The Brandywine

This is my favorite breakfast spot in Grand Rapids for non traditional breakfast. The dining area is kinda small but I’ve never waited more than 20 minutes for a table. Always have great service and never wait long for a refill. The chicken black bean hash is a staple for me, also some of the best pancakes I’ve had around here.

Food was a bit overrated, to be honest. I got the traditional eggs benedict and it wasn’t bad – it was just okay. It wasn’t that flavorful and was a little bland. Heard some good things about this place, but I’ve had better.

Had breakfast on two occasions and was impressed both times. The breakfast options range from the «usual» breakfast items to very unique choices. This is the type of place where you can eat very healthy or truly indulge, and they do both options very well. This may not have the «vibe» that other breakfast/​brunch places may have, but the food and service are as good as any of the «hip» breakfast/​brunch restaurants anywhere.

I come to the brandywine for breakfast quite often. I tend to get the veggie Benedict over and over but it’s pretty delish song haven’t gotten sick of it. However, they can be inconsistent. Poaching eggs can be hard, I understand but on one occasion they had to replace all six eggs at our table, and some were still over cooked
The service can be quite terrible, so be prepared to wave the ladies down!
The coffee is good. The salmon caper Benedict was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had, unfortunately was just a special.
I do not dig any of the lunch items I’ve had here, but the veg Benedict is enough to keep me coming back.

Order anything Benedict. You won’t be sorry. I like the American fries with onions. While people are waiting on line for other neighborhood breakfast/​brunch locales, I’m on my third cuppa at Brandywine.

The whole experience is disappointing. We waited a long time before we can order when the server were looking at us but still chatting with each other. I ordered smoked chicken with black bean hash. When the food finally came, everything is barely warm. The two poached eggs are well done! No gooey yolk. The diced sweet potatoes were undercooked. They were crunchy…
My boyfriend ordered Brandy Benedict. His dish was also barely warm though he got decent poached eggs. The spinach on the Benedict was dry and turning yellow.

It’s like the poor man’s Wolfgang’s but not as poor as you would think. Obviously if you think breakfast in that general area, you think Wolfgang’s due to the fact that no other place is open on Sundays, but Brandywine is definitely a second option if the wait at Wolfgang’s is 2 hours. And this isn’t to say that Brandywine shouldn’t be your first option because it definitely is a great place. I got the 2×2×2 and it was fairly cheap for 2 pancakes that was bigger than my face, two eggs, and two pieces of sausage of bacon. You can also get hash browns for pretty cheap, and their coffee is great as well! Definitely a smaller place, but phenomenal food and a great atmosphere for a small conversation and breakfast after church on Sundays or something like that. Plan on coming back again!

Very nice servers, but this place needs a refresh. The menu hasn’t changed in a really long time and they don’t cater to special diets like most GR places do now. It’s such a bummer since we used to come here a lot and now it’s just much less often. It’s quality food and really well made but I wish there were more creative dishes available.

The Brandy Wine is the first «choice» for this Eastown Resident… been in «neighborhood» since 87…@nmvoc

I stopped in to Brandywine on a Saturday morning around 9. There were open tables (yay!) so I got a booth with my boyfriend. Our server came over right away with menus and water and asked for our drink order. I got the Sunrise scramble with spinach, chicken, broccoli, tomatoes, feta, and mushrooms. It was very good and the flavors went really well together! It was also a pretty big portion for a scramble. Probably twice as big as the scrambled at Sundance. My boyfriend got the country Benedict, which is a Benedict made with biscuits, sausage, and covered in sausage gravy! It was pretty good. We had our beverages refilled constantly throughout our meal and our server was friendly. Overall I really enjoyed our meal!

I had been wandering around the neighborhood, passing time waiting for an evening flight back home and made a point to ask people at each stop where to go eat. Everyone suggested Brandywine, so I figured I’d give it a shot, and I’m crazy glad I did.
Much to my surprise, this was, far and away, the best food I had in Grand Rapids! This was pretty much the best food I’ve had in a LONG time! It was mind-​blowing. I would honestly consider moving to Grand Rapids knowing that a place like this existed.
My initial gut-​feeling was that I wasn’t interested in going to Brandywine. It’s name and décor seemed to be like my vague and hazy memories of the 70s; lots of wood paneling and post-​hippie vibe. I vaguely expected to see some guy strumming a guitar under a fern.
But no! There was wood paneling, and it is called the Brandywine, but other than that, it’s totally its own thing. An awesome thing! The layout is pure diner: booths and a counter. The staff were very cool. And the food!!!
The food was SO good. I ordered the Tim’s Special — corned beef hash with a poached egg on it with hollandaise sauce. Potatoes and toast. Cup of Coffee. I remember ordering it. I remember the guy bringing it out. I remember starting it. And then??? All I can remember is vivid colors and lights and a calming voice in my brain telling me that all was good in the world and there will be peace in our time. Slowly the world faded back to reality and there I was eating the best breakfast plate known to humankind. The food was insane. I would travel to Grand Rapids just to eat it. If I didn’t have a flight to catch, I would have come back for dinner. It was that good.

Thought we’d grab breakfast after the big snow storm. We’ve been waiting over 30 minutes now waiting for our food. I notice a hand made sign in the window Help Wanted! Experienced Line Cook.
My pancakes were overcooked & like rubber
Sorry Brandywine, I’m done eating here.

I ordered the 2-​stack sweet potato pancakes for about $ 5.95. It was the diameter of my wrist to my elbow… Surprisingly, it was worth the cost. It was loaded with pecans! Excellent choice.
The reason why I am giving this 4 stars is because of the limited parking issue. So you may want to try the other location.

The Brandywine is a good place to go for a change of pace.
I like the Eggs Timothy for breakfast from among the many selections. Their sandwiches are good. I often get the California Ruben. Might not be called that but it is the ruben with turkey and cole slaw. I have had their wet burrito. More big than wonderful for my tastes, but not bad.
The servers are often long time employees reflective of the eclectic Eastown neighborhood. Usually quite good and friendly.
Parking is on the street or wherever you can find it as they have no parking lot.
The store is clean. One of the best parts about it is that my picture is on the wall! :)

An array of brunchy options ranging from healthy to indulgent!
I breakfasted solo here and was extremely well taken care of. I walked away jacked up on seemingly endless coffee refills and stuffed full of vegetable benedict. That dish was a colorful serving of practically every vegetable under the sun, coupled with poached eggs done right, and a really zesty hollandaise generously covering the piles of squash, onions, and asparagus.
So, yeah, I’d go back. It definitely seems they cater to a crowd of regulars and I wouldn’t mind being one of them.

Long standing, super cute, family diner type restaurant in the heart of Eastown.
Stopped in for brunch on Saturday, forgetting just how popular it is on the weekends. Still, the wait wasn’t too bad and everyone was friendly as we waited for tables to open.
The servers are efficient and prompt but I don’t feel rushed or hurried. This past visit I got a Greek omelette and my husband got the rise and shine burrito. Being a big eater, I ate all my food and promptly ate the half of his massive burrito that he didn’t finish. I can state confidently, both were delightful.
My Greek omelet had tons of feta and olives in it so it was really savory. The rise and shine burrito was fit for a lumberjack, filled with hash browns, sausage, cheese and tomatoes and other goodies.
One draw back to visiting is the parking situation. There’s a lot just down the street though and walking back to the car, we stopped in at a few other Eastown shops, making it a nice visit to the area.

For me, this was one of those places that I Unilocaled then went. Since I’m not a Grand Rapids native and only come once or twice a year, the rare moments here that I have by myself to eat at a place I want to find someplace new!
Since it was around brunch time, I wanted to find a breakfasty place. I wanted eggs! Brandywine itself is not hard to find but parking is a little finicky. There are two spots right out front on the road and I was able to park there, a little uneasily as there was snow and I thought my car was jutting out into the road quite a bit, but the area that Brandywine and Domino’s Pizza shares is frankly open with like 8 – 10 parking spaces but Brandywine customers are to park there at their own peril! Yikes!
Anyways, I had two different servers that came up to me while I was dining and one was super nice and one was super too-​cool-​for-​school but as someone who wasn’t rushed for time it was alright.
I ordered some kind of chicken with a blackbean hash to minimize my carb intake and it was pretty good. The cantaloupe they include is an interesting touch and I could have done without it but everything else was to perfection.
11am on a weekday, there wasn’t too much traffic, but I can imagine that if it’s busy it would not be my favorite place.

The Brandywine is the shit folks…
Local-​owned, like every good diner is, the menu has everything. Don’t bother opening it, just picture what you want to eat. Now, don’t go crazy. Thought of something? Good.
Brandywine has classic appetizers, any breakfast dish under the sun, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, gyros, paninis, salads, pasta, fajitas, comfort food, steaks, some seafood, and desserts!
It’s a mecca for the college student, the hungover college student, the young professional, the old professional, hell everybody. Photo’s of beloved customers line the walls (I’m there), and the quaint room accommodates quiet dates and larger parties.
The servers are classic no-​nonsense folks who chew gum, talk horoscopes, and never mess up an order. So don’t be an asshole…
If you go, be sure to get some Brandy fries. And tell them I said hi.

The food was pretty good. Now with that being said, the service was dreadful. When our server first approached the table, it dealt like she was mad that we were there. My wife ordered a chai latte that we never ended up receiving. Our food was delivered promptly by a different server who accidentally brought an extra order of toast. When our server saw this, she proceeded to yell at him, which ended up making us feel like she was yelling at us. The other server proceeded to take the toast from us and gave it to the person who originally ordered it. We finished our food and waited 10 minutes for our bill to come. When we went to pay, we were greeted by our server texting on her phone. We then had to wait for her to finish so we could pay for our food.
So, it is safe to say we won’t be eating there again.

Meh.