The Egg & I

Had the Denver omelette. Came with English muffin and ranch potatoes. Everything was good but I am a hash browns fan. The potatoes were just ok. Nothing wrong with omelette. Great selection of jellies and jams for the English muffin.

Great experience this morning with the family. Wasn’t sure that this place would be friendly for toddlers, but I was pleasantly surprised. The wait staff was spot-​on. The boy was brought his meal before ours by about five minutes which couldn’t have worked out better. I’m not sure if this is common practice for kiddos, but it should be as it prevented an early-​morning «melt down.»
I opted for the French Toast special. I’m not as big of a French Toast snob as my brother, but I was nearly blown away. If his assessment meets my expectations, I would be willing to up my rating to a 5. The portion of eggs included with the meal (I opted for scrambled with cheese) was far greater than any side order that I have recieved anywhere else and the bacon was prepared to perfection.
Very satisfied with our experience. I am looking forward to returning.

I love this place. Breakfast menu is amazing and portions are generous. I’m not quite as crazy about the lunch menu, but that’s okay because the breakfast options are so plentiful.
We do have issues with service. We have been trapped waiting for the check in order to get back to work on a weekday during lunch. They were busy and I realize waiting tables is a hard job.
We’ll definitely be back but perhaps when we’re not in a hurry to get somewhere.

This is a decent spot for breakfast and light lunch. French Toast, pancakes, and Belgian Waffles are all outstanding. Wheat toast is great. But I’m mixed about the eggs. There is an unusual taste to their scrambled eggs, as if they are made with rehydrated powder. The fried eggs are decent, though in my experience frequently overcooked. Biscuits and gravy has always been good, with a slightly stronger zest of spice than anywhere else around here. It’s good but unexpected out of habit. Ask for a pitcher of water, otherwise you are left with a small glass of ice long before you’re done eating. Paying at the counter on the way out slows the process down. I much prefer to have my server run the bill before I leave.

Met some friends here for brunch recently. We had a good meal. Nothing dynamite, but what they do, they do a-​ok. I had what is becoming my brunch staple, corned beef and hash. Not much to comment on, the food was good, service nice.

I went here recently with family for the second time. Not many smaller breakfast options. I had biked there and was sad to see that there was no bike parking. We locked to the bench out front, but needed to use a cable for the second bike because two would not fit using just U locks.

We usually meet friends here when visiting up at UW, or surrounding area for bike rides.
This time — the experience was horrible. We were there with some family friends, kids, etc.
Were seated, ordered, and… waited… waited…
Finally — the kids pancakes come out — HARD and BURNED on the bottom,
We talk to the manager, and he got us another stack, while we are still waiting for our waffles, and the rest of the meals. Then they come out. One waffle order had a whole banana, and it had dark spots and inside. Again we talked to the manager about the rotten banana, and he said it was fine, and to stop being so crabby about everything…
ok — DONE — we will never be back here after many years of our go to spot —

Best breakfast/​brunch place! I have a gluten allergy and they have a gluten free menu! My husband has a dairy allergy and they didn’t have a menu but they were very helpful with that! The coffee is amazing to! The waitstaff is wonderful! I had a Wisconsin Scrambler and my husband had an avocado scrambler! Amazing!

If you are a fan of Denny’s and/​or Perkins, The Egg & I is right up your alley. I’ve been here a few times and each time it’s just ok. Nothing great. Nothing bad. Your typical breakfast options. Service is fast and welcoming. In a pinch and if I was in the vicinity, I would consider coming back. But there is way too many other breakfast options in Madison that I would choose first.

The Egg & I had a very familiar breakfast atmosphere to that of say a Perkins. At least at our location. the hosts weren’t very efficient at communicating with each other, we weren’t asked our name for the list of seating and there was confusion between the two who was going to be sat first.
For my entrée, I chose the French toast with a side of eggs and sausage– which kinda reminded me of McDonald’s egg and sausage side of a pancake platter-​so it was hard to believe that everything was as fresh as they advertised. The French toast was pretty good though. My bf had the Mexican Skillet, we found it odd but comical that the Mexican Skillet, Santa Fe Huevos, and the Mexican omelette are all essentially the same thing. He was happy with it but not much variation when it comes to a zestier breakfast. I could see myself coming back here but not before some of the higher-​rated breakfast/​brunch places

Sub-​par omelets. Inattentive waitress. I would just avoid this place and eat at home if I were you.

I’m disappointed that I: (a) waited so long to get over here, and (b) judged a book by its cover (and some of the negative Unilocal reviews). I met my team here for lunch on a Wednesday morning, and was EXTREMELY impressed (as was everyone else).
Our group of 8 had no problem being seated at a large, comfy table. I imagine it could get busy here on weekends, but then again, I’d challenge you to find *any* place in Madison that isn’t slammed on a weekend morning. Even the mega-​bistros that seat 300+ people are slammed.
+ Tons of parking available in the large outdoor lot
+ Decent amount of seating + a separate «meeting room» that has additional seating
+ Nice, neutral décor — feels a bit like Panera, but with softer materials
+ Super friendly, prompt, and helpful waitstaff
+ As the place filled-​up, I watched service at other tables — everything seemed timely & great
+ Coffee carafes for the table
+ Decent coffee — much better than other diners in the area
+ Real creamer — not the little plastic cup thingies
+ Awesome menu. If you can’t find something good here, you probably shouldn’t eat breakfast
— Lighter fare items aren’t exactly «light» — many come with a ton of cheese; be forewarned
+ Chicken Vera Cruz = SUPERB. Moist, grilled chicken, loads of avocado, delicious
— Chicken Vera Cruz came *covered* in cheese (I would’ve asked for a side of it had I known)
+ Coworkers raved about their dishes: omelets, skillets, Egg Byte, apple chicken sausage skillet, etc — everything looked & smelled great, and no one left a crumb behind
— I don’t believe you can get anything like a side of greens here — seems to be more «traditional» items like toast/​muffin/​pancake/​fruit only
+ Reasonable prices; on par with any other breakfast place in the city
I would absolutely return here in a heartbeat. If you’ve been curious to check it out, go! You won’t be disappointed. Just keep in mind that if you’re here on a busy weekend, it’s likely to be a bit slower than normal.

Nothing too exciting about this place… They’re usually somewhat busy (which is surprising to me because their food is pretty average), but they never seem to have enough servers to cover the tables. Not only are there too few servers, but the ones they do have, in my experience, haven’t been the greatest either. In fact, the last time I visited this establishment our waitress flirted with my date the whole time — it was unprofessional to say the least. I don’t plan on going back anytime soon.

One day I saw The egg and I manager on channel 3’s «the restaurant show’ which is a weekly review of different local restaurants in Madison. Seeing that made me curious due to the presentation of the dish they had on the show and the fact that they specialize in just breakfast dishes. So today my girlfriend and I went to eat there and tried a couple of dishes which were both benedicts (can’t remember the names) Overall they were ok. One egg was poached good and the other was over cooked. The dish was pretty cold too and the side potatoes were rather bland. The part that left a bad taste in my mouth was when I went to pay the bill. There were two girls at the register which one of em was saying a lot of stuff you wouldn’t say working in a restaurant business. «My manager wants me stick around and talk to customers, I Just need my money «It was rather unprofessional being that the food was meh and she seemed rather rude to the table sitting next to us. I’d save your money and go to a place with a decent breakfast. As you can see all the mediocre reviews it definitely has a lot of work as far as food quality and service professionalism.

We came with an out of town guest because we enjoyed our first visit. While the food was very good (the scrambled eggs are very fluffy and flavorful!), the service was very disappointing. There was a very busy waiting list despite several tables being open and other customers waiting remarked about this to the staff. The hostess was not personable at all and borderline rude, and our waitress this time was insincere and sullen. Basically, we felt like we were inconveniencing their morning. While we did not think twice about introducing our guest based on our first experience, we were embarrassed we brought our visitor and will continue looking for someplace else for breakfast for ourselves and any guests.

I love brunch here! The food is good eats! I really enjoy the belgian waffles. Leslie Knope would have a field day!
You get a good bang for your buck here. Sometimes the food can take awhile but you are usually drinking your never-​ending coffee cup and don’t always notice. :)

I have eaten here a few times. Each time the service has been really slow and the wait staff unfriendly. This time, though, really takes the cake.
We put our name in at 10:45am for a 15 – 20 minute wait … And we were seated at 11:40am. It happens. We instantly order since we had plenty of time to look at the menu and what do you know, by 12:30 our food still hadn’t come. We had a 1pm appointment so we were hoping to get out in time. When we I quired about our food we were told it was ready to come out next. FOUR other tables then got their food and ours was STILL missing. One of us finally had to get up to see why our food was now over an hour late. Again we were told it was next in line. We were then also told by the waitress that «this place sucks and is a piece of %+#:» something we didn’t expect to hear. Finally at 12:50pm our food came out… all except mine. And the server ACTUALLY looked at me and said «oh, did you already eat?» ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I said no and asked where my food was. I was reassured it was coming. 1pm, no food. I get up and tell them I have to leave for an appointment which I’m now late for and they tell me my food was just starting, meaning they lied and had totally forgotten my food.
DO NOT EAT HERE.

Excellent, excellent food, coffee and service! The restaurant is very clean and inviting. Tami was our server, she was so sweet, attentive and prompt!!! We will for sure be back!

Over priced with average food and quantity isn’t there. Nice place with decent service but two greasy spoons close by are way better.

This really is a great restaurant with good menu choices. The host was very disorganized and quiet. If you need to wait for a table make sure you park yourself right next to the hostess and keep checking for your place in line. Did not go out of her way at all to be helpful or heard. Good is excellent.

Today was our first egg and i experience. Our server crystal was phenomenal, the breakfast was delicious, and the coffee was just the way I like it. (Strong) We can’t wait to see what the lunch is like.

The food is okay to good to pretty good. The issue I have is with the service. The first time we came here they took over 15 minutes trying to split our check while we stood in front of the cash register. The general manager appeared very confused and couldn’t communicate with his employees at all. The second time our waitress took about 15 minutes to even greet us but while we were waiting there trying to figure out who our waitress was I do feel we lucked out because one of the other wait staff looked half asleep doing the zombie walk. Later on during our experience this person spilled a drink on a customer and walked into another employee — it was comical. Other wait staff employees also looked very poorly trained and didn’t seem to care about the success of the company. We only saw one person who looked on top of their game but was clearly frustrated with the other workers.
If you’re in the area and need a bite to eat it’s not the worst place but be prepared to wait longer and have a higher tolerance for employee errors.

Great for brunch! Standard breakfast fare, but done really well.
I’ve been here a ton of times and try to get something new each time.
Some of my favorites:
VERA CRUZ CHICKEN & AVOCADO OMELETTE– it’s in the «smarter choices» section but it is super flavorful and comes with lots of avocado
PARISIAN BENEDICT
DENVER OMELETTE
BISCUIT, EGGS & GRAVY
Seasonal favorite: Banana bread french toast– this is to die for!
My favorite waiter is Nico, but generally the staff is friendly. The place can be very busy if you go between 10−11am on Saturday and Sunday, but I’ve never had a wait longer than 20 mins.
Parking can be a little tricky, there is plenty of it, but the spa and gym next door have reserved parking, so you may have to find a space in the parking structure in the back.
I know it’s a chain, but one of my favorite breakfast places in Madison.

Really deserves 3 ½ stars. The menu has some creative choices. They also have an extensive drink menu with mixed, non alcoholic, beverages, hand squeezed OJ and a good coffee selection. The down point where I fault them is the service. I’ve read in previous reviews and heard from friends that the service is lackluster. Not bad but not good. Our server was nice but poorly trained. We will be back but will visit Holstein Café in Oregon and Hubbard Ave Diner in Middleton more often.

Stopped in this morning for breakfast around 8:30. The restaurant is clean and casual/​comfortable. It wasn’t too crowded and there were plenty of tables open, but the place got super crowded within about 15 minutes of our arrival, so I’m gad we got there when we did. I had the chicken apple sausage scramble, which had plenty of vegetables and came with fruit and an english muffin. I wish it had a little more flavor– like maybe more seasoning or a stronger cheese. It was good, but a little on the bland side. My husband had corned beef hash and said it was decent.
The only way I can describe the service is… strange. Everyone we encountered there was awkward and just a little… off. It’s hard to explain other than that it was off-​putting. The host seemed totally overwhelmed by the decision of where to seat us, our waitress walked back by our table as we were finishing our meal and appeared surprised– like she’d forgotten all about us. The kid at the counter when we left did not smile and in fact barely acknowledged our presence. So the whole vibe was just a little uncomfortable, and while the food was decent, I wouldn’t say that it was so awesome that we’d make a special trip to go there again.

Serves traditional breakfast items. Food is good… gave me the impression of a typical fly-​by breakfast joint… nothing really stood out. Service and food were good and YES i would come here again.

We brought in lunch once at work from here and it was good so I wanted to come in and check it out. Cute little place. The food was good and the service was pretty decent. No complaints. Will be back to try some more options on the menu. Today I got the breakfast croissant and they let me switch the ham for bacon without any question or an additional charge.