Howling Rooster Cafe
| Address: | 529 Englewood Ave, Buffalo, NY 14223, USA |
| Phone: | +1 716-838-4440 |
| Rating: | 4.5 |
| Working: | 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 10
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Matt M
Ive left several five star reviews of this restaurant before. I love the owner, and the long time staff. I tell everyone that this is one of the best brunch spots in Buffalo, this is more an administrative complaint. As a regular patron who frequents this establishment almost weekly, and brings a large group every time my extended family is in town Ive noted that some of the newer staff is not as friendly or accomidating. Also since they dont have a website anymore their Facebook should be more accurate. I had my family and extended family looking to pick a time for a late brunch, I checked the Facebook as I know sometimes google is wrong with hours. Facebook noted that the hours were recently updated by the owner. We chose 2:30 pm since many people in my family extended family were traveling from out of town. I arrived ahead to make sure it wasnt too crowded to accomidate our group. When I arrived I was informed that they actually close from 3-4 and are not actually open 8-8 as FB and google states. This was only a minor inconvenience and nothing major. But it is worth mentioning that hours should be kept accurately wherever posted for the convenience of customers, also if you know your site is listed incorrectly and a group of people traveled for your food it would be more small business like to seat them. Id expect a chain to not seat us but not a friendly neighborhood luncheonette. This is the second time a newer host has been less than accomidating, which is in star contract to the veteran staff.
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Francis Chang
To be honest, I had driven by the Howling Rooster numerous times but the outside appearance had always been a deterrent to try the food here. One day after Church, we decided to come in for brunch / breakfast and do I regret not coming in sooner! The restaurant it self is cozy with about a dozen tables. The décor is centered around the "howling rooster" with pictures and props of roosters scattered around the place. The back wall has a list of daily specials and coffee/tea/etc. I ended up ordering the "Big Daddy Platter" which included country fried steak, biscuit and gravy, country potatoes, bacon, two eggs, and toast of my choice and my wife ordered the potato pancakes. We were both pleased with out meals. The potato pancakes were by far the best weve had in Buffalo and quite possibly the best weve ever had. The big daddy platter was definitely big and generous serving. The country fried steak was nice and crispy and went very well with the gravy. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was the biscuit because it was very dense and heavy, not as light of a biscuit as I would have expected. Overall, a very satisfying meal and great gem! Definitely will be coming back with more friends!
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Linley Pipech
The restaurant was clearly understaffed, but the staff was not upfront about how long the wait would be. A "backed up" kitchen for breakfast makes me think that a normal 10-15 minute wait will be 20-25 minutes. We waited over an hour before asking the status of our breakfasts. When we asked our waitress how long it would be for our food because if it wasnt ready we needed to leave (had over an hour drive home and didnt expect breakfast to be ending at 1pm) she said she would check. Instead of checking, she walked coffee around to other tables. In this situation, an apology and some sympathy that our wait was absolutely absurd would have gone a long way. Instead, we got a very rude response that our check hasnt been in for an hour yet. How is an hour for eggs even remotely acceptable? Bottom line, if your kitchen is backed up and your restaurant is having a tough day accommodating the business, dont blame the customers.
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iDYNOdoug
Arrived with wait time of 45 mins to an hour for a table. No issues with that. We were seated and told the kitchen was backed up for breakfast. There were many tables without food before us. Ended up waiting over an hour for eggs... My biggest issue was how it was handled. The manger/owner only put the blame on us the customer saying "didnt anyone tell you the kitchen was backed up" which they did but not more than an hour for eggs. She ended up also saying your "ticket hasnt been in a full hour". Well true its been in for 50 mins and 10 mins of waiting for someone to take our order which we had 4 people come to our table refilling coffee the whole time. Bottom line dont blame your customers because you cant accommodate them. The wait time of an hour to get a table is totally normal on a Sunday. More than an hour seeing nothing on your table for breakfast is simply unacceptable.
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Mark Battaglia
Let me first start off by saying the parking lot is always overflowing and there is usually a line out the door. With that said we did not have a good experience at the howling rooster. they were significantly under staffed to the point where service was horrible and the line out the door is apparently because it takes them forever to seat people. They got both my order and my wifes order incorrect and did not apologize. Our waitress had a pretty bad attitude and we werent sure if she even knew what she was doing. While were happy that there are places to eat around our house we will definitely not be going back. And strongly do not recommend.
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Brittany Patterson
My first time at this establishment and will be my last. 2 hours to get served and the owner, who was waiting on my family and I, EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL!!! She was rude and snide. I asked for my grandfathers orange juice and her response was "do wanna take my apron?" Who says that?!?! Then proceeds to mouth off to my mother, who was a waitress for many years, and incinuated my mother wanted to beat her up...and after the 2 hour wait, we had below par food. I support local businesses as well as my family. This establishment was disappointing and I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone until they learn how to manage it properly.
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Phil Johnson
They have WIFI for paying guests but they wont give you the password for it. So im writting this review using my data. Was given room temperature water, no ice. Waitress was trying to collect syrup from my table before recieve my breakfast. Had to seat myself. With that said, biscuits and gravy was good. Service was fast and the atmosphere pleasant. Torn on comming back.
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Jace Luce
A group of friends and myself visited this restaurant early morning on a Sunday. The wait to be seated was normal for Buffalo dining. After we had been seated, we were waiting an additional hr for our food. The result was us leaving as our food was being walked out. Overall wait was 2 hrs. 6 omellettes. Takes a few min to make an omelette. Worse service I have ever had.
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ben mcmillan
This place was an okay place to dine because I like the descent sized portion even though in all reality I had to order 2 meals to get what I want. They arent flexible with substitutions and dont do refills. My food took what felt like forever and it was only me and my 3 friends. Overall I probably wont go back.
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Emily K
Great diner with tasty food and reasonable prices. The service isnt the greatest but dont let that deter you from coming. Interesting and large selection of food. Its the kind of restaurant where they put the menu on the chalkboard wall so that helps the ambiance a little. The Rio grande breakfast is my favorite.
