Classic Café East

On recommendation from a friend, I headed to Classic Café East to get eggs Benedict. I've only been to Classic Café East once, many, many years ago; so I wasn't sure what to expect, only that I knew they had a good view. I had to wait quite a while for a table, but hey, that doesn't matter when you get to have hollandaise, right? Well, after waiting about 15 minutes for a table and ordering coffee, I was in for a shock...there's no eggs Benedict on the menu...it's the Classic Café East's take on eggs Benedict, called Classic Benny. It consisted of an English muffin, with ham, two poached eggs, topped with cheese sauce and bacon bits. At this point, I've already committed to brunch, so I figured I might as well go with it. 

I know what readers must be thinking, 'this blog is supposed to be about eggs Benedict, not some funny version of eggs Benedict.' I know, but I did go there because I was told they had eggs benny on the menu, so really, I'm just saving everyone the future trouble! 

So, back to the Classic Café East's 'eggs benny,' the English muffin, ham, and eggs were good, and the first bite, with the delicious runny yolk wasn't that bad...then the cheese sauce hardened, and it turned everything into a hot mess on the plate. On top of that, I'm pretty sure the hashbrowns came straight from a frozen bag at the grocery store. It had zero seasoning, including salt! They were so bland, I was very thankful for ketchup! It's really sad that I had this experience. Looking around the restaurant, some of the other brunch items looked very good. In hindsight, I should have ordered something else when I saw there was no hollandaise. However, I thought, if I go somewhere and they have bacon instead of ham, or croissants instead of English muffins, would I not review them? New rule: some substitutions are okay, but if it doesn't have hollandaise, it won't be reviewed. 

Classic Café East, I should give you a 0/5, as you weren't really eggs benny, but I feel bad. Your hashbrowns were not good, but your servers were really nice, you were not worth $13.00, but you did do well on the three out of four components that make eggs benny, so I'll give you a 1/5.