Restaurant Reivew
Bumblebee's Cafe
Bumblebee's Cafe, a local restaurant serving traditional breakfast favorites and Southern specialties, is a popular local weekend brunch destination. It's an okay option to check out, only if you have exhausted out all other options in the Blue Ridge downtown area.
What could have been a cute local restaurant experience was dampened by an abnormally long wait time for 2 simple breakfast entrees.
Food
Bumblebees offers your standard breakfast fare - omelets, breakfast sandwiches, benedicts, French toast, and pancakes.
Our orders consisted of a veggie omelet and scrambled eggs with potatoes. The potatoes were a bit over cooked, although the eggs were perfectly cooked. We especially enjoyed the overstuffed veggie omelet, which was overloaded with all different sorts of vegetables.
Two simple egg plates took an extremely long time to come out. Even with the 45+ minute wait time, the chef managed to mess up one of our orders. On the bright side, our waitress was apologetic and kindly offered us a free side of potatoes while we were waiting.
I am not sure what took so long. Perhaps they only have one cook? Whatever the case, Bumblebee's really needs to speed up the process a bit as the wait time bordered on ridiculous. On the other hand, the restaurant was completely packed with not one empty seat in the house, which says something about the restaurant's popularity with local residents.
Service
Our waitress was very friendly. She offered us a fruit bowl instead of the toast since we are both following a gluten-free diet.
Most restaurants do not offer substitutes, making you pay for the entire plate even though you are forgoing one or more of the sides. It's always a nice gesture for a restaurant to not take advantage of those with specific food preferences or allergies.
Atmosphere
The dining room is a bit bland, especially compared to other restaurants in town. Bumblebee's is in need of an update, possibly consisting of a few unique decorations to liven up the space.
The indoor dining setting was a bit stuffy (with only 1 seat available), so we took the sole outdoor seat. The nice weather and semi-decent view (a hint of a mountain view) led to a more enjoyable setting than we would have experienced in the cramped indoor room. Unfortunately, the traffic noise from the nearby highway was a bit distracting.
Final Remarks
Bumblebee's Cafe is not the best choice for breakfast in the area. There are many other cute restaurants in town which offer better food in a better setting, not to mention faster service.
Bumblebee's truly lacks that special something that sets it apart from others. I recommend choosing one of the more charming restaurants options on historic Main Street in beautiful downtown Blue Ridge. Only stick to Bumblebee's as a last resort!
