Colleen's, Clayton - Visited January 2019

It has been a few months since I have reviewed a new restaurant, so I took a recommendation from a friend and we visited Colleen's in Clayton on Forsyth just east of the Forsyth Metrolink station. It was formerly just a cookie bakery, but it has now expanded so it has a breakfast and lunch menu as well as a large assortment of baked goods to tempt you. We arrived around 11:30 am on a Saturday and we were able to find some street parking on Forsyth, unfortunately on the south side. They do not have that much parking of their own, so ideally you should park on the north side of Forsyth or on Lindell if you do not want to become road kill.

When we arrived all the tables that could possibly seat our group of five were already taken, but after talking to a couple groups we were able to guilt some people into letting us sit down at a large table. You must order your food from the counter, but first you must locate a menu which we finally were given. Since the place was pretty busy we had to wait several minutes to order, and that gave us some time to peruse the menu. We all ordered different breakfast and lunch items: huevos rancheros, the breakfast burrito, waffles with berries, the turkey avocado BLT and the grilled cheese with bacon. We were given a number on a stand which we placed on our table, and then we were free to wait at our table for our food.

The environment there is pretty crowded and loud, so do not expect to be able to carry on a conversation without much effort. They do have an outdoor patio which is probably not so loud, but since it was about 15 degrees outside, nobody was dining there. They brought a bottle of water and some glasses, and they are also one of the many restaurants that are now stingy with their straws.

We had to wait several minutes for our food, but it did arrive in two groups and all the entrees looked pretty appetizing. 

Huevos Rancheros

Breakfast Burrito

Waffles with Berrries

We all tried the food and we will have to say they all tasted very freshly prepared with quality ingredients, The garlic mayo on the turkey avocado BLT elevated that sandwich from merely good to pretty great. Both the breakfast burrito and the huevos rancheros included generous amounts of meat which made those two entrees stand out as well. The two sandwiches came with Billy Goat chips, and after we discussed what is so special about those chips, I went ahead and ate both bags of them. Hey, they are pretty good after all!

So overall we would have to say the food was actually quite inventive and flavorful, but the ambience leaves something to be desired. Being crowded, noisy and difficult to order along with the difficulty to find good parking, it may actually be a better place to pick up food than some place to sit down and enjoy a meal. The baked cookies looked pretty good, and I would definitely pick some of them up to go as well.

Food quality

Ambience