Feeling like I can finally make a verdict on Cups as I've been here twice now. The first experience was rough but I gave them another try, the second try was better in many ways but still a bit lackluster for all of the hype. I'll explain.
Cups definitely is one of the more popular breakfast spots on this side of town. Both times we came for breakfast we've had to wait. No biggie, it's a popular spot. Comes with the territory. However, now that I've come here, I am missing some of the hype of what keeps people coming back.
The most consistent review I can give about this spot is that they have a fabulous menu with some unique and traditional items (something for everyone) and that the interior of this spot is super cute. They live up to the name "cups".
The food here is probably a solid 3 stars. The first time I came I had the lobster Benedict. It sounded lovely and where can you get lobster for breakfast away from the beach? Well the lobster was really terrible. I had assumed it was just a bad day, hadn't thought much of it, but then a fellow below had the same exact issues with the lobster I did so now I can see it's consistently bad. The lobster was chewy and overly translucent. Undercooked possibly but what made it even worse was the temp of the lobster, it wasn't chilled or warm, on Benedict I would expect warm/hot but it was like a cool room temperature...was worried I'd get sick.
The dish I tried the second time that was just right was the chilaquiles with red sauce. The portion size was huge and I felt that the flavors were spot on. A pretty dish and tasty. However, I'm a chilaquiles snob and I can name better ones in the desert. So would I come back for these? No. But would someone who likes chilaquiles be happy with the dish, definitely.
Now as for the service, another super hit or miss. The first time (the terrible lobster time) the service was pretty terrible. I had ordered a beer which never came out and our waiter rarely checked up on us. When it was time to pay we asked him multiple times for the check and he would forget to bring it. It got to the point that we flagged what looked to be the female manager, explained we'd had trouble getting our check to pay and leave, she said she would look into it, and then never came back nor did the check quickly appear. It was comical at that point so we flagged our waiter for the 3rd time and then he brought it.
And just to confuse you all even more, the second time we came the service was exceptional. Our waiter was super nice and took our order quickly. Everything we ordered was brought out as we wanted it. He was nice and efficient.
At the end of the day we had one rough experience here (1 star) and one pretty good/OK experience here (4 stars) that's where I am safely landing at 3 stars.
Would I come back? Probably not, or not in a rush to but should it be the spot picked by a group, I wouldn't turn it down. Hopefully with time the food improves because I was really expecting more given the long wait times and some of the pretty positive reviews I read. read more