The Chef

This place was highly recommended by a local, so I decided to drop in and see what the hype was all about. Well the hype was legit, food was outstanding, coffee was good, service was even better! If your in Manhattan, Kansas this is a must stop!

I basically love everything about this place. The atmosphere is great, the food is great at the staff is the best! If you’ve never ordered before, I highly recommend the chicken salad sandwich. My husband always gets the French toast. Really, though, you can’t go wrong. Order whatever appeals to you!

We ate Breakfast at The Chef in Manhattan couple Sunday’s ago
And forgot to write review. It was our first time there and we will be back in the future. My wife had the Crab Cake Bennie and it was was fantastic! Crab Cakes great crust and creamy inside, egg cooked perfectly, and a excellent sauce. I was
Feeling like traditional so I had the Grant. Eggs perfect, hashbrowns out of sight, biscuits good and gravy ehhh little boring and gritty. Would not get that again but loved the menu. Service Great and Coffee good also.
We shall Return. Small place be prepared to wait on Sunday morning.

I have to start out by saying that there really are not enough breakfast/​brunch places in Manhattan. The Chef though… this place really is fantastic but if you have never been, I will tell you right now that there will be a wait no matter what time you go (at least on a weekend, not sure about during the week). Expect anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. My advice, put your name in and then walk around a bit because it will get overwhelmingly crowded inside and will make you drool since it smells so delicious. If you choose to wait there though, they will give you coffee so you can get caffeinated before being seated! I have been in Manhattan three times and yes, I have been to The Chef each time. I had The Grant (½ order of biscuits and gravy, eggs, and bacon), the Crab Cakes Benny, and the Breakfast Pizza. Their biscuits and gravy are literally perfection, the Crab Cakes Benny (as in crab cakes egg benedict) were messy but have incredible and unique flavor, and the Breakfast Pizza was simple and delicious… nothing too complex about it but also not exquisitely over-​the-​top. All three of these meals I would order again without hesitation and now that I am writing this review, am craving to go back. My boyfriend had the Banana Foster which tasted like pecan pie and I wish I could have had both of our meals but he didn’t like that idea.
Service has been great despite being so busy, and I feel that their predicted waiting times are pretty accurate. Well worth every minute. Also… you can get alcohol for breakfast so really, what is there not to love. $ 1 beers (yes), but also fancier alcoholic drinks, a Manmosa (orange juice and beer) and what I had was The Salty Dog (hope I got the name right), which was gin and grapefruit juice. Yum yum yum. This is just a charming place that you will love.

Small place but worth the wait. Expansion would be a good investment! The food was good and the atmosphere was on point. The coffee was a little watered (I’m a coffee drinker) but no reason not go go back!

Amazing breakfast café! Great food and service! I recommend the steak eggs Benedict! This is our family’s favorite way to start the day!

Tiny place. Long wait. Everything done well. Very well. Worth the wait. Do it…
I had the Crab Cakes Benny… a tough call between this and house smoked salmon. Really good. English muffins are tough to cut with a fork, and you end up destroying it, but all of the flavored are there.
Also good: French toast with amaretto batter and caramel cream cheese. Ridiculously good.
Girls had «the classic.» (As you’d expect) and PB&J Cakes. Oh, and the bacon… really good.

Amazing food! Very tasty.
The only downside is the wait. I do believe the food is worth the wait. Expect to wait up to 30 – 45 minutes on the weekends.
Please please please expand! You guys miss out on many customers through your wait time. But don’t worry, I will wait for you delicious food!
P. S. Amazing Bloody Marys!

Our favorite brunch spot! Great, fresh dishes that make it a unique experience. Ranks up there with any restaurant in the country. We absolutely love it. A must if you are in Manhattan.

One star for honesty, one for quality, one for the sign, one for menu, missed one for décor and service.
Diners. All the rage. Stick some quilted stainless on the wall, some Naugahyde stools and booths, a jukebox and your on the Food Network. The first visit is influenced by the eye candy. After that, I hope you get exactly what you deserve. Which I hope is loyalty and a motive to return, even if that means a long drive out of the way.
The Chef misses on the superficial elements, except the sign. They seem to think the food is more important than the appearance. Oh darn. This is a problem for me because now too many people come here to eat. Seriously, that causes a few problems.
Poached eggs cooked in a little muffin pan kinda thingy that leaves the center under and the outside over cooked. Corned beef hash missing the caramelization that comes from sitting on the griddle longer. That’s it. Everything else is just darned fine.
The coffee is quite good, brewed in clean equipment. The menu is very well conceived. Service? Well it is a diner after all, the idea isn’t to coddle you, it to get your damn food.
Like any restaurant these days the economics are daunting, so you have to reset your value meter so that «ouch!”=“decent value». Good luck with that.

Part of the charm of the Chef is the long wait — just being real. I’m not sure if the food would be as good if you weren’t drooling by the time you sat down. That being said, I love it. Worth it. Go here! Reservations are not allowed, and you need to arrive in person to place your name on the list.
As a former K-​Stater, I’ve tried most of the menu and haven’t had a bad dish yet. There’s always a board with daily rotating specials. If you’re an eggs bene fan, upgrade to their smoked salmon or crab cakes version. Both are equally delicious. If you’re more of a dessert for breakfast kind of person, the bananas foster pancakes does not disappoint. It’s smothered in epic rum sauce. Coffee is inexpensive, decent, and bottomless. Another genius idea from the Chef? Manmossas — a combination of Busch light and orange juice… They’re a surprisingly refreshing way to start your morning and the perfect cure for a hangover. The interior is bright and cheery, as is the staff.
This would be a terrible review if I failed to mention the epic music selection. The Chef might be in possession of the best 80s/​90s mix on this earth. Enjoy!

Eat. Here. Now.
I got the breakfast burrito with the hash browns, about $ 10 total. It was fan-f***ing-tastic. Seriously. Maybe I was just starving or maybe I have an unnatural love of breakfast at a local café, but The Chef just really hit the spot. The portion was so big that I got to have leftover breakfast for dinner. It did take a bit to get the food, but the waitstaff was very attentive and polite.

I was looking forward to visiting this Resturant based on past reviews but it failed to impress on so many levels. I attempted to order eggs Irish or an Irish Benedict. I wanted to try the homemade hash in a format I am familiar with to make some honest comparisons. I was told by the waitress they won’t do that. Even after I explained how simple it was.
I then ordered the steak eggs Benedict. It is advertised as 4 oz NO WAY. It came out 2 oz at best. I ordered medium rare which was relayed to the kitchen. It came out medium well. The poached eggs appeared to be microwaved in a mold and were cooked through. The bernaise sauce was cold and clearly from a squeeze bottle due to the pretty design.
The side of corned beef hash was more potato than corned beef. It had some flavor but it is FAR from even the quality of Hormel from a can.
Overall either this was just a bad visit or this Resturant is resting on the laurels of past reviews. Either way I doubt I will ever return.

#1 expect to wait #2 have a cocktail they are delicious, Prosecco float is my favorite #3 enjoy a savory or sweet breakfast but expect to leave full!
My favorites are: Dang Quesadilla, Huevos Rachero, breakfast pizza and someone with me always gets a MacGyver so I usually get to pick at that too! I would love to work my way through this entire menu, but I just keep ordering my favorites. Go figure!

Our wait was 1.5 hours to be seated. Food was good but not over-​the-​top amazing. I had the chorizo breakfast burrito. I would come back but will try to find a better time with a faster wait time, or come with a smaller party.
Wait staff was very friendly and helpful.

Great little «breakfast all day» place. I had a breakfast burrito smothered in sausage gravy. I did expect a little more seasoning in the gravy, but some salt and pepper and it hit the spot. I also tried the biscuit with homemade warm jelly. It was very unique in a good way. Probably only could have hoped for a little softer, but I bet with sausage gravy it is just perfect.
Be prepared for a long wait as they don’t have a lot of tables and they get pretty busy on the weekends.

I came here for 4^th of July weekend with my best friend. It has a bit of a wait, as all good places do, but it wasn’t too bad.
The food was OUTSTANDING! I had the chicken fried steak and it was sublime. The steak was cooked perfectly and the gravy was to die for. And the biscuits, hot damn! They were fluffy and heavenly. The country potatoes were on point as well.
And you can’t beat the décor. It’s adorable. I particularly loved the salt and pepper shakers on each table. A cow and milk. So sweet!
¹⁰⁄₁₀. I still have dreams about that chicken fried steak and I will be back for more.

I’ve held off on writing this review as I’ve wanted to like this restaurant for the three times that I’ve had a weekend and quick week day meal. As The Chef is the most popular breakfast spot in town I’ve discovered it’s more by default as Manhattan is lacking the central breakfast/​brunch spot. The wait is usually about an hour on peak times, which is annoying but, certainly not something that can be affected other than throwing people out early. The food is blah as best and while that certainly doesn’t give a vibrant description of that food it’s the best way to describe it as tasteless and expensive for something like eggs benedict that can be made at home. The cocktails aren’t anything special either and for a $ 6 small Bloody Mary at least let a man drink without feeling like I’m getting taken advantage of for wanting a drink, eggs and bacon on the weekend. I doubt I’ll make it back as I’ve given The Chef the chance and it’s failed on multiple tries, maybe one day they’ll get better!

Great local breakfast joint. Had the homemade hash. It was quite good,
Different take on hash, but still yummy. Good coffee and great friendly staff.

The Chef has a lot of allure because it always has a 1 ½ hour to 2 hour wait on weekends. Eric R. and I tried to go there with another couple in the Fall and the wait was over 2 hours. The weather outside was nice enough to stand outside but we gave up and went elsewhere. I decided today to give it another shot. As a solo diner, I figured I would have a good chance of beating any wait, and I was right.
The Chef occupies a small space, though it apparently has 2 dining areas (I could not see half of the place due to the sheer number of people waiting inside). Since it was around 20 degrees outside, the amount of people waiting inside was quite impressive. When I first walked in, there was just a sea of people and I did not know if any were in line to get names on a list. It turns out they were all just waiting, so a woman steered me to the host stand, which was empty. Soon, the host returned, delivering coffee and juice to people waiting, which is nice. She took my name and indicated that being single would be fast. That is when I overheard her tell others there was a 1 ½ hour wait.
The waiting area was so crowded that I ended up in front of the door as people kept coming in and it was so cold. Finally, a party got seated and I hunkered in a corner away from the chilly blast. Soon, a seat freed up at the counter for me, and I was seated in around 10 minutes! That was awesome. The server immediately came over and took my order. To be honest, I have browsed the menu online in advance to be able to order quickly and try different things, but it is a big menu so I will definitely have to come back (maybe a weekday is a better idea)!
I opted for side/​à la carte items so I could try a savory and a sweet dish. I ordered a side of corned beef hash, one pancake, and a side of Nanas foster sauce. The food came out pretty fast. The corned beef hash, served in a cute clay bowl, was very hot. It was chunks of corned beef and potatoes that were mashed around it with a few chunks. The consistency of the potato was a bit odd but the taste was pretty good. I probably would not order this again.
Though I am not typically a pancake eater nor a banana eater, I heard great things about the pancakes and I like cooked bananas occasionally. The Nanas foster sauce was so delicious, with bananas, pecans, cinnamon and who knows what magic also — I coated my pancake in it and ate the whole thing. The prices were right (my meal before tax and tip was $ 7). I definitely would come back again for brunch — the atmosphere is very quaint, the service is good, and the food is comforting.