We don't go out for breakfast very often. It was on a whim that we decided to pop into one of our old favorites, Half Day Café, today after a walk around the lagoon...
Overall, this is a very mixed review. While the food was good, it wasn't fantastic, and definitely not comensurate with the price tag of $52 for two, including tip.
We've been coming here off and on for decades. We remember welcoming staff, being seated with a warm smile and humor. Instead, this visit we were seated immediately but without any welcoming smile. This level of service continued throughout. Adequate, but without charm or warmth. We'd get more warmth from our dog if we ate at home.
Next, our food. We ordered a Belgian Waffle with Whole Wheat-Sunflower Seeds and the fruit cup option. The waffle was good, and we liked the added texture from the sunflower seeds. The fruit was a mix of underripe mellon (crunchy), a piece of papaya (good), half a strawberry (good), and a couple of grapes. For a fresh fruit bowl, we'd want all of the fruit to be at its peak of ripeness, or don't serve it.
I ordered the Brioche French Toast. The menu said "coffee-Kahlua batter, served with orange butter". I totally forgot about the coffee-Kahlua batter in the description until just now. I did not taste any hint of the Kahlua/coffee. The orange butter was ok.
I was served 5 half slices of the French Toast. I knew this would be more than I was going to eat, and so we got a box to take home the rest.
There was an extra $3 charge if we wanted real maple syrup. We opted for the default, fake maple syrup. It was fine.
Nothing comes with the French Toast, so I ordered a side of hash browns. Those were pretty good, crispy outside, still hot.
Our waiter never came back to check how things were. I tried to get his attention for some ketchup, but ended up just walking over to the cabinet and taking it myself.
To drink we both ordered decaf mocha. It was very foamy, very chocolatey, and very sweet. Our first sips were great, but halfway through the drink, we found a half inch layer of chocolate sludge at the bottom. I guess it was never fully mixed into the drink (is this something we're supposed to do?). When we stirred it in, the mocha was almost undrinkable it was so sweet. I asked our server as he was clearing our plates if he could top it off with some plain decaf. He promptly did, and that helped balance out the sugar content.
Overall, we were disappointed. The best part was our conversation with each other, and having an unusual change of pace by having breakfast out. But when we thought about the actual breakfast and service, we decided this would not be a place we'd come back to for any future breakfast. That's sad, because we have such nice memories over the years.
Further Update:
I've been thinking about our breakfast for a couple of days, and wanted to add something. The overarching feeling was that we were being nickel and dimed. At least with the two dishes we ordered, they were barebones. Nothing came with our meals -- everything was à la carte. There was the waffle/French toast, but nothing else on the plate. No option for whipped cream, no garnish (like a slice of orange), nothing to make the plate pretty. It just felt like the restaurant was doing everything they could to keep their prices as low as possible at the detriment of what they were actually serving to us. Add to that the uninspired service, and we felt like we weren't appreciated as customers. Maybe if I didn't have such fond memories of how the restaurant used to be years ago this wouldn't have been such an issue. But it really felt like we lost a special place. read more