Buttercup - Solid Breakfast & Late Nite Standby
Written: Dec 10 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Buttercup - never a wait, full bar, and dependable breakfast menu.
Cons: Nothing brings frustration like the horrible service at Buttercup.
The Bottom Line: The Buttercup Kitchen is my Plan C for breakfast in Oakland.
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| megugrrrl's Full Review: Buttercup Kitchen Family Restaurant |
There's this small chain in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Buttercup, that we frequent once in a blue moon. There are two locations relatively close by, there's almost never a wait, and they stay open later than most places around here (11PM on weeknights - a little later on weekends.)
The Scene
The Buttercup Kitchen is a standard-issue American coffee shop - in the same vein as a Denny's coffee shop, not a Peet's coffee shop. It's a good place to get an ok breakfast or sandwich. They don't have a theme or gimmick, and the decor is safe and tame, perhaps even a little too "safe". It's a smidge fancier than the aforementioned restaurant, with rich dark autumn colors and framed Ansel Adams posters. However, the homey decor is bordering slightly on tacky, with the jumbo silk plants and flowers in giant burgundy ceramic vases. It's not tacky enough to be cool, nor subdued enough to be pleasant... but "safe" is probably the perfect description.
The Food
You can enjoy breakfast all day long, which is always a big plus, because this is what they can do well. Pancakes, waffles, skillet breakfasts with eggs and cheese and things, the perfect way to refuel after a day of painting your garage or moving apartments. You can find combos, a la cartes, and breakfast entrees like one of the several Benedicts they offer. Their hash browns are no-nonsense - just enough brown crispness - and no fancy extras grated in. They usually have a special or two scribbled on the board by the register - something like a portabello omlette. If you're a fan of breakfast meats get them with a combo since a side of bacon is almost $4. Breakfasts wander from $5 to $10 and will leave you full.
As an admirer of breakfast I can vouch that the pancakes, waffles, and French Toast are all good. Maybe even good plus - but they're not dreamy and mouth-watering either. I don't know what it is about the food here that leaves it in the limbo state of good or good plus - it's not quite the ingredients or the way things are cooked... I honestly can't put my finger on it. The food's passable - again, maybe a passable plus.
Their sandwiches are pretty good as well - pretty standard sandwich selections - club, melt, dip, burger, and a variety of chicken patty/breast sandwiches. Their customizable hamburgers are probably my least favorite, because the ground choice is not the choice I'd make - the meat lacks flavor and is a little dry, but are still edible. Sammiches are around $6. (Incidentally you can get those funny curly fries that taste the same no matter where you order them at.)
Similar to restaurants like this you can also find big salads, soup, free drink refills, pie, and formulaic service.
For some reason I've never ventured into their dinner menu - it's breakfasts and sandwiches only for this girl. It's probably because dinner offerings are never the best at places like these - entrees like salmon, chicken, pasta or steak just seem like they'll be better at a place that specializes in them.
The more I think about the food here, the more and more it really is like Denny's or Lyon's - but maybe better because there is a slightly broader selection of food, and it seems, better care placed into the preparation of your food. But somehow worse, because the food is slightly, only slightly not as exciting.
The downtown Oakland location (on Broadway) sees a nice variety of diners, and a few "tourists", as this Buttercup is connected to The Best Western. There is almost always a booth of police officers or some meeting going on in the big multi-purpose room in back. I used to think cops frequented this Buttercup because of its proximity to the OPD headquarters three blocks away, but the Buttercup down the 880 closer to Alameda sees plenty of po-po action as well.
The Service
The service on the other hand is notably disappointing. You'll find good service occasionally, but I've had to endure service from apathetic (and pathetic) servers on too many occasions. From eating at the Buttercup on Broadway, I've learned that nothing is like the buzzkill of food servers arguing and being snippy with each other. Oh wait - there is - a server yelling at you for parking in "his" lot which happnend once - or an apathetic manager who doesn't even look at you as he takes your money - which happens most of the time at the Broadway location. The Alameda one is consistently better.
Bottom Line
In all, the Buttercup gets a lukewarm recommend. The place is ok. It's the kind of place you go to after a long weekend of moving or getting over the flu. If you don't want to wait in line at The House of Chickin' and Waffles a few blocks down the street, pay too much for an omlette @ the Fat Lady, drive to E-ville to wait at Rudy's, or look for parking by Mama's Royal Cafe, (etc. - I can go on) Buttercup will do the trick.
Quirkies and other things to note
*Calf's Liver - not many places offer it.
*Full Bar - both alcoholic and coffee - so if you'd like a Sunday Bloody (Sunday) Mary or mimosa...
*Lollipop Jar - a glass jar of suckers sit by the register - the cheap kind that will sometimes cut your toungue. I can never resist these.
*Oakland locations have parking lots.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
megugrrrl
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Oakland
Reviews written: 147
Trusted by: 317 members
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