Last Sunday morning before heading home to Las Vegas, my sister and I met up with two of my best friends: Alison (plus her husband and two kids – my faves) and Carolyn (plus her fiance, soon-to-be husband).  I try to make it a point to see them every time I’m in the Maryland area and I’m so glad they were able to meet up for brunch in Columbia.  We chose an old favorite to meet at – Clyde’s of Columbia (on such a short trip, it’s funny that I went to two Clyde’s locations! Check out my post about the one at Gallery Place).

Clyde’s of Columbia opens on Sundays at 10am for brunch so we made a reservation for 8 at 10:30am.  While they do use OpenTable for reservations (I love the ease of OpenTable), a party this big required a phone reservation which was quite easy.  My sister and I were running behind but our friends were promptly seated when they arrived.

Clyde’s of Columbia is located on a man-made lake along with a handful of other restaurants.  The kids and I enjoyed the view of the geese on the lake   This is often a popular place for Columbia residents to go for walks.

The restaurant is quickly recognized on the lake thanks to its bright yellow and white stripped awnings along the windows and front door.

It has a pretty large patio area which is great during happy hour and dinner.

The inside of the restaurant is filled with wood paneling and small, cozy rooms which I enjoy.

When we first arrived, we had a room to ourselves which was a good thing with a 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old making noise

During brunch, Clyde’s offers a wide range of brunch items as well as their normal lunch items.  (Photos below are just of the brunch page)

Instead of a bread basket, a coffee cake is served.  I expected blueberries in them (I saw little dark things), but they turned out to be chocolate chips.  While I always enjoy chocolate, I think I would have preferred blueberries for breakfast.

For my entree, I ordered the Eggs Chesapeake.  Having been raised mostly in Maryland, I’m partial to the Maryland Blue Crab as well as Old Bay seasoning and I looked forward to this dish.  It was poached eggs over a crab cake on top of an english muffin topped with hollandaise and Old Bay.  Plus potatoes on the side.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t too impressed with my meal The eggs and hollandaise were a bit bland (couldn’t taste the Old Bay at all) and the english muffin was rubbery and chewy.  The crab cake wasn’t half bad – lots of crab meat, little filler.  In general, just a bland breakfast.  It was disappointing as I’ve had good brunches at Clyde’s in the past.  My sister ordered the omelet and thought it was fine but nothing to write home about.  I think everyone else felt their food was adequate, but we were more there for the company.

I will note that the service was pretty good.  Our waitress was a saint for her patience with the kids (especially when the little one was screeching) and I was impressed with her asking if there were any allergies.  This was particularly important as the little one just learned that he’s allergic to nuts and eggs and his parents are still getting used to dealing with this in restaurants.  When the food was delivered, the server repeated back the allergies to make sure they got them correct and the kids were ensured an allergy free breakfast.

Although the food wasn’t stellar this morning, I won’t hesitate to go back again.