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Sabrina's Café
Categories: Breakfast & Brunch, Diners [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Logan Square, Fairmount, Franklintown, Spring Garden, Art Museum District1802 Callowhill St
Philadelphia, PA 19176
(215) 636-9061
Sabrina's at 910 Christian has a new waiting room!
You might have to still wait but you don't have to be cold.
Let us know what you think.
- Hours:
Mon. 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Breakfast, Brunch
- Alcohol:
- None
104 reviews for Sabrina's Café
Review Highlights
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Great place for brunch but it gets SUPER crowded and waits are long. So get there early and get your name down otherwise you'll starve...
Once seated though, get ready for some delicious food. And the coffee, mmmmmmm...
So much looks good on the menu we always end up ordering too much and taking half of the food home. Although that's not a bad thing cuz that means MORE yummy food later. Large portions, quick service and delicious food. What more can you ask for? Parking is not that bad, its metered though so bring quarters.
I've been here a few times. Its always crowded; be prepared to wait. The stuffed french toast is really good here. I think the food here is pretty average in taste compared to all the other brunch places in Philly.
I mean they have great dishes with tons of ingredients that make the dishes sound really amazing, but I think the taste is just OK...
Its worth paying a visit if you have never been here.
Great breakfast - spot on!
It was quite crowded going into Sabrina's Fairmount location on MLK day. Knowing that it was a holiday, we were worried that it would be an hour wait but when we arrived at noon we only had to wait 15 minutes to sit at the counter. We had good service and ordered the Huevos Rancheros and Eggs Florentine, with Scrapple and Tomatoes/Avocado. The food was great and I will continue to go back.
I lived in Fairmount for 5 years, and I personally prefer this Northern Sabrina's to the one in the Italian Market. The food here is simply great. I always look at the specials in the middle of the menu, there's almost always something new that I want to try. Pancakes are some kind of monster dessert here. Omlettes are great, as is my personal favorite - the Barking Chiuaua Breakfast Burritto. The servers are usually running around helter skelter, but they always stop to check in, and refill my coffee. It's a great, great place.
The only things keeping me from giving Sabrina's 5 stars are the wait - you can call in and cut it short, but I've seen people waiting 45 minutes before...it's good but not worth sitting outside in the cold that long! And the music...when I started coming in here it was always great 50's and Motown stuff providing the soundtrack to brunch. Now? soft 70's rock...brutal! Fix it guys!
Had a great breakfast here Sunday morning. Let me say from the get go, arrive early and bring an appetite.
Sabrina's starts to fill up around 10:30-11:00am with the late sleepers and then the church going crowd so you'll want to make sure you get there before that or you'll find yourself standing in the cold waiting to get in the door.
Portions are HUGE and I have never seen home fries cut so large in my life. Trust me if you leave here hungry it's not because they didn't do their job.
The menu is robust and they serve all food items (breakfast, lunch & dinner) no matter the time of day.
So, bring an appetite, arrive early and enjoy!
Great Breakfast. Large portions. Decent Burgers. Just found out about this little jewel after living 1 block away for 6 months.
Only complaint is that it is very popular and you'll have to wait about 15-20 mins for sunday brunch.
This place , along with other location on Christian st, are great spots to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. For us early risers OK, anytime after 10:30am..may be waits up to 1 hour or more. Though more likely to find parking on this location, the one on On Christian St's, forget it.right by South Philly's. If its on holiday ..might as well pull up a seat...but wait -will be rewarded..Fabulous stuff french toasts, great coffee, portions are huge, so I usually share with someone. Love them!!
On the weekends for brunch, Sabrina's Callowhill is poppin'... Like annoyingly so. The wait is ALWAYS obscene and quite frankly, it's not worth it. If you know you're going to commit to eating here, call ahead! It helps... You will still wait- but a little bit less. Everytime I've come here, I felt like I was just eating a much bigger version of something I could make a little bit better at home (if I wanted to put in the time). I have never had a "holy crap this is GREAT!" moment here. You will get value for your dollar in quantity of food, but there are other yummier brunch options in the city where you won't have to wait that long for "A-OK"
Side note- I do like their orange juice, and I don't really care for orange juice...
Should have, but I didn't. Why did I not order breakfast, particularly their famous stuffed french toast for my dinner? Ah well, next time. Our dinner started roughly after 8:00 PM that evening and as many other Yelpers have stated, their portions are HUGE! Be sure you can run it off before you goto bed. I called in just to make sure it wasn't oddly busy at this time on a Wednesday evening and when we arrived, our table was set with water glasses on the table. Right away, I figured our service was going to be good.
We started with some simple bread. One gripe, the oil and herbs should be served on a plate, not a soup bowl. Herbs ended up sinking to the bottom, so you ended up eating bread and straight oil. I started off with the spinach salad and nothing special here, although it did have a poached pear, which I enjoyed. One of my companions had the spring rolls, which was very well done. The crispy skin was done right, along with the filling. My dish was the corn flake crusted chicken breast, served with a jalapeno cornbread and some garlicky mashed potatoes. When the server brought the plate, I say to you again, it was a huge plate! Think Cheescake Factory portions. I took my first bite into the chicken and wasn't happy. The corn flake crust was overdone and really crispy, yet had some burnt spots on it. The gravy it came with meshed well, but I sure wish the crust wasn't so well done. The jalapeno cornbread also was overbaked? I don't know how to describe but it was far from moist. I had to soak it in some of the gravy. The mashed potatoes were ordinary, nothing crazy here.
Service was great, couldn't complain at all here. Water cups were full and the server kept checking on us. Their menu is full of good stuff I'd like to try. Like I mentioned, their stuffed french toast. My next visit in this city, I will definitely make some time to visit them again. Overall, a 3-star as my main dish wasn't so great, apps were decent, but the service we had was great.
Very cute cafe near city center of Philly (is it okay for me to say cute?). Charmed by the ambiance but impressed by the food. Great menu selection and portions are huge. I had a salmon omelet, my friend had the breakfast burrito. We could have fed four more people with our portions. Of course, not being from Philly we had to have scrapple!
If this review were only about the food... wow the brunch was comfort food at its finest. Almost all of their breakfasty dishes pop on their menu and on the plate, and portions are gigantic. They're all recognizable classics but Sabrina's manages to take them up a notch through:
1. Local flavor: The cornmeal crusted chicken sandwich wasn't just some fried chicken breast sandwich. The cornmeal made the crust crunchier than normal, and the addition of provolone, hot peppers and spinach gave the sandwich great flavor reminiscent of a DiNic's sandwich.
2. Seasonality: The pumpkin pancakes (a special that day), while really doughy, were full of pumpkin flavor and as thick as textbooks.
3. Cream cheese: French toast is good, but stuffed with cream cheese, it goes to new fatty heights.
4. Goat cheese: Egg white veggie omelette sounds dull, boring, and I would probably never order it but when you're splitting dishes with 3 others, you've got to be flexible. Sabrina's omelette was flavorful, spicy, stuffed with goat cheese, and a great revelation.
So, what was wrong with this place? The wait for a group of 8 was long enough for me and another friend to jog to the art museum, take pictures, walk back, and still be waiting (1.5 hours total). The front area is too small to accommodate the people waiting so on a cold day, you're waiting outside. And one of the hosts acts like a king and gives you a condescending tone whenever you check on the time.
We started off the meal with a really bad taste, which the food miraculously managed to wash out.
Wow! First off, I want to say thank you yelpers! My boyfriend and I were on yelp last night trying to find a good breakfast spot to go to this morning. We read many great things about the Sabrina's on Callowhill and decided to try it out considering we live over in Manayunk. Wow is that place cute! I love how none of the mugs match! What a charming and eclectic establishment! It really has an old fashion dinner feel with a bohemian cafe twist! It reminded me of Live Cafe in the movie adaptation of Rent.
I was ECSTATIC to see tofu scramblers on the menu! It was delicious! The fruit was fresh, sweet and crisp. Also the multi-grain toast was perfect! It came with strawberry jam, which was the best strawberry jam I have ever had! My boyfriend got the barking Chihuahua burrito and loved it. Everything there was wonderful! We for sure want to go back and try their lunch/dinner menu. Thanks again yelpers for the suggestion!
We've eaten dinner here before after a night at art after 5 at the Art Museum. I had a strawberry chicken dish and Kristine had the french toast (breakfast can be gotten at anytime, btw). We liked it so much we wanted to get back sometime for breakfast...and this past weekend gave us that opportunity.
We met our friends there, Greg G and Maria (since it's right in Greg's neighborhood). The wait wasn't that bad for 11am. We waited a little more than 30 mins. We all ordered breakfast specials. Maria and I got a french toast with a peach and strawberry syrup. It was good...and portions were HUGE! Kristine got the pumpkin pancakes that she's been craving for weeks and enjoyed them very much (however she would have liked a little more syrup on the underneath pancakes because they got a little dry). Greg G got the eggs benedict and cleared the plate completely, so I assume he really liked it.
Needless to say we're going to be back at Sabrina's many many times. It's great breakfast/brunch food that makes you crave more.
This place gets pretty packed but well worth the wait. Stuffed french toast gives Sabrina's some well-deserved bragging rights.
Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU Yelp! for telling me about this place! I owe you one. Next time drinks are on me!
I had, hands down, the best omelette of my life at Sabrina's! Actually, as I'm typing this, I'm seriously contemplating planning another weekend trip up to Philadelphia just to eat breakfast here again. It was that good!
Not only will you want to eat every single thing on your plate, you'll want to eat everyone's order around you because everything looks so damn good! No really, just look at the pictures that everyone's posted. Pumpkin pancakes with white chocolate chips! Huevos Rancheros! Oh man and just look at the french toast!
But beware, their portions are massive and as much as you want to eat everything in your line of site, it' s just too much. IT'S TOO MUCH!
Thanks again, Sabrina's!
I hope to see you again very soon!
Yay Sabrina's! This is definitely the best brunch option in the area... or even the neighboring areas. They have very solid brunch food (not a single complaint), but the service can be a bit spotty and might make you feel rushed.
My standby picks are the egg white omelet of the day (the filings are always interesting) where the potatoes are the highlight. The sourdough toast is quite good and filling too. My friend loves the fluffy pancakes with fresh strawberry topping and a side of bacon.
Note: There is pretty much always a wait for brunch and the table are very close together.
Definitely overrated. I think people are too generous with ratings.
1. A wait this long should be accompanied by something special. An over sized plate of food is not really "special."
2. The place gets so busy that it lacks quality control.
3. You leave and take the scent of the kitchen with you. The open-kitchen is a cool concept for diners, but it sucks for patrons because we smell like omelets for 5 hours.
4. Sabrina's however always has consistent (great) service, and the self-seating counter is a plus.
Huge portions, great food, big menu, they are very busy so CALL AHEAD!!!
Some of these other reviews are insane... "lacking in atmosphere"? What? This place is dripping with character... I think it's way more interesting than the original Sabrina's. It's set up like a diner, but with more of a kind of bohemian-farm/coffee shop style decor... i'm sure there's a better description for that. The place gets PACKED for Sunday brunch, but you don't have to wait if there are seats at the diner counter. The food portions are HUGE and most menu items are enough to split between two people. I've had mostly really good experiences here, although maybe once I had a pancake special that wasn't that great. The Huevos Rancheros are soooo good, and they always have some really interesting things on the menu you can't find anywhere else.
If you REALLY want to go to Sabrina's on a Sunday morning, either get there by 8:30 - 9am... or call 45 minutes ahead. I've been there on a Saturday morning, and it's a little less busy. Don't just show up and expect to be served immediately... it's a very popular place, so don't be a jerk and try to complain that it takes too long. Also, don't be a jerkface who lounges at a table for 30 minutes after you're finished eating... most likely there are some very hungry people waiting for a table, so wrap it up! Like with most popular establishments, plan ahead, be patient and courteous to the staff, and you'll have a good experience.
Since my last review, I've been back to Sabrina's twice and I have to say that these two added stars are well-deserved. I had some good food there, namely the egg salad sandwich (the sides -- slaw and sweet potato fries -- were really yummy), the tomato eggplant stew (not great, but better than just edible), and the red velvet cake.
One thing that has upped my review is a change in the service. I think it really does depend on the day. When the place is slow, like on a weeknight, the servers really take the time to be kind and friendly. Maybe on busy days, they are rude because the place is understaffed and they're stressed.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/5/2009
I've gone to Sabrina's twice now, both times because I heard such good reviews and high… Read more »
I consider myself a brunchophile.
I am beginning my fourth year living in Phiiladelphia.
I *just* made it to Sabrina's for the first time this weekend.
But my experienced confirmed the cliche: [much, much, much] better late than never.
Yeah, there was a long wait, even at 10 AM. (HINT PEOPLE: You can call ahead and put your name on the list! Wish I had done this.) But we were seated and the coffee was served within a minute or two and I was happy. The environment at Sabrina's is cheery and lively. It's bustling so it's a bit noisy, but not obnoxiously so. Our server was nice and efficient - she meant business, but she did it in a friendly way.
I ordered the Rittenhouse Stuffed French Toast. Oh. My. Gawd. It was intense. It comes in two MASSIVE pieces. The thick-cut bread is stuffed with luscious mascarpone, strawberries, pear, and almond and covered in a light citrus-y syrup with some fresh strawberries. As soon as I took my first bite, I was on the express train to Brunch Heaven. I could only finish half of the french toast, so lucky for me the other half's sitting in the fridge and I cannot wait to dig into it again.
A couple of my friends had the Mexi Special which was also extremely large and delicious, but (clearly) much more savory. The corn cake at the bottom of the plate was a great balance of sweet and spicy, and the gravy with red beans and turkey sausage was quite tasty.
Basically.......you will want to try everything on the menu. (Trust me, you will.) They have options to fit any mood. I am also interested in trying dinner there - the specials board looked quite interesting.
Bottom line: Call ahead. Go with a BIG appetite. Thank me later. (Preferably after you have taken the post-food coma nap that will surely ensue.)
Okay, I take back my two stars! We decided to give this place another shot and I was craving huevos rancheros. And holy hell, did they deliver! It was so much better than the first time I went here, where I got a platter of grease.
Now I know what to order!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/17/2009
An overrated brunch place if there ever was one. All I got was grease with a side of brunch.
I don't… Read more »
The only place in Philly that offers real brunch. Love the regular and weekly brunch menu. Sandwiches are actually very good too (and great sweet potato fries!). I had the eggs benedict florentine. It was delicious and overly filling. Also love the le bus bread!
Only down side is the long wait time. But it is well worth it and understandable as no where else in Philadelphia serves real brunch (that isnt a chain like marathon grill)!
On one Saturday about a month ago, a group of about 6 of us decided to go to Sabrina's after a trip to the Art museum. It was definitely the best idea we've had in a while.
We went pretty late, around 4:30PM. I ordered the stuffed French Toast and my friends ordered a mix of their savory sandwiches and other brunch items, such as pancakes. Their fries were incredible and their sandwiches were huge.
Everyone loved their food - full of flavor, huge plates for under $10 each.
However, I think my French toast was the winner: it was as large as my head and incredibly tasty. Very crisp crust, the filling was light and just melted in your mouth. When I took my leftovers home, my bf and I shared the rest of it the next day for breakfast - it was just as delicious reheated on a frying pan and there was enough of it for both of us.
The only downside was, the waitress did get our orders wrong and they ran out of cups for large lattes. Otherwise, delicious food, no wait at this random time, great atmosphere, and very well worth the price.
Two delicious breakfasts were ordered at Sabrina's:
Stuffed Caramelized Challah French Toast
Cream Cheese and Bananas topped with Vanilla Bean Maple Syrup: I took a bite of my friend's french toast (and uploaded a photo) and it was delicious, complex, and rich. As long as you're ok with the unhealthy aspects of this decadent meal, it will be very memorable. $9.79
Pancakes with Blueberries, Oreos, and Peaches: I ordered this meal (and uploaded a photo) from the special menu. I could only finish half the plate and enjoyed every morsel. The presentation is wonderful and the pancakes were fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness with the toppings and syrup. ~$12
Side of bacon: 4 standard pieces of bacon were ordered as a side and, although not memorable, they were cooked perfectly. A bit pricey for a side at $2.79
Drinks were reasonable with unlimited refills under $1.80.
Having never been to Sabrina's, I am now a dedicated fan. All of the patrons had great looking food and the menu presents enough clever options to make me come back.
The wait staff was attentive and friendly, despite other reviews stating otherwise and remarking about an "East Coast attitude".
Not much to say here that hasn't already been said, so I'll say it a bit differently. Oh. Mah. Gah. This place rocks. Came here on a recommendation from a friend. I ran the Philly Marathon and was looking forward to a post-race brunch if my belly was up for it. And it was (thank you, belly). Called ahead 20 minutes and had to wait about 10 minutes when we arrived at 1:30pm on Sunday. I ordered the stuffed challah french toast with a side of turkey bacon and scrambled eggs. Too much. I keep a list of "Top 5" bites of food, and welcomed the french toast to this list with open arms. I feared that the filling would be too sweet and overwhelm the plate, but it was perfectly balanced. The turkey bacon was thicker than expected, which made it delicious-er than expected. My fiance got the eggs benedict florentine, which she said was good also, but couldn't finish (and by the looks she kept giving my way, she was definitely jealous of the french toast).
Have I mentioned the stuffed french toast is awesome? I'll definitely be back here.
So i'd heard about this place several times and now that i've been in philly for all of 1 week, thought it was about time to give it a try. Went on a Friday morning with Mama and didn't have to wait at all, though i've heard it can be very very bad. And parking, 11:15 on a Friday, found street parking right outside w/o any problem. Expensive though, 10min/quarter.
Got the stuffed french toast -- aMAZing! Its b-fast food with a fun twist. Two pieces of french toast with cream cheese/bananas in between, cooked, and yummy syrup all over. I'm not a huge fan of french toast usually but i loved it. We also tried the Beach Blanket something special - focaccia with lots of goodies (cooked peppers, arugula, olives, etc) on top and potatoes on the side. It was good, but everything seemed a bit ... crunchy. Not necessarily overcooked, but I had a workout trying to chew the thing, so not my fave.
I love the casual feel of the place and mismatched mugs from all over. Very non-stressful, yummy, brunch experience.
I found this place after a long flight from Cali. We had a huge layover in Philly so I used my Yelp application to pick the highest rated cafe near the airport.
I want to warn you to expect an "East Coast" attitude from the employees here.
I used my iPhone maps to find this place and we ran inside as soon as we saw it (pouring rain outside). Would you believe, the employees (who were just sitting around waiting for opening time) said we had to wait outside until the cafe opened in 5 min??? How fucking rude is that? Remember folks, LASHING RAIN OUTSIDE!!
The service was no better, our waitress was an ice queen and did the bare minimum to take care of us. And by bare minimum I mean she took our order and dropped off the food.
IDK..... maybe I'm spoiled by the service providers on the "Good Coast". MAYBE it is outside of a waitress' job description to ask you if you need napkins or a drink refill....IDK....
The food was OK, tho. Nice sized portions, I guess.
I don't mean to be a hater, but honestly after finally eating at Sabrina's for brunch this weekend, the only explanation I can come up with as to Sabrina's insane wait and their 4 star rating must be that there must not be much brunch spots in the Philly area or people don't know good brunch if it smacked them in the face.
I've been hearing my Philly friends rave about Sabrina's for years and I'd put it at the top of my "must try" places for a long time, especially since I'm a fan of brunch. My weekend trip to Philly finally fated me with Sabrina's.
We pulled up and the massive crowd outside was a bit intimidating. It reminded me of Clinton Street Baking in NYC and automatically I was hoping that I wouldn't be let down here as I have been at Clinton St.
We get seated after a year later and proceeded to put in our drink orders. They've got some decent coffee which they are very quick to refill. I ordered the carmelized French toast, as I was advised that it was the "must order" item. My sister got the bubbles pancake which was a special made with buttermilk pancakes topped with ricotta orange pound cake crumbles,roasted almonds, dried apricots, and peach Vanilla syrup, and Orange Apricot butter. I was disappointed in my Challah French toast, nothing special at all and it was not hot enough seems like it's been sitting in the kitchen for a few minutes longer than it needed to be. But the Bubbles pancake was pretty fantastic.
As my other NYC friend later described, Sabrina's brunch was just "one step above diner food." I couldn't agree more.
Ok, my DD and I went here on a weekday afternoon at about 4:30 when the place was all but empty and finally got some service.
Sghe had (very tasty and huge) chicken fingers % fries - for $9.95 and I had the sesame noodles with tofu. (Too greasy and at $13 one of the cheaper choices).
Wow is it expensive here for yuppified diner food.
The food was good, but not worth the price and NO WAY would I wait in the enormous weekend brunch lines here. It's just NOT worth that.
Meanwhile, the cool servers gave DD a big bowl of fresh summer berries and banans gratis (thank you so much!) and the nice hispanic line cooks let her tour the (clean, professional) kitchen.
Close to 4 stars but the prices made me go with 3.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/19/2008
OK. I have to tell you that I DID NOT GET TO ACTUALLY EAT HERE. So I can not comment on the food -… Read more »
If you're going for Sunday brunch, it's going to be packed. Call 45 minutes to an hour ahead, and you can be seated almost immediately after you arrive.
Avoid the orange juice. It's fresh squeezed (apparently by monks), and they hit you for 4 bucks a glass - with no free refills. It has no pulp and tastes like it's from concentrate. Go for one of the many other breakfast juice options.
If you're a bacon and eggs kind of brunch person, this place isn't for you. The portions are BIG. The challah french toast - regular or stuffed - is fantastic. Unfortunately, that's the best part. Some basic sides - a cup of fruit or a side of bacon - will run you at least $2 to $3 each, and the portions there aren't much to speak of.
If you want some fantastic french toast and a good cup of coffee, and don't mind calling ahead or waiting, Sabrina's is great for brunch. But if you want a bit of variety without being nickel and dimed (or in this case, 2-and-3-dollared) for it, there's better options to be found in the city.
Overrated is the best description I can think of for this place. This is one of the closest brunch cafés to my condo, and I avoid it. The wait is horrible. Once, I waited in line for over an hour. I only waited because my friends heard such great things about the place. Once we got in, we could only get seating at the counter even though there were 4 of us. The food was nasty and so was the service.
They don't have great or fast service. Most of the time the staff is rude and huffy, probably because there are just too many customers crammed in there.
The eggs aren't made the way you ask, which really pissed me off. The cream (for coffee) comes in those little plastic packets and its not real cream (it's the watered-down cheap powder crap that tastes like nothing) and the coffee tastes cheap and burned. Overall, most of the things you get there feel very cheap and flavorless, kinda like at Midtown except you pay more for it.
And one more thing: I'm 6 feet tall, not too abnormal, right? Well, guess what, if you're taller than 5'8, when you sit, your knees are going to be touching the knees of the person in front of you, and don't even try to sit in the booth, because they're made for short people.
I also forgot to mention that they don't have a proper garbage disposal area, so they pile all of their trash on the sidewalk at the end of the day (like 20 big bags of trash), making the whole area smell like trash.
There are so many cheaper and better quality places to go to in Philly for great brunch. I guess people just don't know any better, so they end up going to dumps like this thinking it's great... kinda like how people from NJ think that Pat's and Geno's is Philly's best cheesesteak. It's just sad.
Another overrated brunch spot. I had the burger which was the consistency of a brick yet somehow not overwhelmingly overcooked. I have no idea why their burger broke off into chunks rather than delivering tender juicy bites.
The sweet potato fries were covered in so much cinnamon (and/or nutmeg) that it was like eating a slice of french toast. While I love french toast, I dont want my fries to taste like it. The parm fries were MUCH better and the breakfast potatoes were tasty.
The food might be 3 stars but Im giving 2 because of the wait. Yet another Philly "diner" that cant seem to figure out what their wait actually is or just lies to keep you waiting around. Either way, I wont be in that line again.
We come to Sabrina's because of the reviews and also it is so close to my house. It is a great place for breakfast and brunch but it is such a hot place that the line is so so long. You can call ahead to put your name on list. The portions are very large and we are never able to finish it. I never want to take my omelette home because I do not want to reheat my omelette. YUCK!
French toast and pancakes is one of my husbands favorites and of course bacon. I like their turkey bacon. I tried their turkey burger and it was ok. The turkey burger at Bishop Collar was better.
I ordered the Marinated Grilled Vegetable Sandwich. The rest of my party ordered the Tuna Sandwich and the Cali Turkey Sandwich. I wasn't really impressed. Just kind of whatever, you know?! Eh...and what makes a sandwich Californian? Avocado? Spoken from a Californian, I think that's kind of lame.
And I ordered the sandwich specifically because the more expensive dinner items didn't really seem worth that price.
Anyways, the table service was excellent. Very attentive server. Welcoming hostess. Cute interior, like a clean coffeeshop feel but with a dinner menu.
I hear brunch is better, yet pricey. I'll put that on my to-do list next time I am in town.
Oh and something I am completely foreign to is this whole BYOB. Grr. I am used to getting a buzz off of alcoholic beverages off of restaurant drink menus. Just a little something something to grow into if I move to this city.
There was a major line/wait outside, so luckily we had called ahead for our reservation and only had to wait about 10 minutes or so.
The staff is friendly, the restaurant was completely packed and very lively.
Food was okay. I think I might have ordered the wrong item. Portions are fairly large, and the food does arrive fast. Its also presented well on your plate. The descriptions seem to be exaggerated a bit, compared to what you're actually served. It was okay. Something was just missing for me.
I happened upon Sabrina's on Callowhill Street a couple of weeks ago while looking for a quick lunch before a visit to the Franklin Institute and the Art Museum . At 130pm on a Saturday, the restaurant was very crowded -- there was a 20-25 minute wait for two open stools at the counter but it was clear we'd have waited a lot longer for a table.
The expansive menu offers traditional brunch favorites (their stuffed french toast is reknown throughout the land) along with new twists on traditional diner foods. I ordered the Islander Grilled Ahi Tuna sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries and my girlfriend ordered the Greek salad with chicken. Both dishes were very tasty, the portions (particularly the Greek salad) were VERY generous, and the prices were reasonable ($10-12 per dish). The waitress was definitely busy, but good-natured about it. Our only disappointment was that our appetizer (which we only ordered to hold us over until the entrees were served) arrived AFTER the entrees.
Overall, enjoy this neighborhood gem, but be sure to go with an empty stomach and enough patience to wait for a table. I'll definitely go back next time I'm in the area.
Not a review, but a copy of the letter I wrote to GQ after they did not mention Sabrina's in an article on American Breakfast eateries. Instead GQ mentioned the "scrapple" at Little Pete's.
Dear Editor,
I am writing to report you for breakfast blasphemy, as you failed to mention Sabrina's Cafe of Philadelphia in "A GQ Guide to the Most Important Meal of the Day." You have not breathed air until you have eaten at Sabrina's. There are even two locations for your complete indulgence.
Instead of mentioning the place where Buddhists achieve breakfast nirvana while brunching on "Bad Girls Quick Draw 'Yee Haw' Tex Mex Breakfast" or "Stuffed French Toast" with "cream cheese and mascarpone, filled with raspberry, champagne poached pears, red grapes and roasted walnuts"; you mention Little Pete's "scrapple". Next time just club a baby seal and serve rare on a Thomas English Muffin.
Breakfast/brunch is priddy much my favorite meal, and Sabrina's has good eats, though the wait can be a pain sometimes.
Great spot to find great food. I love the home fries. Egg white veggie primavera is amazing. Tofu scramble is another good choice for breakfast. They serve a good cup of coffee and always keep it filled. It can be extremely busy on weekends and the service is sometimes good sometimes bad, those are the only down sides of Sabrina's. The food has me eating there at least 3 times a month. Its a must eat spot for any Philadelphian.
I love this place, it is very close to my house so i go often. If you get there early on the weekends usually seating is pretty prompt. When I go for breakfast I can never decide between the french toast or an egg dish. A hint for the french toast, they do have a half portion. For dinner time I have tried a lot of dishes but am a steadfast fan of their turkey burger with parmesan fries.
Great place to take out of town guests, no one has been dissappointed yet.


