Sabrina's Cafe - A Classic Philly Brunch
Sabrina's Cafe is a Philly brunch institution. When you ask people for brunch recommendations, it's one restaurant that will consistently come up. The food is classic American brunch food with a few twists and the ambience is very casual. They have three locations -- one in University City, one in Fairmount, and a newer one down in Queen Village.
I've visited the Fairmount location most often; they have the most generous seating which is key given the popularity of Sabrina's and the no reservation policy. Even optimizing for quick seating, I've waited a good 20 minutes each of the three times I've been, so be prepared for a little bit of a wait. In terms of the food, not everything I've had there is a slam dunk, but their famous stuffed french toast is consistently amazing and definitely worth going to try at least once.
On this morning, A ordered the Greek yogurt with granola and berries. Hard to tell the size from this photo, but this plate was big. It was a full size dinner plate filled to the brim with the aforementioned ingredients. I had a bite and wasn't the biggest fan. The greek yogurt was too thick and a little tart for me, and the granola didn't have the crunchiness I like. I'm not a yogurt person in general though, so my review is a little biased -- when I asked A later about it, he said it was perfect and exactly what he wanted. To each his own!
The sister ordered the must try at Sabrina's, the stuffed caramelized challah french toast. You can actually get a half order of this enormous plate for half the price, but given all four of us were sharing everything, my sister opted for the full order. The second half of it definitely took longer to eat, but the full order was the right decision in the end because the plate was completely clean by the time they took it back. Though I generally not a fan of extremely sweet things, this dish is actually unexpectedly pretty balanced in terms of the sweetness. The French Toast is well made, and the stuffing of caramelized bananas along with the topping of fresh bananas really takes it over the top.
Sister's girlfriend ordered the breakfast nachos off the Halloween themed specials menu, which I was eyeing as well, but didn't feel like committing to a whole plate of nachos. I definitely made the right choice because the nachos were underwhelming. Toppings were on the bland side and the chicken pieces were dry. Definitely no where close to my favorite nachos in the city (spicy pork nachos at Jose Pistolas.)
I also ordered a special off the Halloween, the Monster Mash, which consisted of eggs over four panko crusted deep fried mashed potato balls on top of a bed of hot sausage pieces, sautéed bell peppers and onions with some sort of salsa verde sauce on the bottom. My biggest complaints about the dish were the number of bell peppers -- I really don't like cooked bell peppers -- and that there wasn't enough hot sausage pieces. The fried mash potato balls were great and the sauce on the bottom was also delicious. I wasn't mad about it, but would I order it again? Maybe not.
I can't really give Sabrina's a rousing recommendation in good conscience, but at the same time, I've ended up at brunch here at least four times, which definitely says something. Was I blown away by the food? No. Did I still have a great time at brunch catching up with my sister and her girlfriend? Yes. And isn't that what brunch is actually about?
TL;DR - I wouldn't say Sabrina's is the best brunch place in town, but worth checking out, especially if you haven't tried the french toast.
