Red Geranium Cafe

The ambiance is very open with lots of light. It has an open kitchen so you can watch your meal being cooked.
I ordered the grandpa stein ($ 8). This consists of 2 eggs (scrambled), potato (american fries), meat (sausage patties), and toast (english muffin toast). The meal was very good. The american fries were the best part.
The waitress was very friendly.
Overall I give 4 stars. The food was good, but nothing uniquely special. Will I be back? Yes the place is defiantly above average.

Awesome food and service. Recently added tons more tables so waiting isn’t as bad anymore. Try the SW Skillet!

I have been wanting to try this place out for awhile now due to hearing all the great reviews on Unilocal.I am not usually in the areas where their establishment is located, which is why it has taken me awhile to get here. I met with a friend here during the week. She has never been here either so we were both eager to try it out.
I would say my experience was just average. Nothing to rave about and nothing too terrible to complain about either.
The place is very plain jane in décor. We opted for a booth because the place is very open so the tables in the middle just seem very exposed to everyone. This wasn’t something my friend wanted to experience.
The waitress did a good job bustling around helping out all of her tables while keeping the coffee full. My food was in large proportion to the size, easily could take some home.
My only dislike is that I got an omelette made with egg whites and it was pretty watery. Maybe because I had spinach in it, which can retain water — could have been cooked a little longer. It was decent anyway, but just a note.
If this place was close to where I lived, I would go again. Definitely better than some others in town, but not a place I am going to drag people to.

I have been here three times and each times it was very excellent. The wrap I had was splendid, the spicy chicken was delicious and the wrap itself was monstrous. Another time I had breakfast, I love night breakfast and it was an omelette to die for. So stuffed with meat and veggies and oozing with cheese. The last thing I had there was a triple decker club and it was very yummy as well. Will keep going back because the staff is quick and personable and the food is delicious.

Nice local joint for breakfast.
Corn beef hash omelette with raisin toast and hash browns.
Just enough to fill you up.

Amazing service, excellent food! A little bit of a wait, but totally worth it. The sugar bread is delicious.

Solid breakfast spot! Not to say I left craving any of their offerings, but they make super stuffed omelettes and decent pancakes that left me satisfied. After going to the nearby IHOP the next day, Red Geranium was superior despite my love for IHOP. The local IHOP line cooks are not on their game.
They also serve this interesting sugar bread as a side. Super thick cut cinnamon bread they griddle and it has a thick layer of gooey sugar on the top crust. It was tasty and I have never seen anything like it.
This place gets packed so go on an off peak time to be seated without a wait.

Signs… that you are about to enjoy a good breakfast:
1) When you open the front door and find the place packed with locals — on a Friday morning. (But do disregard the handprints all over the glass door as you enter. Can we get somebody with some Windex and paper towels over here?)
2) You get a friendly greeting and a «sit anywhere» from a staff member the moment you walk in.
3) The menu is not foodie-​oriented or overly inventive — but the items are a solid representation of classic American breakfast fare — without the cute names or high prices.
I asked for strong coffee and got it. Unfortunately this pot might have spent a bit more time on the old Bunn warmer than it should have. It was late morning, so this is a forgivable oversight.
My eggs were perfect; but the biscuits & gravy could use a little tweaking. The flavor was spot on; but the thermal temperature of the dish needed to be dialed up a bit — I like my food hot. The biscuits were not readily visible under the enormous pool of delicious gravy; and required extrication A shame to waste such tasty sauce on thin, flat biscuits. How about some big fluffy biscuits next time?
The hash browns, however, were heavenly. A golden crusted nest of grated potatoes that were so light they would have probably floated off the plate had I not devoured them so quickly.
So — the interior of the place is a bit shabby, but the food is good. The price is right. You should go.

Great food. Great service.
Server actually gave us too much money on the return. We gave it to him on top of his tip because he was such a great guy.
The omelettes were superb. The toast was buttered just right. Excellent, excellent place. Would go here anytime for breakfast.

Stopped here for breakfast thinking it was more of a quick sandwich-​type shop (or pre-​made stuff) and pleasantly found it is a full-​scale diner. It was fairly busy and seemed to have a handful of regulars which was a good sign. I sat at the «bar» up front (not sure what else to call it) and enjoyed watching the cook do his thing while I waited and ate. I got chocolate chip pancakes and eggs and bacon. The price was great for how much I got, the pancakes were huge, I had two and would have been fine with just one. The service was good and so was the food, exactly what you want from a place like this.

My husband and I decided to take our kids out for breakfast on a holiday weekend. We drove to multiple locations that had at least a 30 – 60 minute wait. As a last resort we headed to the Red Geranium. There was a line, but not as long as the others, so we decided to take our chances. 15 minutes later we were seated at a table. I was so impressed with how fast the turnover was, without making people feel rushed.
I got the Eggs Benedict, my husband got one of the skillets, and my kids each got a giant pancake. Everything was excellent. The portions were big, but not so big that we couldn’t finish our meals. My kids are already planning what they will have on our next visit.
Overall, the food was excellent without breaking the bank.

The biscuits & gravy are to die for! Don’t judge but I usually get that and the Florence Benedict. I need to try the rest of their menu. They do have pretty cheap deals for the early birds.

Great food with some unique choices. A definite must try for breakfast or Lunch. It’s always busy but turnover is fast!

This little place is exactly what you would expect from a little diner: a little outdated, a standard menu, and a pretty good waitstaff. We were promptly seated and ordered coffee, which was surprisingly good.
My friend got the special hashbrowns and bacon and I ordered the vegetarian omelette with rye toast. The hashbrowns and bacon were cooked to order and tasty. My omelette was nicely filled with fresh ingredients, but the water from the tomatoes made it rather unappetizing. Instead of getting melted cheese and veggies on the inside I got something akin to vegetable soup. I’ll have to order it without tomatoes next time as everything else seemed to have good flavor.
I’m giving it a four star for the waitress, my friend’s meal, the coffee, and the potential of the omelette I had.

I love coming here! Quick service and good breakfast food for a cheap price. The place is a bit too small for me though.

I was told by my client that this was a good lunch restaurant for «American food.» I hadn’t realized that included using «American cheese» instead of cheddar. Over all, the food was decent, but nothing I’d drive out of the way for. The menu is very predictable for these kinds of places: breakfast all day, club sandwiches, Rueben, tuna salad, wraps, basic burgers, etc.
I was in and out faster than any other place I’ve eaten at recently and I’ll keep that in mind if I’m in a hurry, but not wanting fast food.

Stopped in here for breakfast while passing though the area. I always like breakfast diners but you don’t always know how good the food is going to be. This place was excellent.
I had the sausage skillet which had the best crispy hash brown potatoes I have had in a looong time. The eggs were scrambled and cooked just right, and the whole skillet was super tasty. My girlfriend had a custom omelet that she raved about. We substituted a biscuit instead of toast… oh my it was amazing. They tossed it on the grill and it was just slightly crispy. So good.
Bonus: We asked for a to-​go cup for her coffee and they filled it on up with some hot joe and didn’t charge extra. How awesome is that? I’d come back here for breakfast anytime!

Used the Unilocal app this Sunday to find a restaurant for breakfast. Although we have lived in the area over 2 years, we hadn’t heard of the Red Geranium. What an awesome find. Breakfast was fantastic, the service was quick and very friendly. We will be back again and again.

If you have ever been to a monster truck rally, you have experienced the
noise level and this popular resturant. Potatoes flying, eggs frying and a wait staff that has to be part psychic. Besides the fact the manager spilled coffee on my GREY slacks, I thought it was a rather good breakfast. Their eggs really do taste better than the ones I make at home (???) but they don’t pay much attention to the bacon which was part not done and part burnt. It was, after a fashion, edible. Nice bagel, and a great waitress so I would go back. Grand Rapids has frequented this restaurant in various locations and at various times since the 70’s, so I am willing to revisit them at some point in the future. I will however, turn my hearing aids off. And be sure my napkin is covering my pants.

I love the Red Geranium. It reminds me of a more classy version of New Beginnings. It isn’t trying to be anything its not — just a good, fairly priced bfast place. I love their skillets and French toast options. My mom loves the omelets loaded with veggies and that they make coffee drinks fancier than just coffee.
Their English muffin toast is genius. DElicious! Waitstaff has always been overly friendly and accommodating.
The only downside is that it does tend to get a little loud inside. If you’re with older folks or want to have a ton of conversation over the breakfast table, it might not be the ideal place.