Brunch Fail...

Green Eggs Café

212 S. 13th St 

Philadelphia, PA 19107

http://greeneggscafe.com/ 

Time and time again, my fiancé and I had walked past the Green Eggs Café in Midtown Village to see very large lines of people waiting to eat brunch. We wanted to try it, so one Saturday morning, we headed up there a bit early to put our names in a grab a table. We actually lucked out when we got there because there was one table open for two at the time outside, so we were seated almost immediately.  

The place operated very well for it being so busy. I am sure they are used to it since they have a line pretty much every weekend. The menu intrigued me. There were a lot of things that sounded tasty to me, but I knew I was in the mood for eggs benedict. Luckily they had a few options in this realm, so my fiancé ordered the shrimp and grits benedict, I ordered the short rib benedict, and we decided to split a half order of the red velvet pancakes because the waiter raved about them. 

When the food came out, it didn’t quite measure up to our expectations, or taste as good as it had sounded on paper. Neither one of the benedicts were very good. While the eggs were cooked properly, the temperature of the plates was wrong. The food was lukewarm at best. I absolutely hate that. I don’t pay for cold food, I pay for hot food! The “horseradish” hollandaise had next to no horseradish in it, and it wasn’t very good hollandaise to boot. The short rib was pull apart tender, but again who wants to eat cold beef for breakfast? My fiance’s shrimp and grits benedict had a lot of the same characteristics. They were also lukewarm and poorly seasoned. I thought the grits were of great consistency, but they were cold, and the shrimp were a little bit chewy. 

The only good part of the meal was the red velvet pancakes. These should be their signature item, because they are damn tasty. The red velvet buttermilk pancakes had chocolate chips dispersed throughout, layered with strawberry marscapone cheese and were topped with a Chantilly cream and maple syrup. They were very rich, but the perfect amount to share for a sweet ending. Thank god our waiter convinced us to order these, because otherwise the entire meal would have been a flop.

One and a half pints for Green Eggs Café. In this city, the food is spectacular, and poorly executed food is going to stick out. Green Eggs was incredibly overrated in my opinion. The brunch offerings around the city are amazing, and I would much rather eat at some of the ones I know are doing a much better job, i.e. Khyber Pass, Sabrina’s, High Street. You guys should stick to those as well! Cheers!