Best Breakfast Chain

Newsweek

03-07-2025

Another Broken Egg Cafe
Photo courtesy of Brett_Hondow/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Brett_Hondow/iStock by Getty Images
Another Broken Egg Cafe has been toasting the morning with mimosas and omelets since 1996. Foodies love to brunch here thanks to an upscale twist on Southern staples, so if you think shrimp should go with grits and chicken tastes great with waffles, this place gives your favorite comfort food a chef's kiss. Order a sugary beignet and a peach mocktail or blackberry mule to round out your high-cotton meal.
Big Bad Breakfast (BBB)
Photo courtesy of Big Bad Breakfast
Photo courtesy of Big Bad Breakfast
What happened when a James Beard Award–winning chef from New Orleans turned his attention to the most important meal of the day? Big Bad Breakfast was born. Plates piled high with andouille sausage, eggs fixed however you like, cheese-covered hash cakes made from scratch—it's the Big Easy way to start your day. As amazing as the popular Bloody Marys are, the fresh, fluffy biscuits are BBB's buttery stars.
Broken Yolk Cafe
Photo courtesy of Fudio/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Fudio/iStock by Getty Images
For nearly 50 years, it's where Californians have fueled up for a day on the waves: Broken Yolk Cafe is a West Coast favorite for its decadent eggs Benedict and healthy choices like smoked salmon and avocado toast. Cal-Mex flavors of spicy chorizo and salsa verde pair perfectly with pomegranate juice or a Tajin-rimmed Bloody Mary. The restaurant's open for lunch too, great for a burger in the Cali sunshine.
Call Your Mother Deli
Photo courtesy of Call Your Mother Deli
Photo courtesy of Call Your Mother Deli
With locations in Denver and the greater D.C. area, Call Your Mother Deli packs a tasty punch despite its small footprint. Its whimsical take on create-your-own bagels (make a pastrami potato chip bagel schmeared with hummus if you'd like!) just might turn you into a morning person. Not sure how to assemble your bagel? The deli has plenty of suggestions, like the Royal Palm with smoked salmon and capers.
Eggs Up Grill
Photo courtesy of rez-art/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of rez-art/iStock by Getty Images
A warm smile and hot coffee await at your neighborhood Eggs Up Grill. The well-over-a-hundred restaurants sprinkled throughout the South have cracked the code for a simple, award-winning breakfast, serving farm-fresh eggs cooked to order and classics like biscuits and gravy done deliciously. But if you want to eat on the wilder side, try a Melty Cristo with spicy honey or a Crab-Ocado Scrambler with crab cakes.
First Watch
Photo courtesy of Robin Gentry/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Robin Gentry/iStock by Getty Images
Good mornings start at First Watch, a 1980s California gathering spot that's gone national with its hearty and healthy take on breakfast. From French toast topped with fresh fruit to a trio of breakfast tacos, First Watch delivers—to your table and your front door! The company gives back to every community it whisks up pancakes in, so you can feel good about downing that second plate of Million Dollar Bacon.
Hash House A Go Go
Image courtesy of Hash House A Go Go
Image courtesy of Hash House A Go Go
Hash House A Go Go calls its style "twisted farm food," and it's easy to see why: sage fried chicken stacked precariously high on a waffle, a pork tenderloin sandwich you might need three hands to eat and Snickers pancakes the size of a tractor's steering wheel. Still have room after a crab cake-stuffed burger? The restaurant's famous B.L.T. Mary cocktail is a hearty meal in itself.
Maple Street Biscuit Company
Photo courtesy of Christian Gomez/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Christian Gomez/iStock by Getty Images
Maple Street Biscuit Company believes a warm welcome each morning is a must, and that the humble biscuit can be so much more. Throughout the menu, you'll find quirky, flavor-filled creations—like the fried chicken, goat cheese and pepper jelly biscuit featured on Food Network's Guilty Pleasures. Your biscuit isn't complete without a handcrafted drink, from maple vanilla lattes and sweet cream cold brew to hot honey lemonade and fruit tea.
Ruby Slipper
Photo courtesy of Page Light Studios/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Page Light Studios/iStock by Getty Images
Seasonal mimosa flights, six kinds of eggs Benedict, sugar-glazed bacon called pig candy—there's no place like Ruby Slipper for a one-of-a-kind brunch. This New Orleans–based café has begun to expand, doling out its fried green tomatoes and Gulf shrimp omelets to the rest of the South. Perhaps the chain's most delightful feature is its dog-friendly menu: order your goodest boy a banana pupcake or an egg and chicken sausage scramble.
Snooze, an A.M. Eatery
Photo courtesy of Jaana Brown/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Jaana Brown/iStock by Getty Images
If you Snooze, you definitely won't lose! You'll have a winning morning with the eatery's 1950s diner vibe and crazy pancakes (care to tackle a stack of pineapple upside-down pancakes?). For something savory, try a lean protein scramble or a hearty plate of hash browns covered in cheddar. All ingredients are responsibly sourced, so your nitro cold brew goes toward planting trees and making the planet a better place.
The Friendly Toast
Photo courtesy of HHLtDave5/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of HHLtDave5/iStock by Getty Images
It's Saturday night, and you're in the mood for brunch. Where can you go? The Friendly Toast. Many locations of this playful New England restaurant are open all day on weekends so you can get your fill from its creative menu. Whether you want spicy salmon bagels, an avocado rice bowl with Doritos, deep-fried tater tots or simple blueberry pancakes, you're sure to find something to satisfy your breakfast-for-dinner craving.
The Original Pancake House
Photo courtesy of fdastudillo/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of fdastudillo/iStock by Getty Images
The family-owned Original Pancake House has been an icon in the breakfast world for over 70 years, spreading its famous apple pancakes and golden Dutch baby pancakes across the country. Everything's made from scratch using the finest ingredients and a family sourdough recipe. If a sugar-glazed meal of flapjacks sounds too sweet, opt for corned beef hash or a ham omelet—though every savory meal still comes with pancakes!
The Toasted Yolk Cafe
Photo courtesy of Ali Waxman/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Ali Waxman/iStock by Getty Images
Let's thank Texas for sharing the churro doughnuts and brisket tacos from The Toasted Yolk Cafe with the rest of the South. Its dozens of cafés, mostly along the Gulf Coast, have breakfast lovers up at sunrise for chicken-fried steak with eggs or healthy Southwest breakfast bowls. Rather sleep in? Then stop by for lunch, where patty melts and strawberry salads will deliciously fuel your day.
Waffle House
Photo courtesy of jetcityimage/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of jetcityimage/iStock by Getty Images
A highway landmark that's as essential to Southern culture as grits and football, Waffle House has been serving late-night road trippers and traveling sports teams since 1955. Open 24 hours, its nearly 2,000 diners are famous for their friendly service and their smothered, covered and chunked hash browns. And it's affordable—the popular All-Star Special breakfast is big enough to split (though you may want the pecan waffle for yourself).
Yolk
Photo courtesy of Daniel Huang/iStock by Getty Images
Photo courtesy of Daniel Huang/iStock by Getty Images
One man's dream of an upscale breakfast place in downtown Chicago produced Yolk. With just over a dozen locations, this small chain is steadily growing because of unique dishes like breakfast mac 'n' cheese and red velvet French toast. There are loads of drink options, from strawberry orange juice and matcha lattes to flavored coffee syrups—but Yolk's signature coffee is so good, you may want to skip the extra flavor.