Brunch

Brunch. The most fabulous and decadent of weekend meals. Please enjoy my reviews of CA’s many brunch spots. As a carbohydrate-loving vegetarian, this blog is the place to be if you want to know where the best pancakes, crepes, French toast, waffles, eggs, huevos rancheros, avocado toast, biscuits, scones, lattes, and tea rooms are in CA! If you are a meat-loving bruncher or someone outside of CA, you’ve come to the wrong blog, sadly. If you do love carb-heavy brunches, welcome and I hope you will enjoy my reviews! All of my reviews will be given in croissant emojis instead of stars, with 5 croissant emojis representing a wonderful brunch place and 1 croissant emoji representing a terrible one. Half stars are given with sticks of butter (in honor of croissants being made with layers of dough alternated with layers of butter). So, for example, a 3.5 review would be: 🥐🥐🥐🧈

San Francisco, CA

Son and Garden 5/5: A fairytale from start to finish; beautiful and delicious food and drinks.

Best Bay Area Bagels: A compilation of my favorite viral bagel spots around the Bay Area.

Pasadena, CA

Cafe Verde: 5/5: Many delicious food options, excellent quality and variety (Camille’s Pasadena Favorite)

Kathleen’s: 4.5/5: Great food and excellent bread with good service.

Lincoln Restaurant: 4.5/5: Excellent food but long lines and limited seating.

Russell’s: 4.5/5 delicious brunch options and beautiful paintings; feels like eating in an art museum, which I love

Copa Vida: 4/5, good coffee and pretty good food

Real Food Daily: 3/5, overpriced for what it is. Good options for vegans.

My Vegan: 5/5, Everything is delicious here. Perfect for a vegetarian like me! Pan-Asian cuisine and brunch. (Camille’s Vegetarian Favorite)

Green Street Cafe: 5/5, great zucchini bread, nice atmosphere.

La Grande Orange: 4/5, good food, nice atmosphere

Urth Café: 4/5, Good food and coffee but overpriced and long wait.

Marston’s: 3.5/5, Good huevos rancheros but long wait and you can’t reserve in advance.

Le Pain Quotidian: 5/5, Amazing bread and spreads. Variety of delicious carb-tastic brunch options.

The Raymond Restaurant: 5/5, Pineapple French toast is magnificent.

Abricott: 5/5, Amazing waffles, crepes, and pan-Asian cuisine.

Crepes de Paris: 5/5, Some of the very best crepes in Pasadena.

Great Maple: 5/5, Excellent avocado toast and oatmeal.

Orange County, CA

Snooze: 5/5 Delicious food but long lines (Camille’s Irvine Favorite)

Los Angeles, CA

The Hart and the Hunter: 5/5, excellent food, located adjacent to the Cat Cafe. (Camille’s LA Favorite)

Perch LA: 4.5/5, beautiful views of LA, good food.

Republique: 4.5/5, great food, not so great wait time.

Egg Plantation: 2.5/5, Disappointing food, ok service

OK Cafe: 3/5, OK food but slow service

Another Broken Egg Cafe: 4/5, Pretty good food and service

Tea

Afternoon Tea: A delightful and delicious experience in which you are usually served a tea selection of your choosing, finger sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, and dessert. Enjoy my reviews of various tea rooms below! (Spoiler alert: I love them all!)

Rose Tea Garden: 5/5, Beautiful décor and lovely afternoon tea. Perfect for a birthday or special event.

Chado Tea Room: 5/5, Most extensive tea selection. Pasadena and Little Tokyo locations are both lovely.

Madeline Garden Bistro: 5/5 Prettiest paintings and atmosphere. Has tea as well as brunch and guests can choose their own adventure.

Son and Garden Tea: 5/5 Best theming but only offered on weekdays due to immense popularity of weekend brunch.