About the best breakfast spot I've found in Grand rapids, and my wife's favorite place. Always a big line waiting for tables on a Saturday or Sunday morning, but they're quick to get people through. I've not been to the Plainfield location, but this seems like the typical local breakfast spot - close packed tables and multiple rooms as it naturally expanded over the years. It's not super highly polished like a chain place is, but I prefer this vibe. Food is always excellent - pancakes and bacon and sausage. The only one gripe is they don't do hashbrowns! It doesn't appear like there's a ton of parking, but there's both a big lot across the street behind the businesses, and a lot behind Real Food Cafe you can park in (which I was unaware of until recently!). read more

The Real Food Cafe is really a step above company in the restaurant space. Clean flavors, homemade primary ingredients, thoughtful execution, no corner spared to give you a happy experience. The homemade corned beef in the Reuben is spectacular. The toast on the bread, the balance of the cheese and the sauerkraut, all of it results in some awesome mouthfuls. The staff are clever, pleasant, quick with the coffee refills, and knowledgeable about their menu. The ambiançe of the place is spot-on, the décor is tidy American diner at its very best mixed with old school lunch counter. The lighting is great, and it it has a very pleasant and relaxing vibe. Perfect to hang out with a few friends and nosh. This one is not only a bookmark, I'm already making plans to bring folks back. As the Michelin guys say: worth the trip. read more

Real Food Cafe - Authentic Corned Beef Reuben - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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Came in for the famous cinnamon roll pancakes - never disappointed! Kray was lovely and attentive!!

Excellent service and a delicious breakfast! Large portions and tons of options. The ambiance has an old school diner feel. The price is fair for what you get. The pancakes are a must! You can get them single, short stack or a full order of 3. They are large! My Michigan cherry and walnut hold the powdered sugar was excellent. I also got a sample of the blueberry white chocolate pancakes that were like dessert for breakfast. My omelet was perfectly cooked and quite cheesy. It was a build your own with jalapeño, cheddar and broccoli. I would order it again. Our server Kershawa was friendly and kept our coffee full. I highly recommend this place. read more

Real Food Cafe - Pancake - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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A great breakfast place with wonderful small town vibes. The servers knew most of the patrons that walked in and it was wonderful to see that. The service was absolutely wonderful and super friendly. On the first day there, the server told us we would love everything about the cafe and that we would be back before we left town...she was right...we came here 3 mornings of our 5 night stay. The food is great breakfast fare. The omelet was perfect, but the pancakes were everything I've ever wanted in pancakes. Get whatever you want, but also GET THE PANCAKES. I tried the blueberry pancakes and the cinnamon roll pancakes. Both were delicious, but I had the cinnamon roll pancakes twice. read more

Real Food Cafe - Omelet with toasted bagel - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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Revisited this little gem of a breakfast place after what's been several years and I'm still just as impressed as I was then. Wait times were still long, but the value for the amount you get still remains this restaurants' strong suit. Highly recommend for the bustling atmosphere and coffee that's always topped off. read more

Real Food Cafe - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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The hollandaise sauce on the eggs Benedict was gross and from a jar. On the menu, it literally says "made from scratch" hollandaise sauce. When I asked about it, the waitress told me that they stopped doing it six months ago, but it was still on the menu. Waitress actually did a great job with service. She let me sample the hollandaise sauce and honestly, it tasted weird and I probably should've canceled the order. just don't order it, trust me.. for the misrepresentation and the grossness that ruined my breakfast... One star. read more

Real Food Cafe - made from scratch? That's not true. It's from a jar and Gross. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Service was fine. We have been more and more disappointed every time we visit since the new ownership. The sausage used to be amazing, it is now barely edible some bites are overly salty while others are unseasoned. Biscuits and gravy were terrible. We used to visit any chance we could and now we try to find any other restaurant to go to instead. read more

thanks april!!!!!!!! We appreciated your kind service today! Our food was delicious and we always enjoy eating breakfast here together. Thanks for making our morning great! read more

Very polite service, food is amazing, family friendly environment. Paul the general manager is very personable and cares about the customers and communit. read more

We walked in and were immediately seating as we did the wait list ahead of time. The inside original area is very vintage, It gives a cool vibe. Our waitress, oh my goodness!! Kershawna, what a sweetheart, and very attentive. I couldn't decide between the Stuffed French Toast, or the eggs and toast. She suggested the Tuesday Morning Special and said they could make the piece of French Toast the strawberry stuffed French Toast. It was absolutely delicious . If you live in the Grand Rapids area, or are just traveling through I highly recommend The Real Food Cafe. read more

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From the time we walked into the restaurant Kray was amazing! The food and service is equally as amazing. very fast too. read more

This is a cool old-fashioned blue plate diner for breakfast and lunch! We picked it because Yelp listed it as pet friendly (patio) and had affordable breakfasts. Excellent cinnamon roll pancakes and good omelets and lattes. 100% recommend. Lupe was a great server! read more

Food was average, service was good, the wait was long, and the place was crowded. Heard some good things about this restaurant but was disappointed with our experience. read more

Kray waited on us today for breakfast and did a fantastic job! Frienfly and efficient.

Today I came in starving 8:45 AM Thursday, not packed, was served within 5-7 minutes of ordering a Garden Omelet, no peppers + sausage (should have ordered a side of the house sausage), side of house wheat toast. Everything was on point, accurate, fresh, toast was surprisingly good bread, cooked to standard; and the server was attentive to refills. The manager Jenna stopped by to greet my table, made sure everything was worth the stop and worthy of a return visit. I'd come back just to see her , what a sweetheart! Everyone seemed to be in rhythm and working as a team, front of house and back of house. I didn't notice any issues with the cleaning standards. The turtle pie looked good! read more

Breakfast was so legendary I almost forgot what day it was!!! I was greeted by the server manager right after we sat down, food and service were pretty quick. The place was clean and neat. read more

Excellent food. Great steak and eggs and my wife really enjoyed her French toast. This is technically the 2nd time we have had the cafe as we have also tried the Ruben and club sandwich. Also excellent choices. Have yet to try anything below "good" here. Excellent local gem. read more

Real Food Cafe - Steak and eggs with sourdough toast and homestyle potatoes - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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The food here is a GREAT bang for your buck. I honestly get the strawberry stuffed French toast as my main "entree" every single time, and it has never disappointed. The place is very chill and diner like, yet the food is delicious and high quality. The workers are also very attentive and nice! This definitely is some of the best stuffed French toast around Grand Rapids. read more

Real Food Cafe - Strawberry Stuffed French Toast, pancake, Corned Beef Hash - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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The food is delicious and the service was great. It feels a little like home. I will be going back for sure

Real Food Cafe is the real breakfast deal. It's all the creativity you find on the bougie menus (try the loaded pancake!) with the down home feel and taste of your local short order brekkie joint. If you're tired (like me) of the pretentious boutique takes on breakfast and just want great pancakes, French toast, eggs done right, and fresh breakfast meats, then here's your jam. And I happen to LOVE breakfast potatoes cooked their way: Chopped up chunky, grilled crispy on the outside, and soft and potatoey on the inside. Coffee cups stay full, servers are friendly, and prices are reasonable. Popular among locals and visitors of all ages and it's easy to see why. Bonus: Don't neglect what's in the fresh baked bakery cases out front. I took home the loveliest slice of red velvet cake! Mmmmm! read more

So I came because I was visiting now my fiancé and at first I was like idk if ima like this place! lol BABY THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS!!! The waiter was hitting on my GF and I had to tell her to chill! She made sure our food was made correctly and it was piping hot!! Couldn't eat everything but everything was good! Nice find and enjoyed our selfs! It small in there but on the other side it's more tables to sit at! There was a display of baked goods I WANTED TO TAKE EVERY THING HOME!!! Go check them out! read more

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Tried Real Food Cafe for the first time after reading reviews and hearing good things about it. Of course, I'd also heard great things about another local breakfast chain, whose name begins with an "A", and it was a big fail. Thankfully, Real Food Cafe delivered the goods! When we first entered the restaurant, I'll be honest, I was a little worried, as there was faint musty smelI that was a little off putting. It seemed to dissipate quickly, or I simply got used to it. At any rate, I decided to try the westsider scramble - a scramble with polish sausage and my wife went with the Tuesday morning special - 2 eggs, bacon, and French toast. The polish sausage was interesting, it tasted similar to an Eckrich or Hillshire farms sausage that come in the two-pack at a grocery store. I guess I was expecting something a little more unique, the scramble overall was still very tasty though. My wife said everything was great; however, I did notice her struggling to cut through her French toast, but it didn't seem to bother her. Overall, it was a very good breakfast, very laid back, definitely not an upscale breakfast place. If you're looking for a good breakfast at a reasonable price, Real Food Cafe hits the mark, give it a shot. read more

My favorite breakfast spot in Grand Rapids. Highly recommend the Nutella French toast and the potato hash's. This place is amazing. Been going here since I was a kid. read more

This place is amazing my new favorite! The food is great and the service is great. My only complaint is that the breakfast is so good I can't bring myself to try the lunch! read more

Was in search of a brunch or breakfast in a new city and stumbled across the Real Food Cafe. I am so glad we went! I love diners and the Real Food Cafe has quick, friendly service, we were seated right away and the portions perfect. I had to take home one of the huge cinnamon rolls to sample! I will definitely be back! A true neighborhood gem! read more

This was such a diamond in the rough to find. It's nestled right next to a wonderful shop which is highly useful when you're waiting to be seated. The place can only hold so many people and it was full when we arrived. We had about a 15 to 20 minutewait which went by rather quickly with the store next-door. We were seated by our waitress and she was pleasantly helpful and talkative. We felt right at home. The interior seating area gives a bit of a retro feel with the seats and tables, reminding me of days gone past at my grandparents house. Even though the place was retro, it was very clean. There are two sides to the restaurant, one being an all table and seating area with the other, having booths and an old-fashioned countertop area. Now the food, amazing! The pancakes were large, light and fluffy. The omelette was one of the best I have had in some time. The only downside was the biscuits and gravy were not very good. The biscuit was hard and the gravy was a bit salty for our taste. read more

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The food was amazing. They have a huge cinnamon roll. The service was great and the ambiance was family friendly. Your GPS might take you to the front for street parking but there appears to be a parking lot in the back. read more

A coworker recommended that I try Real Food Cafe, so I met up with a friend there for breakfast, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I had the Northland Scramble, which was very tasty and filling. Our server was super kind, and she even got us to-go cups for our drinks. I love American-style diners, and Real Food Cafe combines the diner experience with delicious food. I can't wait to go back! read more

Real Food Cafe - Northland Scramble with White Toast - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

I would say that the corporate greed is greatly evident from today's abomination of customer service and care for employees. We have been been to a few of these locations and today we were faced with even more greed and decline. As I understand this is a business serving customers food as an in person service with door dash. It's apparent that door dash is killing this experience. The restaurant had to shut down in person service and the impact is over an hour wait our food and they stopped seating guests. The restaurant cannot shut down door dash orders because it means too much to the corporate greed. If the restaurant shuts down door dash the corporate managers just turn it back on. They turned away tipping customers to service door dash. I suggest closing the doors all together and build a reputation for just door dash. The experience used to be of more value for the in person guest here. The company should reimburse the staff for all the tips they didn't receive today. I will bet they will not! You can see from the picture the restaurant is nearly empty when normal packed. The over an hour wait for food in an empty restaurant makes you see the real value. Please serve those who are seated versus those who call in an order. Extremely unhappy and disappointed!! Door dash is more important than the in person guests. Empty and watching customers walking out disappointed!!!! read more

Real Food Cafe - Empty for 11:00 am. Corporate greed!!! - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Where do I start?! LOVE the decor--such quaintness and memory-provoking for this 65+ customer! Next, OMG--the food is fantastic! My first time here was June 26 with a friend. My second time was 2 days later, bringing my better-half, and it was just as delicious as the first time. Sitting at our table, it was fun observing the interactions (and efficiency) of the staff. They ALL appeared genuinely happy as they were serving their customers and helping each other. But the coup de grace was our waitress, Sophie. What a gem!! She was our server the first time I was there, and I asked if she were available to serve us the second time, too, which they accommodated. And Sophie did not disappoint. Always a smile, very efficient and capable, just a joy to have serve us. :) Finally, I took home baked goods both times, which will continue to be a standard every time we eat here. Wow--what an experience to eat here, in ALL ways!! Thank you, thank you for such wonderful experiences! read more

Takes cash & cc & tap. Dined on a Tuesday afternoon greeted when we sat ourselves bec we didn't read the sign lol & the server who looked @ our puzzled faces thought not to say anything . Once seated we ordered the Irish eggs benny. The hollandaise sauce was a great temperature ty, the meat plentiful & eggs perfect. The coffee I ordered was smooth... & wonderful. For dessert even tho we were full was too beautiful & tempting to pass up when we entered.. a huge slice nk of peanut butter chocolate cake beautifully decorated. The frosting was superb but the cake was a little dry & made a huge mess w crumbles but we were still happy. Spent about $23 w coffee, Benny & cake. The friendly waitress brought plenty of refills & was very sweet read more

I wanted a local restaurant to check out for breakfast, and this place popped up on my radar, so I decided to check it out. Pulling up, the outside's small and not intimidating, and if I didn't know it was there, I would have passed it with out knowing. Reviewing the menu, I immediately noticed it was *CASH ONLY.* really? All of your foods over $10 a plate, I don't understand how you don't have a credit card machine. I docked a star for this because there's really no reason for them to *not* have a machine. Anyway, I went with the chicken Quesadilla omelet, which I could barely finish. Good food for sure. Lots of taste to it, which I loved, along with very filling as well! I wasn't disappointed with how good it was. Service was excellent and I would say to come and visit here. Just make sure to bring cash! read more

Real Food Cafe - Cash only - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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Went to Real Foods today for my birthday. My husband and I have always loved our food here with the previous owners. Great food, reasonable prices, great service. We waited, at least, 10 minutes to get water and coffee. We waited another 5 to 10 minutes to place our orders. Our waitress seemed nice but not trained well. Our omelettes were just okay--no seasoning and the ingredients weren't mixed throughout the omelettes. Disappointing:( read more

I have been wanting to go here for years, but never had the opportunity. Well today that all changed. Our server Krista was awesome. If all servers had her attitude they would be well served to do so. As is the case with many businesses employees call in and burn their fellow team members, or show up late. I hunt places like this down like a sport. If you find yourself lucky enough to read this review, just say thank you Charlie for doing the work for us. This place is iconic, and so is Kristin. My wife and I will be back here one day soon, even though it's on the other side of the state for us, we enjoy shopping on the west side of our state. Food is spot on, and service is what it should be. Keep up the great effort Kristen, much respect from us. read more

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Cinnamon roll pancake Strawberry stuffed French toast Biscuits and gravy Vanilla latte My French toast was cooked perfectly and I absolutely loved the strawberry cream cheese that was between the two slices. Wasn't overly sweet and had that delicious homemade strawberry taste (think strawberry shortcake vibes). The biscuits and gravy had great flavor but were a bit dry. I'd still order them again though. The cinnamon roll pancake tasted... exactly like a cinnamon roll. Pancakes were dense and moist but still fluffy. This is something that you can eat with or without syrup which just goes to show how good they are. Overall I loved this place! read more

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Good breakfast. We were sat quickly and the service was good. Great breakfast spot. I haven't tried the bakery but it looks amazing!

We came in on Friday morning at about 9:00 AM for some breakfast. It was not too busy-while there were a few people there, we were seated right away and it wasn't too loud. For myself I ordered the veggie omelet with whole wheat bread for toast. This omelet was wonderful-they scrambled my eggs perfectly, and the vegetables were fresh. I could not put my fork down. We ended up buying a mug from their diner we were so charmed. Apparently they have new ownership and they used to sell their logo mugs to people-I hope they bring that back! read more

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So many good things on the menu, but I always get the southwest scramble for breakfast or lunch.

We went to the one on Plainfield. We both enjoyed our food, however one of the two orders of Strawberry Cream Cheese filled French Toast had a shredded carrot in it! The service was poor. My menu listed the strawberry French toast as $1.52! I knew this was incorrect and pointed it out to the server. She never thanked me, never had a manager talk to me and avoided us the rest of our meal. Of course I was charged $12.50 for it. When the bill finally came, I paid in cash as they prefer. The change I received was incorrect. The service was poor. The gal clearing the tables also brought the food and the change for the bill. She was dressed in a sweatshirt. We decided she was probably the person in charge. We were not pleased with the service and will not return. its too bad because side the food was very good. read more