Palo Alto Breakfast House

Palo Alto Breakfast House is a very welcome addition to the Midtown Palo Alto dining scene. They occupy the former spot of Cafe Sophia, a good Afghani restaurant and coffee house that never really found it's audience. After visiting the Palo Alto Breakfast House, I'm positive they'll do much better.

To start with, the spot is completely redesigned. The place is brightly colored, emphasizing the roomy, high ceilings, and feels much roomier and open. They've removed a lot of the excess walls and the feng shui feels 10x better.

I stopped by for lunch and it was doing great business. They're open from 7 to 2:30 pm and serve their breakfast the whole time. In addition, the menu features sandwiches and burgers if the benedicts, french toast, pancakes, and scrambles don't strike your fancy.

We started off with two large fresh squeezed orange juices ($4.99). A nice large chilled glass was filled to the brim with obviously fresh squeezed juice with a nice amount of pulp. We then hit our entrees:

Sour Dough Bread French Toast - perfectly battered, light, and spongy french toast. The combo is a great deal and for $1 more includes two eggs any style, two strips of bacon, and either fresh fruit, hash browns or country potatoes. Highly recommended.

Eggs Benedict - got the basic version and was impressed by the perfectly poached egg with the gooey but warm egg yolk that mixed wonderfully with the hollandaise sauce and Canadian bacon. Have had it overdone at so many places, glad to have a place that does the basics just right.

Corned Beef Hash - generous portion served with two eggs your way and an English muffin. The corned beef hash is great quality with real corned beef sprinkled throughout the potato hash. No canned or pre-made ingredients here. It was very tasty.

French Dip Sandwich - served with your choice of fries, onion rings, potato salad, etc. Excellent onion rings. Light batter, very tasty and great deep fryer. The French Dip was very solid too. The bread wasn't too thick, the meat slices were lean and tasty, and the au jus sauce was great.

Overall, we were very happy with our food here. With Mike's Cafe and the nearby Palo Alto Cafe, one would wonder why they'd open up a breakfast house here. But the food is a notch better than those places and, to be honest, both of those spots have grown long in the tooth. It's great to have a quality place serving classic breakfast with solid ingredients. For fan's of the nearby Baji's, I'd give Palo Alto Breakfast House my vote on both flavor, ingredients, and less greasy renditions.

We're looking forward to returning for the pancakes, waffle, and eggs benedict.

Palo Alto Breakfast House accepts all credit cards, including American Express.

4.5 stars. 5 of us came for some brunch. Besides from my crab cake Benedict, all the portion were HUGE.
I'd highly recommend the crab cake Benedict though. Get it with potatoes and you should be full. The hash browns didn't look that appetizing.
The waffles were pretty bomb too.
The food comes out pretty fast so expect to get in and out fast.

BACKGROUND: I couldn't sleep and was looking for a local breakfast place. I'm from New Jersey and I'm love diner food, so the Palo Alto Breakfast appeared to be a good fit.
EXPERIENCE: I arrived at 7:15 am and there was a party of 8-10 men and two other solo guests. The waitress shouted across the restaurant "take a seat anywhere." I sat and waited a few minutes for her to wrap up taking drinks orders from the large party and one other guest. Although it was just her, she got to me pretty fast. I ordered the egg sandwich (egg whites, bacon, cheddar cheese on sour dough), a side of hash browns, and a water. She was pleasant, but clearly working hard because she was the only waitress.
FOOD: My food arrived a shortly after I put my order in and it was hot. It looked like it would taste amazing, but I thought it was all bland. The sandwich tasted like a grilled cheese sandwich (super cheesy), but that's not too disappointing because I love cheese. However, I wish I could taste the bread, bacon, and eggs. The hash browns needed something, I added salt and pepper but it didn't make a difference.
PRICING: A water, an egg sandwich, with a side of hash browns was $12.50! I think that is a little pricey for a breakfast sandwich and a side that was collectively mediocre.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The large group got their food at varying times, which would have been annoying to me. I can see why it is difficult to get a lot of food out at once, but as a customer I wouldn't like it. I could smell the coffee and I almost ordered one because it smelled so good.
MY ADVICE: Go early because I can see this place filling up fast. Do not have high expectations for amazing food or service.

Booo. This place was a 45+ minute wait. They could maximize their space so much more if they had more 2 person tables (most fit 4). The menu wasn't anything out of the ordinary in regards to breakfast. The real kicker was that they brought my boyfriend's meal out 15 minutes before mine. So we awkwardly waited while his food got cold and soggy.

He said his eggs Benedict was just alright. The hollandaise sauce was too rich. My veggie omelette was sitting in a puddle of water that came from the veggies. You gotta sweat out the veggies before mixing them in!

Not planning on going back.

Location: This place is located on Middlefield road and there is sufficient parking in the back. This is my go to place. I ordered the veggie omelette and it was really good. I substituted my eggs for egg whites and I do not regret it at all. I had the Mexican hot chocolate and it was good. It had a spice kick to it.

The service was good, straight to the point and not too chatty. This is my go to breakfast place and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Fell in love with this breakfast house while staying with family. I tended to stay with "common" breakfasts while my partner tried new flavours.

The first time we went during a weekday while it was quite. Service was good, and the building felt comfortable even with the high ceiling.

I stuck with bacon and eggs with a waffle (we don't really have waffles back home). It was great, the eggs and bacon were cooked just right and the waffle was huge and as I had always hoped.

My partner got the chorizo scrambled eggs which came with a dollop of sour cream, a hash brown and toast. The eggs was a rich mixture of flavours that just worked. I was skeptical but was pleasantly surprised when I tried a mouthful.

The chai latte came out steaming hot and really balanced out the meal.

We returned on the weekend when it was packed and we were in a rush, but service was still good and they looked after us.

This has become kind of a go-to place for weekend mornings if the kids are sleeping in and we parents want to go for a stroll and get some breakfast.

The breakfasts are pretty darn good -the hash browns are nicely crisped up, which is the most important thing, isn't it? Omelette, corned beef hash, all good!

This weekend I had the pancake special, and it was spot on. Bacon crisp, fried eggs fresh and tasty, and two fluffy pancakes. yum!

I reserve 5 stars for Joannie's, that place still sets a high bar for food and atmosphere, but PABH reaches pretty close.

Fast busy mid sized breakfast house also serving burgers, sammies and salads.
The place is family owned and operated which always adds to the charm of a successful business.

I assume this place is successful given the near full capacity when we arrived. We actually got the last table and there is a sign in sheet at the front counter when the place is full. This place isn't small either probably seating for 50 people or so.

We ordered apple cinnamon pancakes with eggs and bacon for about $12. The pancakes arrive with the semi soft apples hidden between the two pancakes. My wife orders a lot of pancakes and she really enjoyed these cakes. There wasn't anything special about the pancakes, but the fresh apples and cinnamon made them special. The bacon strips were also extra crispy the way bacon should be. I tried the Bilster Omelet: bay shrimp, avocado, mushrooms, onions and Swiss cheese served with bread and hash browns. When I received my plate I was pretty disappointed. The omelet looked like a scrambled egg burrito and my hash browns looked like road kill..totally flat. Well I am happy to report that my road kill hash browns were extra crispy and buttery Yum! The omelet was also tasty the blend of ingredients worked well together. I think a little splash of salsa on the top of the omelet and some thickness to the the hash browns would solved the unappetizing appearance of my $10.49 plate. Coffee was strong and rich a good companion to this breakfast.

Based on what we had, this is not a destination eatery but if your in the area and want some solid breakfast food, come on by.

This is my go-to breakfast in the morning before work pick up super quick place.

I call in a eggs benedict with hash browns and ten minutes later I have them in my car driving to work.

I also ate here once and service is really good. The girl that does my take out order always tells me to not work toooo hard lol. I wish T.T

Butyea. Im so sad they're not open Mondays because those are the days I neeeeeds my benedict breakfast haha.

On the quality of food. I wouldn't say its top shelf premium fancy or anything but its a good hearty morning meal to start your day off with.

This is a great addition to Palo Alto, which is lacking in cheap, tasty brunch food. I had the french toast egg combo, which is 4 pieces of French toast, 2 eggs, hashbrowns and bacon for $8.99 (I don't know anywhere in Palo Alto you can get a meal like that for under $10). My husband had an Italian sausage sandwich (also $8.99 - most, if not all, of the sandwiches were under $10). We both really enjoyed our meals. The French toast especially was phenomenal, one of the best I've ever had and definitely the best "basic" French toast that doesn't have a fancy bread or a flavored batter. The hashbrowns were also great, crispy and buttery without being horribly greasy. The eggs were average. My husband enjoyed the bacon, which they kindly gave me on a separate plate since I don't eat it and didn't want it touching my food. The service was friendly but a little slow.

I hope that this place will not become overrun on weekend mornings, because its off the main drags of University and Cal Ave. However, it was basically full when we were there at 10 am on a Saturday and they've just opened. I'm sure as the word gets out about how good this place is it will become even more popular.