Robin’s Nest is about 15 minutes outside of Hayward and a fairly large place spread over several rooms, all with windows to the outside. It and the kitchen take up most of the room on the first floor of what looks to be an old house. It has been in business with the same family for 16 years and serves breakfast and lunch. They had monthly specials when we were there that included a southern fried pork tenderloin served with eggs, potato and toast, and the pancake of the month which was cinnamon raisin. Tables are nicely spaced and draped with an oil cloth cover. There is plenty of parking and service is friendly and efficient. In the back room they had several shelves with products to sell – books, jam, syrup, etc.
For the Robin’s Nest Original Omelette with fresh sautéed mushrooms, onions, green peppers and tomatoes, melted cheddar and your choice of diced ham, bacon or sausage, we chose to include ham and the potato was hash browns. Instead of the toast we had one regular buttermilk pancake. Butter packets are on the table but the syrup is not pure maple. The omelette was moist and tasty but many of the ingredients were on top of the egg rather than inside. The hash browns were crispy, mostly on one side but went well with the eggs. A variety of hot sauces are available. The pancake was slightly crispy on the edge and not the thickest I’ve ever had but it was of the thick rather than thin variety. It had a nice taste.
Bacon and Eggs was top of the line Applewood smoked bacon, two eggs cooked to order and your choice of potatoes plus toast. I chose the hash brown potatoes and substituted the special pancake for toast. The eggs were cooked perfectly and hash browns nicely browned and crispy with potato taste. The bacon was medium thick and nicely flavored. The special pancake was full of cinnamon making it a brown color and it included a good amount of raisins. It was very strongly flavored but I think I’d choose the plain buttermilk if I ever go again. It was a satisfying breakfast.
