Cafe Raymond Review – Breakfast Options in the Strip District

Breakfast Specials at Cafe Raymond

At its core, Cafe Raymond is a breakfast spot that is almost akin to that of a diner. You order at the counter, sit at tables that are rather close together, enjoy bottomless coffee (from La Prima), and have an array of breakfast options (served all day) and sandwiches/burgers (for lunch) to choose from. The elevated ambiance here from the Strip District is simply a bonus to get to enjoy during your meal.

During our visit, I opted for the house smoked brisket hash. This one is among the more expensive items on the menu, and features a modest portion of potatoes, brisket, two eggs, and is topped with cheese and an ample amount of sweet barbecue sauce plus bread on the side.

The brisket was served cut into small cubes that mixed in well with the potatoes, but in tandem with the sweeter barbecue sauce made it a bit harder to get as much smoke and meat flavor over the style of barbecue we would've liked. My eggs, which were ordered over easy, were also somewhat undercooked and runnier than I would've anticipated. Despite this, it all mixed together for a pretty robust bite that plays a bit heavier on the potatoes and the eggs than the meat itself.

Angie ordered Yuriy's Breakfast which was two eggs (ordered over easy) with spinach, feta, tomato, and toast. The presentation of this one was fairly simple with all of the individual items laid out on the plate and sprinkled with feta. While we would've preferred that the sides were incorporated into the plate a bit more, we can see why it was done for these particular sides.

Likewise, the eggs here were also quite runny as well, so even if you like over-easy eggs here, we may recommend ordering them a bit more done than you would at other restaurants.

To round out our meal (and go quite excessive), we added on an order of two blueberry ricotta pancakes that were topped with whipped cream and served with maple syrup on the side. These were thick, fluffy pancakes that had a pretty good number of blueberries mixed in and were the highlight of our meal. While the two would have made for a modestly sized plate for a single order, we quite enjoyed them as a side to go with our own meals (admittedly, we tried to substitute toast for a pancake with Yuriy's Breakfast but were told it was not allowed).

Pricing is Interesting at Cafe Raymond

Our biggest downside to breakfast at Cafe Raymond is that this spot felt expensive. The word felt here is the operative word as it was more a mental thing more than anything.

The reason for this is twofold. First, most dishes at Cafe Raymond ran between about $10-$13 during our visit. $13 for a smoked brisket hash seemed reasonable, while $11 for Yuriy's Breakfast seemed a bit much. The second was that the posted menu at the counter did not have any prices written on it during our visit. 

Now, we've seen photos that show prices on the menu otherwise, so we're not really sure why there were no prices on the menu during our visit. Ignoring this, I think it caused us to do a bit of a doubletake when we ultimately received our bill. It was only later in looking at the itemized breakdown did we see that prices aren't terribly high for what you get, but we do have to admit that some items are much more reasonably priced than others.

Overall, Cafe Raymond offers up some delicious breakfast options in the Strip District. While the pricing aspect is a bit unusual, if you are in need of a different breakfast spot other than some of the more famous neighbors, you may want to give this one a try.

Cafe Raymond is located at 2009 Penn Avenue in the Strip District.

Looking for more breakfast options in Pittsburgh? Check out Pamela's, Johnny's Diner, Wise County Biscuits & Cafe, or Lola's Eatery.