Crave

I went there and didn’t like the food or service.

I had the delicious Madam Crave breakfast sandwich this morning, and I was treated to a hot chocolate with a unicorn pattern on the foam. It brought back the girlie passion of my youth. Horses! Unicorns! Yippee!

The service isn’t always good. There is ofte a lot of attitude. But today there was only one server (who was excellent), and one cook, who was full of smiles. So the experience was very satisfactory.

be prepared to wait, but it’s worth it. try the pomegranate mimosa.

I had an unsatisfying brunch at Crave earlier this year. I and two others got various omelette permutations, and they were all rather mediocre. Or perhaps less than mediocre. We all wished we went to the IHOP instead. I do remember the potatoes being remarkably tasty though. I also got a pomegranate mimosa that was notable for its insipidness. It was the their last one according to the server; I kinda wish I knew that so they would not have given it to me… perhaps the bubbly was flat and/or something growing in the pomegranate juice.

All of us were definitely disappointed with the service. The place is quite small (and very busy when I was there), and there seemed to be an adequate amount of people working, but everything was slow. The restaurant did not appear to be flowing efficiently. Everyone was friendly enough, though… it’s not like they were surly and goofing off. Some places can handle work better under crowded conditions than others; Crave did not seem to be one of them. Perhaps it was just a bad day.

Things also did not get off to a good start when they said they wait would be 15 minutes and instead it was over an hour. Good thing that we weren’t outrageously hungry and that it was a nice day outside.

On the other hand, I was with the guy who always seems to attract bad seating situations (see when I went to Blue C Sushi one time). Maybe I should return without him.

Decent brunch food. Decent wait on a Sunday morning. The complimentary pastries was good. Service was decent (despite the negative reviews I read on citysearch). My omelette was solid, nothing spectacular. Need to come back and try the dinner sometime.

If I’m actually up that early on Sunday, I’m having brunch here. The blintzes are some of the best I’ve ever had. The plate-sized choc-chip cookies are just about the most fun you can have with pastry. And the chef/owner has quickly become a friend. Here’s my tip: sit at the bar, it’s the best place to watch the action in the kitchen and holds the added bonus of chatting with the cooks and servers.

Crave is at Pine & 12th ave on Capitol Hill, and has great food. I recommend breakfasts on the weekend, which are delicious. They have free wifi as well.

www.cravefood.com