370 Virginia St., Buffalo, NY 14201
Web: Betty's
Phone: 716.362.0633
Pros:
An attractively decorated, busy Buffalo-area restaurant known for its largely American menu, particularly its brunch offerings. Generally good entrees with surprisingly tasty sides; amusingly friendly service.
Cons:
Long wait for seats wasn't justified by overall food quality, which had real highs and lows, including the desserts, one of which was actually bad.
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American Breakfast Buffalo
"We chose the $12.50 Chicken Pot Pie because it was intriguing and described as 'legendary;' as you might guess, we're always up for a dish worthy of a story."
Is it the collective hunger of people leaving church en masse? The reputations of the restaurants? Or just a lack of adequate seating? There's surely some reason that certain local places always have brunch-time lines. Admittedly, your loyal Buffalo Chow editors are rarely amongst them: it takes a lot for us to want to stand around in the cold, the heat, or anything in-between for items as simple as omelets, pancakes or crepes. Yet this week, we found ourselves waiting in line with friends at Betty's, a four-year-old City of Buffalo restaurant that is known for such waits and - we heard - a noteworthy brunch. This half-review discusses only our early afternoon experiences; we'll update our findings if and when we have a chance to sample the other fare.
Several blocks away from Delaware Avenue, Betty's Virginia Street location is an attractive, clean, and colorful, Southern-looking restaurant, a retro-styled retrofit of a building that has previously housed local businesses, nestled in the center of a neighborhood rather than in a commercial area on its edge. Thus, on a Sunday morning in March, we started our visit with a hunt around adjacent side streets for a parking spot, then joined a queue of hungry people that forms inside the doors around a sofa, a newspaper-covered table, and a front counter. A seemingly locals-only group, generally pretty well dressed, was only slightly less than packed into a small area as an employee announced half-hour or longer wait times. The line was there when we entered at 11:30, sat down around 12:10, and shrunk only a little by 1:30, when we left.
Though we wouldn't call our meal fully worth the wait, the members of our group were generally pleased by the food - some more than others. After paging through the very breakfast-heavy brunch menu, we chose the Chicken Pot Pie ($12.50) because it was intriguing, also available on the dinner menu, and described as "legendary;" as you might guess, we're always up for a dish worthy of a story. But this one wasn't exactly memorable: it was two or three times the size of the frozen pot pies sold by Swanson's and Stouffer's, and notable more for the quality of the white breast meat chunks inside and the slight, surprising sweetness of the creamy interior than anything else. Golden baked, the crust was unremarkable but also completely uncharred and visually pristine until we poked it open; it was accompanied by a small cup of surprisingly fresh, almost full-berried cranberry relish that was tastier than the entree. A gentle side salad, made mostly from lettuce and topped with sprouts, carrot shavings, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and a requested miso dressing, was wonderfully light and fresh - another nice touch.
The next entree, Charlie's Breakfast Burrito ($7.75), had size on its side: a reasonably big plate with a fat flour tortilla running down the center, home fries and thin orange slices on one side, salsa and sour cream on the other. While it was for whatever reason missing the Monterey Jack cheese that was supposed to be on top, it was stuffed with okay scrambled eggs, beans, onions, and peppers, which were at least filling if not entirely satisfying. Again, we found the side of home fries better than the main course.
Three members of our group ordered and said few but generally nice things about an Omelette ($7.00-$8.75), a Quiche ($8.75), and a Portabello Benedict ($9) - mushrooms, eggs, gouda cheese, and spinach on an English muffin. Two of us also ordered mochas, relatively small cups of chocolate and coffee, which initially tasted good until we discovered at least a teaspoon of dry chocolate mix in the bottom of a cup. There was something about our server's friendly, funny attitude and attentiveness that made us less inclined to care.
Still, we left with the impression that sweets aren't Betty's specialty, as our three desserts were also sort of dicey. The Key Lime Pie ($4.75) was the best of the bunch, as wonderful on the tongue as it was unattractive on the plate, its fresh graham cracker crust arriving in a state of collapse and overloaded with whipped cream, while its unusually soft, custard-like center was just right in tartness and sweetness, balancing nicely off the buttery graham flavor. After a few bites, we agreed that the eggless chocolate Wacky Cake ($4.75) was a little dry and weak on flavor - it could have stood to be 25% or so more wacky - but, like the Key Lime Pie, it disappeared from the plate anyway.
Unfortunately, the Bread Pudding ($5) was comparatively awful - not as bad as the Butterwood version, but close. On first bite, the sweet, light and milky creme anglaise seemed to balance out the brick of brown, lightly sweetened bread, but there wasn't enough creme; by bite three, the lukewarm block was unpleasantly like dense, soggy toast and not worth finishing. It was meant to be shared by two, but neither of us would take the next bite after a bad one.
While we're not yet ready to render a final verdict on Betty's, our impression at this stage is pretty mixed. None of the items we tried was great, though a few certainly had moments of strong competence and a few others came across as shaky. Should we find ourselves in the neighborhood again with some extra time to spare, we'll plan to drop in for a meal from the salad- and sandwich-heavy lunch menu or the homey dinner menu, and let you know what we thought.
