Franconia Square Cafe and Market

10:25 - 10:59 am

Pulling up to Franconia Square, it appears as if you are pulling into the parking lot of a grocery store. We weren’t sure what to expect with a name including cafe. Are we getting a sit down breakfast or a cafe setting? We were pleasantly surprised with a full sit down diner feel. And when we say “sit down”, there was so much seating there it was insane. The capacity of this place is unreal, so if you are coming with a big group, it’s the place to go. There is a little “market” area (where you actually pay for your meal) where they sell various soups, salads, and baked goods (all of which you can get on the menu). They also have a little bar where they can make different sandwiches for you. The cafe and market are only open until 2 or 3 pm, so this is definitely a breakfast/lunch spot.

Bethany

Today is the day I broke my tradition of ordering decaf coffee. With the beginning of cold and flu season, I found myself needing hot tea instead of coffee. I like that they brought out at least 7 or 8 different tea bag options for me to choose from. I opted for Bigelow’s Lemon Lift tea which was outstanding for my sore throat. The cold water was not good. I can’t tell if it was chlorinated or just tasted funny, but the lemon with it did not help the funny taste.

I ordered the Scrap Wrap, which contained egg, cheese, shredded potatoes, and scrapple. I thought the ratio of all the ingredients together was very good. I didn't feel like there were too many of each ingredient, so it was well balanced. The flavor of the scrapple was not my favorite. I've had better but I've also had worse. The egg was nice and fluffy, the cheese was nice and melty, but the potatoes didn't really add much. They just kind of were there. I definitely needed to have ketchup on it. I was missing any form of texture in the wrap. All of the ingredients kind of had that mushy consistency. If the scrapple or potatoes would have been a little bit more crispy or there would have been some like peppers or onions in there, I think it could have made it a lot better. The wrap was good, but it wasn't great. However, on the side, I ordered tater tots. And that was probably the best decision I made. Those tater tots were straight fire. They were crispy (like perfect crispness) on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. Dip them in some ketchup and they were an outstanding side to this breakfast. I highly recommend getting the tots to anyone that goes there.

Ben

I got the scrapple benedict. I was feeling the Pennsylvania Dutch atmosphere. I’ve had it one other time. This time, the scrapple was not crispy at all and instead was truly mush. That along with some hollandaise soaked english muffin and a soft boiled egg, didn’t leave a lot to be desired texturally. The chives on the top are always such a nothing burger. The flavor of the hollandaise was fine, maybe a little broken, but it didn’t make it greasy.

I had three options for potatoes. Either sliced, shredded, or tater tots. Even though Bethany got the tater tots, I decided to go with the traditional-for-a-diner sliced. They had a small amount of crisp on them, but overall pretty bland. I added salt which is usually a little telling. The orange juice was unremarkable.

Rating

Mainly because of the tots