cafe osage

laissez-faire service, inconsistent. i live fairly close to this restaurant so i've tried it on several occasions, 3 times for lunch and once yesterday for brunch on sunday. it seems like the kitchen is typically on track but this restaurant comes across as one where there is not a front of the house manager. the hostess usually does not come out to greet customers by the sign asking customers to wait there, usually you have to go and find her and on every occasion i've been there customers are always asking each other if they've been helped yet--maybe because there are not enough bussers because she also helps clean up and set the tables, but then incoming customers get neglected and it's very disorganized. on 3 out of 4 occasions service was slow and underwhelming, so having poor service 75% of the time is not enough to keep a customer no matter what the other charms are. on another occasion servers were standing around talking loudly in the bar area about their personal lives, which of course would be fine as long as it wasn't in front of or where customers can hear--it came across as very unprofessional. i've given this restaurant several shots because of the wider variety of vegetarian options. yesterday was the first time the food was bad, every other time it's been great, but yesterday myeggsfor the osage scramble were so overcooked they were actually rubbery and my husband's breakfast sandwich was cold. we waited 10 minutes to get waters and 25 minutes for our drinks, no exaggeration. our server joked that the bartender would get to it eventually and laughed nervously. even a beginning bartender in a completely packed restaurant is faster. i think if you wait that long someone should initiate taking something of your bill, but my husband would just rather never go back than complain or ask for that. there are just too many other restaurants that have great food and organized, professional service.

my wife, son, and i enjoyed this restaurant. my wife had the twoeggsand bacon. theeggswere scrambled well, but needed salt and pepper. the bacon had good flavor and potatoes were tastey. my 2 year old enjoyed his yogurt and berries which were very fresh. he also enjoyed the tub of crayons and coloring. i had the biscuits and gravy which was very delicious. the cheddar biscuits were great, my son stole half my plate.

my husband and i stumbled upon this place because it was located one block from our air bnb. we ate breakfast here twice in three days! friendly staff, attentive service, cute garden atmosphere, and amazing food. fresh and cooked to perfection. i had the greens,eggsand ham our first visit and scrambled eggs, cheese grits, and bison sausage the second. my husband tried the steak and blue corn biscuit with fiery peach jam mixed with goat cheese as a spread. our only regret is that our stomachs weren't large enough to eat more! we wish we could pack this place up and take it back to fayetteville, ar with us.

good service. thanks to server danny our experience was a good one. i had the greenseggsand ham and the first bit was a taste of tuscany. salty prosciutto, tangy arugula, crusty bread and perfectly poached eggs. the coffee was strong and smooth.

great breakfast here! generous portions, friendly service, delicious food! thanks for the banana bread! loved it and will be back!


-----19 jan, 2013-----

great breakfast. i finally made it by for breakfast. very quiet on a weekday morning, but that was perfect for me! cozy dining room with ample breakfast menu. i got twoeggsmy way, which came with 4 thick slices of bacon, creamy, cheesy grits, toast, and real blueberry jam. big, hearty portions and delicious! i must go back to try the french toast and the lemon pancakes. ooohh yes i must

i loveeggsbenedict and cafe osage does not usually have one on its menu. but today they offered a delicious garden eb special. i'm aneggsbenedict traditionalist so i worried - unnecessarily it turned out - about ordering eb without meat or hollandaise sauce. the luscious beefiness of the heirloom tomato supported by a thin spread of (neufchatel?) cheese replaced the ham and fresh creamed corn banished hollandaise from my mind. it was a beautiful dish too, topped off with a sprinkle of micro greens.

smo. i was disappointed. the atmosphere and decore were nice but that is about the limit of positive comments. my group of 8 had a reservation for lunch. we arrived and were seated on time. however service was very slow. we paid the parking meter outside for a stay of 2 hours and 20 minutes. it took almost all of that time or have lunch, i ordered the tuna nicoise. the tuna was over cooked which made it tough and tastless. however, the hardboildeggson crostini and white bean crostini were excellent. all of us ordered either ice tea or ice water. the key word is ice. there was very little of it and the drinks were never cold. when we requested more ice, we were give one glass of ice for several us to share. for dessert, peach bread pudding with carmel sauce was ordered. this pudding was very dry and there was no evidence of either peaches or carmel sauce. one of our party requested more carmel sauce thinking that it might take some of the dryness out of the bread pudding. we were told they were out of carmel sauce and brought us a berry sauce. it helped the pudding but wondered why they had something on the menu that they didn't have available. sorry to say that the group discussion afterward concluded that most doubted they would return.

terrible. i was so disappointed in today's experience. i love the nursery but restaurant was terrible. long wait which was ok as we browsed. when we finally sat we did get water and ordered right away. 1 hour later no food and no explanation. when food finally came my order was wrong. my friends hadeggswith salmon, cream cheese and capers. no capers. the waiter took my plate without saying a thing. i said i hoped it wouldn't take as long as it originally had. we called hostess over to inquire about capers. she acted like we were being a pain. she said she would get the manager and then came back and said manager on cooking line and too busy to speak with us. no one ever apologized and they acted like it was our problem not theirs. it will be too bad if marginal food and crappy service reflect badly on bowoods. not sure if they are owned and run by same entity.