Howard’s of Mount Vernon

(04/​11/​2013) UPDATE: As of April 11, Howard’s is temporarily closed while transferring to new owners.

The owner and the staff are very friendly and extended specials for my friends and me when we were not able to make it in time for their brunch specials. Food is basic and delicious, though not all items on the menu were available.

This place is one of my favorite spots in Mount Vernon. We fell in love with it last summer when we went there for brunch and now it’s our «brunch spot.» The courtyard is amazing on a beautiful day. Sit back there, eat the delicious breakfast or lunch entrees and enjoy $ 9 bottomless mimosas, screwdrivers and bloody mary’s and you can switch it up whenever you please. Food is great, atmosphere is great, servers are fantastic.

I have had a couple not so great experiences here. Their food… their food… I just don’t get it. Paris Hilton who may have never have touched pot and pans could do a better job. But you know I am open minded or rather I was dragged by a friend. YEAH YOU!!! You know who you are! And you, yeah you, you knew it would end up on Unilocal.The first couple of times I was somewhat dissatisfied. I am not going to lie. Paris Hilton can probably make a better burger, or maybe she would just acquire BETTER meat!
So, here I was again (to say the truth we were in a hurry and this was convenient), this time for breakfast. My friend was super excited over grits, but then the poor thing had been on a carb free diet, so grits would indeed sound heavenly to anyone at that point. Riight! I could have shown him a picture of french bread and he would have started singing a Halleluja!
I ordered mussels… YES it was around lunch time sort of breakfast time, so what the heck. I was surprised! The mussels, even if they were made with jar garlic (nobody chops garlic with that geometric precision darlings! NOBODY!) they were quite delicious, served with plenty of bread to soak on the lovely wine based sauce.
I ordered orange juice with my mussels — people DON’T judge — I am a foodie, I was craving oj and I ordered it with mussels… so what? Well such OJ was not the best, definitively one of those that are used to mix in cocktails, as their imperfections are more easily covered with liquor, and not to be served by itself, as the imperfections will be picked up by the palate.
Well, I discovered that there is an all you can eat breakfast buffet for $ 12 for Sunday brunch, all you can drink mimosas $ 9. I might as well try that, maybe their breakfast is decent, as my friend seemed quite content by voraciously consuming his meal in what appeared 8 bites.

I’ve eaten breakfast here a couple of times. It’s perfectly fine; the atmosphere is clean and warm and nice. The food’s been fine too, but nothing to write home about.

The meals are typical american flavored. They do not have any strong flavors and generally need some salt and definitely pepper. It is alright none the less and the price is not too terrible. I personally love the pasta since they give you so much to eat.
The best day to eat there is the Sunday brunch since it’s all you can eat and they have a drink special.

I’ve been here for group and smaller events. The servers have always been really friendly if not prompt. I haven’t been blown away by most of the food, but the happy hour prices on the generic appetizers such as bruschetta and quesadillas are good for their purposes.

What a dump! my previous reviews were honest to a point until i saw what was really going on. do yourself and your hard earned money a favor. go elsewhere

We love it here because Ron is the best waiter EVER. We’ve been almost every Tuesday this summer for trivia night and every time Ron remembers what we like to drink, to eat and anticipates when we’ve needed refills, water, our bill, etc. The food is pretty good too and last week we went for Sunday brunch and had the best pancakes (better than Blue Moon, hands down). You really can’t beat the price on the brunch buffet (where else can you go that the buffet is actually not a buffet, but fresh made-​to-​order, unlimited pancakes and French toast?) Go. Ask for Ron as your server. You will not be disappointed!
*and there is this chocolate cake creation with cream cheese that is heavenly. They don’t always have it, but if they do, get in line bc it’s amazing.

Strolling Mt. Vernon with the hubslice and stumbled upon Howard’s. One of those gems that you just don’t find every day. Homey, divey, just our style. Super friendly service, even a free drink (!!!) and pretty darn good cheese fries. Can’t wait to stop by for brunch soon.

I did a quick search on this place and it said that it had an «award winning breakfast buffet.» You’ve got to be kidding me. Great prices and location, but that’s about it. Service is friendly, but not very timely or experienced. Food is not that great. Hit or miss depending on what it is. The breakfast buffet looks sad — not a lot of variety — and is in constant need of refreshing. Décor is plain and sterile. Their «famed» courtyard is also in need of some sprucing up.

One of the perk of living in Mount Vernon is the variety of chioces when it comes to food. Howard’s is that local place you love to love. Great place to play trivia with your people from the neighborhood, have sunday family brunch or just have a cold one after a long day at work.
The staff is very friendly and willing to accomodate requests. Homade bread pudding to die for.
A good place for friends and family.
they have a nice litte patio too.
My place when I need some good old American food and a cold beer.

Awful service. The waitress (and her friend!) were as charming as they thought they were, but i don’t appreciate having a whole conversation with my friends. Our waitress and her friend chatted with us while we waited a LONG time for SANDWICHES that didn’t even taste fresh (or good). It was unnecessary and uncomfortable. We should have known when the restaurant was empty on a Friday evening. A tip for our waitress is to not share too much information about herself, to be timely on delivering the food (to be exact, the cook came out to deliver our meals), and to not diss the management in front of your customers.
Visually, the place looks nice. For instance, the restrooms have nice stylish mirrors, the restaurant while dim has nice orange hanging lights for mood lighting, and they’ve got social media stickers on the door and menu. But, looks are not all that. If the sandwich is supposed to have sausage in it, it shouldn’t be white. In addition, the fish sandwich didn’t taste seasoned. While I was surprised my turkey breast-​avocado tasted fine, it’s not enough food for an $ 8 dinner. Chips instead of fries, you expect to be suitable because you expect the food to be great. Oh well.
But really, thank you to our waitress and her friend for telling us about your lives since childhood. We’re blessed to meet such eclectic, entertaining characters… even if we didn’t want to.

Initially i started this review on 11÷20÷11 with 4 stars. It was because they advertised a 9 dollar bottomless glass of mimosa, screwdriver and bloody mary.
I recently went back 12÷31÷11 on the strength of my first visit.
Upon arriving and being seated we were informed that they no longer did the bottomless glass, which is clearly still prominently displayed on their menus. We were also informed by a gentlemen who seated us that they had «been stopped the unlimited several months ago» 11÷20÷11, is not months ago. I informed our host that it had been less than a few months since my last visit. Miraculously we were given the bottomless glass.
Outside of this snafu, the food quality remained decent but, the service was slow. The restaurant had barely any diners, a full kitchen of cooks and our plates still came out at a snails pace.
Sure Howard’s has the chic décor but, it’s lofty ideas may have gotten ahead of itself.
My simple solution to Howard’s issue: cover up the unlimited mimosa blurb with an avery ⁵¹⁶⁰⁄₈₁₆₀ label with another brunch special. :)
Good Luck and Godspeed

I didn’t experience what the previous reviews stated about bad service. My Saturday breakfast was very good, great price. The home fries were the «real» kind for me, flat soft and crispy sliced potatoes with onion, not deep fried cubes like many other places.
The service was polite and timely. I’ll be coming back for dinner because the menu is varied but simple with fair price points.

If you are looking for service this is not the place. We walked in at 10 am on a Saturday morning and three staff members looked at us, paused at the door. No one came to seat us or acknowledge our presence. So we seated ourselves. Upon seating ourselves the staff strolled by our table on several occasions without acknowledging our presence. 10 – 15 minutes later two gentlemen entered the restaurant and were immediately flocked by waiters, presented with seats, menus and water. It appeared that the gentlemen were regulars and thus deserved better service.
That was our last straw. As we got our coats to leave, a staff member came up to us immediately asking if we’d like something to drink. No thanks, I will take my business to your next door neighbor. (and at city café we got free cinnamon buns appetizers!!!)

Food — (Edit) NOT THAT good, and reasonably priced.
Service– HILARIOUS. Like, it felt like the twilight zone. At one point some guy claimed he didn’t even work there he was just walking around helping out.
Luckily, I had some great company so we just laughed about the travesty of our 2.5 hour brunch.

The best place for brunch at a reasonable price in mount vernon. I can at least say that I am there at least twice a week, either for breakfast or to watch a game. Darrin and his staff are phenomenal. And also what I like they have tweaked the menu with more healthier choices for the health conscious diner. The Bodyby Donovan powerhouse sandwich is to die for. The turkey is smoked inhouse and the sweet basil dressing adds a nice touch to the sandwich. All the food is made fresh daily. The baked goods are homemade and the deli meats are smoked. The corn beef is by far the best I have had in a long time. I also love the courtyard out back so that you can sit outside in the warmer months as well. And the restaurant is very dog friendly as well. So if you have a pooch you can bring your dog with you as well and sit in the courtyard.

Howard’s Delly has become my go to place when going out for a quick breakfast (this is the only meal I’ve had here) with a group of people. I’ve come to accept the fact that once I’ve had breakfast here I won’t be able to eat again until dinner time, since everything in cooked in oil and has an entire stick of butter on it. I don’t normally eat things like that, but it can be good once in while!
If you’re going for breakfast try the pancakes or the Belgian waffles… they are so light, fluffy, delicious and, of course, smothered in butter. The home fries can be iffy… the last time I got them they were so greasy that I didn’t want to eat them. The portions are pretty big so I usually don’t finish my entire meal.
The staff is always really friendly and willing to help which is very necessary for a neighborhood establishment. I’ll definitely keep going back for as long as I live in Mount Vernon.

The previous reviews are so bizarrely positive that a friend and I were reading them and laughing as we finished our pallid, awful meal of overcooked French fries, frozen-​fish sandwich, and flabby shrimp salad.
Seriously, the person who wrote that this is a nice place to take someone you plan to impress MUST have been joking. Just walk in and the moldy, old-​house smell is your first clue that there’s something not-​so-​special about this place.