Restaurant Review: Rick's Cafe

Rick's Cafe, Los Altos - brunch on September 14, 2013

The only thing I love more than brunch food is meeting friends for brunch. Then I can actually have brunch at the time I'm supposed to rather than at odd hours of the day because I had nothing else but baking stuff in my pantry and fridge so that's what I threw together for dinner.

I'd never been to Rick's Cafe in Los Altos before but I like trying new places, especially ones that are local and family-owned such as Rick's. We got there a little after 10 am and waited about 5-10 minutes for a table which isn't bad.  Rick's has both indoor and outdoor seating and they were decently busy on a Saturday morning which is always a good sign. According to their website, they're open every day at 7:30 am but close at 3 pm so it's mostly a breakfast, brunch and lunch place.

Inside Rick's Cafe

Rick's has a typical brunch and lunch menu which I really like since, again, some of my favorite foods are brunch items.  My main conundrum is while I love pancakes, waffles and french toast, I usually can only eat one kind.  Plus I have to have protein.  Pancakes come with protein options and most of the time French toast does too but did you ever notice that waffles are standalone orders?

At the foyer of Rick's Cafe

I mean, there are always "specials" where you can get eggs, bacon or sausage, a short stack of pancakes and hash browns or else French toast with eggs and/or a breakfast meat as one order.  But waffles?  They come in a variety of flavors and toppings but if you want anything besides a waffle, it's a separate order. I'm not sure why that is but it's consistent at every cafe and brunch place I've been to.  Maybe because the size of a whole waffle is considered enough of a meal?  Whatever the reason, it means I usually default to getting pancakes with some kind of protein as one order since it's more cost effective.  Yes, I'm cheap.

Apple Waffles sans whipped cream

But this time around, I wanted a waffle.  And eggs.  So I ordered the Apple Waffles (hold the whipped cream; whipped cream on waffles, shudder) AND a side order of scrambled eggs.  Walking on the wild side now. But I'm glad I did.  I love scrambled eggs and it wouldn't be brunch without it.  And I loved the waffle.  The cinnamon glazed apples were a nice touch and prevented me from dousing the waffle with too much syrup since the apples provided a nice sweetness but the waffle itself was excellent - fluffy and tasty. It's either because I rarely get waffles when I eat out because of the lack of protein thing so I miss waffles or Rick's just makes a darn good waffle or both.

Side of scrambled eggs

My friends got an omelet order and some kind of scramble (I think).  The sides that each order comes with are rather carb-y (bagels and potatoes with almost every breakfast order) but you can swap out one of the starchy carbs with a fruit cup like they did.  Rick's prides itself on a friendly wait staff and we certainly experienced it.

Green Eggs and Ham

The price points are slightly higher than a chain brunch place like an IHOP but I'm always willing to pay a little more to support a family-owned small business, especially one with good food and good service, so it was no sacrifice (hey, I'm not THAT cheap).  All in all, a good experience and I'd certainly go back and recommend this to others in search of a good brunch place.  They also have good-looking lunch options as well.

I forgot what one of my friends ordered but it looks good