I have been here several times because I want to like the food. I really do. I kept going back…read morebefore writing this because I wanted to be fair to the owner and make sure, I wasn't just catching them on an off day. Unfortunately, after multiple visits, I can confirm: it was not a fluke. It was a pattern. A very salty pattern.
The good first:
Every single time, the staff has been fantastic. Friendly, helpful, and honestly carrying this place on their backs. The food also comes out hot, and the restaurant is clean, which I genuinely appreciate.
Breakfast
The sandwich with egg, bacon, garlic aioli, and brioche bun was actually good. The egg and aioli did their best to negotiate peace with the sodium levels, and somehow it worked.
The cozy rolls, when served warm, are excellent. Emphasis on warm. Once they cool off, the magic leaves the building.
The sides were overall solid and pretty consistent.
Lunch
The meats are always well-cooked, both in texture and flavor.
The burger was also cooked perfectly every time, which makes what happened next even more confusing.
The sides were generally great, though the cheesy potatoes seem to spin a flavor wheel before service. One visit they were rich and creamy, the next they seemed to have lost the will to live.
Now for the rough part
Breakfast
The breakfast is, without exaggeration, wildly salty. Not "a little heavy-handed." Not "seasoned generously." I mean "did someone drop this directly into the Dead Sea?" salty. It was the only meal I had that day because I could still taste it hours later. I wasn't digesting breakfast so much as preserving it.
The redeye bacon had a good texture, but any trace of pork or coffee flavor had apparently been arrested and removed from the premises. No syrup was served to balance it out, so what you get is not that classic redeye flavor -- just a full-force sodium uppercut. I don't know if it's the brine or the cure, but wow.
The biscuits and gravy were a real struggle. I usually love biscuits and gravy, but this felt less like breakfast and more like a personal challenge. I couldn't taste the sausage, there was no hot sauce available on any visit, and the only real notes coming through were salt and grease. It had visibly separated to the point that it looked like the gravy had given up. My only suggestion there would be less salt, less grease, maybe unsalted butter, and a better stir before it hits the table.
Lunch
The burger was cooked well, but it mostly tasted like meat wearing a tiny decorative amount of coleslaw and sauce as an accessory. It needed more flavor and more of everything on it.
One extra note
For those of us who used to come for the Cup of Heaven back in the day: it's not on the menu unless you Frankenstein it together yourself. I understand there's an effort to move on from the past, and I'm not trying to compare the old place to the new one. But when something was that beloved, it might be worth keeping around. Some ghosts deserve to haunt the menu.
Overall, I really wanted this place to win me over. The staff is wonderful, the restaurant is clean, and there's clearly potential here. But right now, too much of the food tastes like someone in the kitchen is being paid by the grain of salt.
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