We've lived in the neighborhood for many years and have visited Turtlebread often, and it was once one of our favorites. However, I'm disappointed to report that in the last two years, the quality of the food and the service (especially at breakfast) have dropped considerably. After avoiding them for a few months, we gave it a try for breakfast again the other day to see if they'd figured some things out (on our last two visits they'd blamed the problem on a ""new person in the kitchen"") but alas...no.\r
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First, the positives: The bakery items are yummy. Also, many of the soups are consistently pretty good. \r
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Other things are hit and miss. The service, for example. Sometimes the people seem lovely. Other times they seem surly, utterly clueless, or too preoccupied to bother. Dinner items (pizzas) are also hit and miss. The last time our group had pizzas they were uneven. One was ok--not up to Turtlebread's former standard, but fine--but the other was uneven--seriously burned in parts, raw in others. \r
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Breakfast trips there have been particularly problematic. The french toast has been fine on occasion, but the eggs...whoever is doing the cooking should be arrested for his crimes against eggs. They are consistently slimy and either over- or under-cooked, swimming in layers of oil and grease.\r
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On our most recent trip, I ordered the mushroom fritata, my husband had the french toast and a side of eggs. His french toast was edible (though uneven--one piece was burned, one not cooked well at all). His eggs were slimey and very oily. He used a napkin to soak up as much of the grease as he could, and choked most of them down. \r
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My fritata was inedible. The eggs were overcooked and rubbery, and the dish had SOOOOO much butter and oil in it that the taste of the oil completely overpowered the taste of the eggs, white cheddar, mushrooms, seasoning, etc. Two hours later my mouth still felt slippery and had that oily taste in it (and I only took two bites!) I sent the dish back. They offered me to remake it (uhh...why would I want that given how bad my husband's food also looked???) but not to refund me for the horrid dish. So, I got a bakery item instead.\r
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All in all, I really want to like this place--I'd loved it in the past, it's a local business, and it's a nice place to hang out. However, given the relatively high price point for the product/environment, the inconsistent service, and serious problems in the kitchen I'm not likely to be back anytime soon. I get the sense we're not the only ones who've noticed the decline--the place used to be packed at the time we were in there--and it wasn't. Plus, I've been hearing similar comments from others in the neighborhood. I do very much hope to hear in the near future that the management hears and takes seriously some of this kind of feedback and is able to make changes to restore the quality.
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