Verbena breakfast knocks off cJ's socks

[Robin Garr]

Smitten CJ has 3 1/2 stars for breakfast at Verbena in Norton Commons.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/en ... /79108838/

No comment on the review, but we LOVE Verbena! The people are nice, and they know what they are doing. They have a surprisingly broad menu (larger than Wild Eggs or any other of the ilk), and do everything well. Their Chicago roots are quite strong (they used to run a large chain of successful breakfast places up North).

And, while the review doesn't mention it, their kids' menu hits all our grandkids' high points . . .

My only problem is that with her giving them 3.5 stars it'll be harder than before to get in without a wait!

I certainly agree with Andrew, I too will withhold my comments about the review but we certainly love Verbena also! Just wish it was closer to us. It's more of a destination meal than it is a drop in for breakfast place.

We've been to Verbena -a lot- and while it remains our "go to" place for those late morning Sunday breakfasts, our family of four recently agreed that the place has slipped - just a bit- lately. Don't get me wrong, the service is still excellent and the coffee some of the best in town but we've had more than a couple of near misses there over the past 6 months...We've had food that has came cold, under cooked, over cooked, eggs scrabbled when you ask for over easy, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I still like the place WAY better than Wild Eggs but I don't know that I'd give 'em 3 and a half stars anymore...

I took my sons to Verbena for breakfast this morning for a snow day treat. While the food was delicious and the service was fine, my issue was with some of the up charges. My teenage son, a vegetarian, ordered the 2 eggs breakfast platter which came with a choice of meat. He asked for it without. No problem. He also asked for plain hash browns which he prefers over their verbena browns and wanted to substitute white toast for the roll. Both of these substitutions had up charges. The change of browns was $2.95 and bread change was .35 cents. So that would bring the almost $10.00 price for 2 scrambled eggs, toast, and hash browns up to over $13.00. Very overpriced in my opinion. Add a chocolate milk and now it's $15.50 or so. They used to offer a special bread of the day which was always something special, but the roll was a simple looking white dinner roll. Not a usual accompaniment to eggs.
By the way some pieces of corned beef (from the hash) ended up in my son's hash browns, so then he wouldn't eat them. They took off the charge because of that, but didn't replace them.

I've eaten there twice in the past week. Service was excellent and my meals were very good. First time I had eggs b. with salmon. Eggs were poached perfectly and there was a great deal of salmon in the dish. Much more than I was expecting. Given that I think the dish was more than reasonably priced. Today I had eggs Florentine. Again, perfectly poached. Each visit they asked if I would like a coffee to go. Nice touch. Every server, bus person, hostess I came into contact with were genuinely nice and attentive. Guess I'll have to alternate between Verbinia and Eegz.

I took my sons to Verbena for breakfast this morning for a snow day treat. While the food was delicious and the service was fine, my issue was with some of the up charges. My teenage son, a vegetarian, ordered the 2 eggs breakfast platter which came with a choice of meat. He asked for it without. No problem. He also asked for plain hash browns which he prefers over their verbena browns and wanted to substitute white toast for the roll. Both of these substitutions had up charges. The change of browns was $2.95 and bread change was .35 cents. So that would bring the almost $10.00 price for 2 scrambled eggs, toast, and hash browns up to over $13.00. Very overpriced in my opinion. Add a chocolate milk and now it's $15.50 or so. They used to offer a special bread of the day which was always something special, but the roll was a simple looking white dinner roll. Not a usual accompaniment to eggs.
By the way some pieces of corned beef (from the hash) ended up in my son's hash browns, so then he wouldn't eat them. They took off the charge because of that, but didn't replace them.

I know it's too late now, but next time I'd suggest he order exactly what he wants a la carte . . . my wife does that there with no problems. In other words, if you were to order 2 scrambled eggs, toast, and hash browns a la carte the total would have been around half of what you paid for a full 'platter' with lots of changes.

Did you ask the manager about the pricing? We've even had the wait staff suggest ordering different ways to lower the pricing!