The Austin Motel doesn’t have a restaurant and I wanted to have a special breakfast. I did a little research and found several recommendations for the Magnolia Café and luckily it was just down the street from the motel.
You know that you are in for something unique when you drive up and see the sign that says ‘Sorry We’re open.” That gave us a good laugh and a bit of a pause. We walked in and actually the only one who noticed us at all was a customer who is obviously a regular and he told us that someone would be with us shortly. It took a bit longer than that, a bit longer than it should have but eventually we were seated, given menus and had steaming cups of coffee in front of us.
This place is bright, the walls and decor border on neon, it is wild and a little crazy. The waitress had an attitude but it was all light hearted and we fell in with it immediately. I ordered two scrambled eggs with wheat toast and a gingerbread pancake with strawberries and pecans, and yes they were fresh strawberries. Joe had bacon and eggs, served with a dish of fresh fruit and Al had two fried eggs served over a heaping bowl of home fries, and very good home fries they were. Well cooked and with good flavor.
We were very pleased with all the food. My pancake was amazing, just enough ginger flavor to make it interesting and the eggs were so big I swear they had to come from an ostrich.
This is a twenty four hour restaurant that could be called a diner. It is not fancy, it is a little worn and very common but the food was good and the portions more than generous. Service was okay, our waitress was a dud but there was another waitress always floating around who kept our coffee cups filled.
Interesting offerings that we didn’t try:
Love Migas-eggs scrambled in spicy love butter (fresh garlic-serrano) onion, bell pepper, tortilla chips and jack cheese. Served with black beans,
Eggs Zapatino-scrambled eggs on an English muffin smothered in queso served with home fries.
The Magnolia Omelette: avocado, black olives cheddar cheese/jack cheese and lemon sour cream sauce.
Royal Toast- four triangles of French toast and two eggs any style served with your choice of fruit or meat.
Pancakes: corn, whole wheat and buttermilk with choice of adding bananas, fresh seasonal fruit, pecans, blueberries or chocolate.
Magnolia Café is open twenty four hours a day and has two locations.
From journal Austin-It's SOCO-ol