

1. Initial impression of convenience, parking, and location.

• The parking was convenient located again off the main street of West Dennis. We remark location on a main drag a surprise but if we were restaurateurs we would likely place our spot in a heavy traffic area as well.
• There was ample parking on the side and in the rear.
• The exterior is dated and worn. The interior is equally without updates except for the air conditioning system whose white plastic shell stood out amongst the wood build and antique knick knacks.
• It has to be mentioned that the initial smell was pungent at the entrance and although it faded as we entered the seating area it never really disappeared completely.

2. Wait time to be greeted, seated, and first impressions of staff.

• We stepped in behind a party of four who were promptly sat and then we were addressed by an older woman, grandmother type, who directed us towards a seat of our choosing in a particular quadrant of the restaurant.  We sat in the available window seat.
• The older woman was in fashionable clothes and the servers wore uniforms and aprons.

3. Type of seating, comfort, wait time for server introduction.

• As always, the seats were wooden, however in this instance they were not solid wood; they were made up of multiple wooden strips.

• Comfort was lacking in these flimsy wooden seats.

• Our server took a bit of time to arrive at our table. The gentleman's first thought about her was noting the fact that her socks did not match.

4. Variety of menu options (too many/too little)

• The menu at The Breakfast Room also served as the place mat, thus preventing having to hand out menus, as well as wipe down the place mats.
• It was one small page, and there was also a specials blackboard.

Notice the Email Address... Time for an update?

5. Menu highlights of uncommon items.

• Cape Cod Spuds. Home fries with peppers, broccoli, onions, bacon, tomatoes and hollandaise sauce.

6. Speed of food delivery, and first impressions of plating, initial aroma.

• Good timing on food delivery.

• The gentleman’s plate was packed with food while the lady’s had too much open real estate.

• No aroma to note.

7. TASTE!

• Coffee. It seems as though coffee is the most difficult to get right.

• The gentleman's Pancake Special was indeed special. It was a new take on the usual 2X4 or meat, egg and pancake plate we were used to. Instead of two pancakes they offered three, two eggs is reduced to one, the choice of meat is either/or not both and the dish is served with home fries. Instead of plain cakes, chocolate chips pancakes were selected instead to sweeten things up. The meat was changed up too so instead of bacon or sausage the meal was accompanied by hash. The lady stated this was the first time the gent had not completed his meal.  It was too much food.  Quantity over quality is how one can qualify this meal. The tastes were fine but leaned too hard towards bland than flavorful.

• The lady was not exactly sure what she wanted to eat today, but settled for her standard fare. One egg over easy, linguica, but to change it up a bit, pumpernickel bread as opposed to rye. The linguica at The Breakfast Room was not pleasant. It was riddled with hunks of fat, did not have a nice crunch to the outside, and was greasy. So greasy that the plate was slick by the end of the meal. The pumpernickel was delicious, and by far the best part of this meal. Which speaks volumes when you consider that all they had to do was push a lever down to make it.

8. Value of product.

• This was one of the cheapest breakfasts we have had thus far, the whole meal not including tip coming in at less than $20.

• Coffee $1.99

• Side of meat $2.99

• 2 eggs and meat $5.95

• Muffins $2.25

9. Payment options.

• Cash

• MC/VIsa/Amex?

Overall Rating: 6

We can now strike The Breakfast Room off of our list of places to go, and never return. It was not disgusting, however there was nothing there that we would need to have again. The cost of this breakfast was very cheap. This may be why it is so popular, people will often go somewhere to get more food for less money if quality is not at the top of their list of needs.

Quantity over quality is not how we roll.

Dined Monday August 18th

Bonatt's Bakery & Restaurant

Address: 537 Massachusetts 28, Harwich Port, MA 02646

Website: Bonatt's Bakery & Restaurant

1. Initial impression of convenience, parking, and location.

• The parking area is located behind the property. The host stand is located at the rear entrance. The bakery at the front. Convenient for all parkers but for walkers it may be confusing. There is a hallway that takes you though the bakery side to the restaurant, however it is not near the host stand.
• We had to park in an adjacent lot for overflow parking.

2. Wait time to be greeted, seated, and first impressions of staff.

• We were met at the door by a woman dressed in business casual attire. She asked how many we were and glanced slowly at the tables to her left, then right, and then offered us the counter as nothing was available anywhere else.  

3. Type of seating, comfort, wait time for server introduction.

• Sitting at the counter was a new breakfast experience, as it is not something we have done yet on our breakfast travels. The seats were wooden, but they swiveled, which always adds excitement and glee to any seating experience.
• There were no other patrons sitting at the bar, so it was almost like our own table.
• We were offered coffee by our server, however she did not introduce herself to us. Writing this, I have had an epiphany, that it is a rare thing on Cape Cod for your server to tell you their name. The amount of tourists that pass over the bridges may have caused the dining locations to have less of a ‘guest experience’ and more of a numbers game.

4. Variety of menu options (too many/too little)

• Two pages of breakfast options were listed on the menu. We liked the organization of the menu. Try and follow along.  It was a tri-fold menu with the first interior page listing the first page of breakfast items, the back side of the third page served as the second page of breakfast items - meaning that to see the entire breakfast menu one would only have to turn one page not two. Kudos.
• It had enough choices but the gent still had a difficult time narrowing it down. The server came by twice in a eight minute window and then waited eight minutes to come back after that.

5. Menu highlights of uncommon items.

• Meltaway (The baked good this location is known for)

• Meltaway French Toast
• Crepe of the Day (Menu Board provides the daily offerings)
• Quiche of the Day

6. Speed of food delivery, and first impressions of plating, initial aroma.

• The food was delivered very quickly. It felt as though we had just placed our order, had a sip of coffee, and then our plates were in front of us. Did they know what we were going to order?
• The food to plate ratio was not even, there was not enough room for all of the food, and the toast was piled on top. This was strange, as the toast was provided to the servers on a separate plate. Why not just serve it that way? Those dishes will need to be washed regardless. Give me my toast separately.

7. TASTE!

• Coffee. Ew. The flavour of this coffee was sneaky. It seemed okay at first, but the more you drank of it, the worse it got. The gentleman was not aware of the poor flavour until it was pointed out by the lady. Thus ruining the desire to have more.
• The Gentleman ate Jim’s special. Similar to all the other breakfasts he has had lately this one consisted of scrambled eggs, two pancakes, two slices of bacon, and home fries.  The gentleman also entertained the famous meltaway.  Eggs - enh. Pancakes - nothing special. Bacon - amazing, amazing, I wish there was more in me. Home fries - better than just potatoes. Meltaway - not as wonderful as remembered. They used to offer the meltaway for free just for showing up. The Foursquare (smartphone application with check-ins and reviews/tips) tips mentioned that the ownership had changed hands recently implementing some unwelcome changes. To me the charging of the first meltaway certainly drives the score down and makes the restaurant less of a destination.

• The Lady's meal of the morning was of course, eggs, toast, home fries, and meat. Linguica was the choice today. The linguica was better here than most places have been, it was more hot dog texture and less sausage texture. That’s how The Lady prefers it. Yum yum! The eggs were cooked well. The marble rye was a little too buttery, I’d like it moist and not dripping. The home fries were soft, but had a decent flavour, reminiscent of the spices one would place on potatoes baked in the oven. They would have been superb had they been crunchy.  There was a slice of melon on the plate as well. This did not add to the plate at all. This actually imbued the toast with a hint of cantaloupe. Not okay.
• The lady acquired a meltaway to share with her husband at home.

8. Value of product.

• If this location still offered a meltaway for free with each meal, the cost would be acceptable. With the fact that this is no longer part of their M.O. this breakfast is expensive.
• Coffee $3.00 per bottomless cup
• Side of bacon $2.50
• 2 eggs and choice of meat $8.00
• Muffins not available as a side order here, as they offer meltaways for $2.57

9. Payment options.

• We really should be checking this more thoroughly.
• They took the Visa that was presented. So cash, Visa/MC are most likely.

Overall Rating: 6/10

Overall:

We have decided that Bonatt’s would have received a 7 if the meltaway was still offered just for showing up. The prices they charge only make sense when you include the cost of a pastry. The food was actually pretty decent, there was not a part of the meal that turned our stomachs. The change of ownership resulted in this change of offerings, and we feel as though they have lost the one thing that made this restaurant special.

Dined Monday August 11th

Big Al's Breakfast and Lunch

1076 Route 28, South Yarmouth, MA 02664

Facebook: Big Al's

1. Initial impression of convenience, parking, and location.

• Conveniently surrounded by the DMV, Ocean State Job Lot (similar to Giant Tiger for all of our Canadian followers) and Auto Zone, the parking was aplenty here, as a result of it being in a large strip mall.
• They were open! It was inconvenient to drive here one week ago and be notified by sheet of paper that they were not there. We hardly visit this location (restaurant, auto zone, dmv) often enough to be notified ahead of time that a random restaurant of our choosing would be out for the day so we cannot fault them too much.  Although we were hungry and thus cranky because of it.

2. Wait time to be greeted, seated, and first impressions of staff.

• We were promptly greeted by a lady behind the counter and asked to pick any table along the wall. We chose the one next to the one with a sign above it that read “Happy wife, happy life.” We are not married, nor dating each other and although anyone who sees a man and a woman eating together assumes so we decided not to draw any more attention to it.
• The staff was dressed casually but in a decent work like uniform of black shirts and pants.

3. Type of seating, comfort, wait time for server introduction.

• We sat along the wall underneath the expansive specials black board. The board, although wide and room length long, had only one item for breakfast and one item for lunch listed as an addition to the regular menu.
• The table was draped with black fabric and plexiglass laid on top for protection.
• The servers name was either Coffee or she was offering us coffee but either way that’s all she said.

4. Variety of menu options (too many/too little)

• The breakfast choices available at Big Al’s were typical of every other breakfast restaurant ever.

5. Menu highlights of uncommon items.

• This location had no specialty items, or menu choice that they were known for. We did not dare ask “what is good here?”

6. Speed of food delivery, and first impressions of plating, initial aroma.

• The food was delivered three minutes earlier than expected. It was cooked properly and throughout it just seemed quick.
• We found the portions generous. The plates did not properly hold the food, almost like we ate buffet style and didn’t want to make two trip so we piled food on top of itself.

7. TASTE!

• Coffee. Perfectly neutral.
• The gentlemen's breakfast was titled “Alec’s breakfast” in contrast to it’s sister breakfast with a woman’s name with half the portions. So it was up HIS alley as he is a man that does not hit from the woman’s tee. If we were to continue literally on the the golf metaphor he cannot hit to the woman’s tee from the man’s tee so this is hardly a decent metaphor. The meal included 2 pancakes, 2 eggs (over-medium), 2 sausage, 2 bacons, home fries, and toast (white). The pancakes were delicious, sweet and excellent consistency. The eggs were perfect, they were hard enough to pick up and lay on my toast and soft enough that when punctured drip so the toast may sop it up. The sausage sucked. Maybe in the future I can ask for two portions of bacon except here because the bacon wasn’t great either. The home fries were bland alone but tasty when dipped in ketchup.

• The lady's breakfast choice was one egg, homefries, and toast with a side of Linguica (oh how I miss Polish Sausage). The toast was superb, the rye flavour distinct and glorious. The butter was loaded on to the toast, and a press of my knife caused the liquified milk fat to ooze forth from the soft bread. The egg was just the right amount, two eggs would have been far too much this morning. The linguica was butterflied and grilled on the flat top. It had surprise nuggets of rock hard rubbery gristle studded throughout. Each bite was an adventure to discover these prizes. The home fries were potatoes.

8. Value of product.

• The lack of an egg and meat combo means that these two items must be ordered separately. The cost combined of one egg with a side of linguica was $6.90, this cost was only two dollars less than The Gentleman’s Alec special, which included two of everything.
• Coffee $1.95 per bottomless cup
• Side of bacon $2.95
• 2 eggs and choice of meat Not available, this was a egg combo + pay for meat on the side location.
• Muffins $1.95

9. Payment options.

• MC/Visa (AMEX unknown)
• Cash

Overall Rating: 6/10

Overall, Big Al’s had breakfast. It was not the greatest the Cape has to offer, but it also was not the worst. The restaurant was clean (at least the front, we did not see the kitchen) and it has been around for a long time. If we were in the area, we would still likely make a point to go elsewhere for breakfast. This would not be first on our list.

A Week On-Call

We decided to take a risk this Monday and tempt fate. The gentleman is on-call again at his place of employment. He must carry around a second cell phone to be notified in case there is an over abundance of work that nobody else can take. Some may say he's a hero.

Our destination today was Big Al's Breakfast and Lunch in South Yarmouth. Located within a strip mall beside the DMV, across from previously reviewed Piccadilly Deli. The gent was secretly keeping this place under wraps to better avoid it when their name came around in the alphabet. Eating between the automobile government and a tire store does not scream appealing food. We researched the reviews to put our stomachs at ease and set forth on today’s adventure.

It was closed.  

“OPEN 7 Days a week” the large sign screamed.  “Sorry we are closed on Monday August 4th,” the smaller taped paper sign read. WTF. Do we try again? The last time this happened we rated the restaurant a 6. Will that be the case for all randomly closed doors? Is that even logical? Father said you need something to happen three times before there’s a rhythm. Since previous reviews from non seasoned reviewers were generous, I think we might give it a second shot. If we are scorned again I can’t withhold judgement on the next door we cannot open.

What’s that?

It’s a push?

Thanks.

Tempting fate doesn't mean it won’t bite you in the ass.  Half way between the strip mall and another choice breakfast, the gentleman was called into work.  Home we were to go but not before swinging around the long way from Main St. (Route 28) to Main St. (Route 6A) and stopping for coffee, blended juice, and egg paninis, back at The Underground Bakery.

(Apologies - no images of food as it was to go and it is unsafe to take photos while eating and drinking and driving.)