Bell Cafe - Mechanicsville

Bell cafe is always a vibe!! The food is phenomenal!! The best brunch I’ve had in RVA. The chicken and waffles is over the top!! Amazing steak and eggs and the crab cake sandwich!!! You have got to try them out.

We were in the area and decided to stop here for a late lunch. The people were nice, so I really don't want to be mean, but the problems were to numerous to not leave a review.After ordering our food, it was taking quite a bit of time before the server came back by and asked us if we ordered. He realized we had looking at his notepad, but I guess he had not put in the order so we did finally get our food after another wait, making (that he forgot) apparent. My wife got the French Toast, which she said were really so so. No hint of the vanilla flavor she said.I got the Crabcake Eggs Benedict and they were not very good at all. The Biscuit while dampened by the soggy Crabcake, was still stale and dry. The only thing good was that the poached eggs were done correctly. The side dish of potatoes were undercooked in the middle. I am guessing they may have been cooked from frozen because they looked nice on the outside but way underdone potatoes inside.The server asked if everything was OK, but I did not complain at the time as we had really already spent too long to wait for a redo of this forgettable meal.I am really sorry to leave this poor review as, I believe small local restaurants deserve our patronage. Maybe the owners and staff that read these reviews may try to fix these issues in the future.

My wife and I were eagerly anticipating our return to Bell Cafe, but unfortunately, our experience fell short of expectations. The quality of the food did not match our previous visits. The biscuit accompanying my wife's chicken sandwich was disappointingly stale, and the chicken was dry. The salmon in my omelette was overcooked and flavorless. The eggs were bland and the potatoes, hard and undercooked. The kids $8 french toast meal came with a single slice of bread. Additionally, we were surprised by an undisclosed 3% service charge for paying by credit card, which left an extremely sour taste in our mouths. While we understand businesses may pass on service card fees to customers, penalizing customers who primarily use cards in today's cashless society is a horrible business decision leading to guaranteed customer dissatisfaction.

I honest to God would've never found this place all on my own, but I'm so glad I've found it. The portions are HUGE and so delicious. I've never seen such a huge biscuit. I'm definitely going to be back.

We visited around mid morning, 930a or so. The cafe is a small hole in the wall, but with a calm, homey atmosphere and plenty of seating. The staff seemed pretty young, but they made quaint small talk and expressed interest in their customers needs and preferences. We ordered the latte flights, which were served and cute little maybe 4-6oz glasses and the flavors switch out seasonally. They were brought to us pretty quickly and were informed which was which, our server was also quick to ask if we wanted water with them which we gladly took. My only complaint is we were never offered straws at any point, but it is posted that the restaurant has environmentally conscious goals with single serve and reusable items. We ordered the fully loaded omelette and the chicken biscuit, but with a side of the homestyle potatoes. The omelette was definitely fully loaded with a variety of veggies and hot. The chicken biscuit didn’t quite hit the mark. While the biscuit is plentiful in size and flavor, it was dry and tough to get through. The fried chicken was hot and served between the biscuit with two thick slices of cheese. There was no sauce served with it or on the biscuit, but I’m pretty sure it was listed to have something from the description on the menu. Again, it had good flavor and a plentiful portion, but the biscuit was not warm at all while the chicken had been just fried and it was terribly dry. The potatoes also had good seasoning, but were not even close to room no on the plate. Service was great, food was okay but not worth the price, and the atmosphere was very comfortable. It had the flare of upscale with their ideas, but missed the mark with room temp food. Had the biscuit been warmed and served with a sauce, it would’ve been lovely. Vegetarian options: Lots of options for veggie based meals or substitutions