It was tough deciding between 3 and 4 stars, and I ended up with "3.3 stars" for my review (rounded down to 3). Brewhemia serves up fairly good breakfasts and coffees in a warm, cozy, comfortable setting. They have a huge breakfast menu with a ton of choices, and a moderate-sized coffee menu. They seem to have trouble handling things when the place gets too busy, though. Here's a rundown of our orders over the two visits we made here, and what we thought of them:
Blueberry Pancakes: Super light and flavorful. Some of the best pancakes I've had, and so good you really don't even need to put syrup on them.
Cinnamon rolls: HUGE! Lots of flavor, with warm, moist insides and rich, gooey icing on top.
Breakfast burrito with chorizo: again, really big, super tasty, and pretty safe if you have issues with dairy, as long as you get it without cheese. We liked how it came with two different salsas.
Avocado toast: not my absolute favorite, but an ok choice, especially for the price. I feel like they could have put more avocado on it, and they really need to add some sort of oil and salt too. Also, was not a fan of the bread, it did not taste fresh.
Breakfast sandwhich: just ok, with too much butter on the bread, and not really all that tasty bread in general. Based on this and the avocado toast, I would recommend staying away from any breakfast items with sliced bread involved.
Coffee: They only offer one pour-over (fresh brew) option at a time, and it's made in a "Clever," which I really like. However, there is only one choice of beans if you want this option. It also took a REALLY long time to come out, even for a pour-over. In general, the pour-over culture does not seem to be very strong in Cedar Rapids yet, as this is not the only place I have experienced issues with fresh-brew coffee. The espresso drinks are good, and they have 4 batch-brew options at a time as well.
Service: They really need to improve this. They did not add the veggies that we asked for in our burrito (we even paid extra for them), and we didn't discover this until much later since we took it "to-go." They also had a hard time keeping the orders of our party of 7 straight the next morning, messing up the preparations of two of our breakfast sandwiches and one avocado toast (they ended up re-making two of these items).
The cafe itself: LOTS of comfy seating, including some larger tables for big parties. Bathrooms are sparkling clean. Tons of free parking around.
In summary, Brewhemia has some highs and lows, but is a solid choice for breakfast in Cedar Rapids, and will be even better if they can get some new bread choices, more pour-over options, and become more accurate with food orders. read more