The Brief Encounter Cafe

Great food. Top notch service! The hostess and our server were very engaging. The hostess had a back and forth game of tic tac toe with our son. Very friendly atmosphere and made us feel at home. Definitely a recommended diner in the Bellevue/Seattle area.

If you're a regular here, I'm sure it's great. If not, prepare to be ignored. Took my order, served my food, never checked on me once. Waited ten minutes before having to flag someone down for a coffee refill. Never got more jam for my biscuit or extra napkins I'd asked for. Servers were too busy chatting with the regulars. Ordered the chicken fried steak because it said "smothered in sausage gravy." It was not. It came with regular country gravy. No sausage.

The next time you consider an excursion to Bellevue Square, drive past it about 5-10 minutes until you reach the unassuming strip mall that houses the welcoming Brief Encounter Cafe. Check their hours, they close at 2pm, and it’s a smaller, quaint cafe, with a broad menu, attentive service, and tasty offerings. Biscuits are tricky and I would opt for toast in future but that is a trifle. The omelette and has browns were fresh and bursting with flavor. The friendly service was prompt and genuine. A $50 check for two is about the going rate with beverages (coffee) that was regularly refilled, without asking g.

If you’re ordering delivery from here save your money! Total rip off, paid $20 for a corned beef had breakfast meal. I received a country fried steak with two eggs. No hash browns or toast. I’m sure they don’t treat their customers like this when dining in… or at least I hope. I don’t recommend

We came here for breakfast and were very disappointed. Our server didn’t even know what a fried egg was. The coffee was served cold, the biscuits were cold and dry (and no toast option available), and the bacon we ordered never showed up. The service overall was not friendly. What we did get: 2 cups of cold coffee, 2 dry biscuits, 4 eggs, and a very small portion of hashbrowns — all for $48. Definitely not worth it.

Like we do, woke up in the morning and started looking for a place to grab some breakfast/brunch. We found this place, had some good rating, nothing fancy and we decided on this place. The place was crowded but we didn't have to wait for seating. The staff is really friendly. As far as the food is concerned, it was good, nothing spectacular, I felt like the eggs and hash browns probably could use more seasoning. Check out pictures for more info.

Fresh, fluffy, sky-high biscuits made my day. Housemade corned beef hash was excellent. Service was friendly and efficient. Atmosphere is basic, but welcoming. We'll be back next time we're in town.

I grabbed quick breakfast over here. This place is in the back of the gas station, so watch out first timers. I really like the food and staffs are auper friendly. I would definitley recommend it. Would be not easy to find parking spot if its peak hours.

A small brunch spot in a little plaza. We were given drinks and our order was taken pretty promptly. But that was it unfortunately. I ordered the meat and veggie omelette with hashbrowns and a biscuit. But after it took 20 minutes for the food to arrive, it came with no biscuit :c but fine, because I had some of my friends biscuit and it was so abnormally dry/ sandy and not good. The omelette was okay, amount of meat and veggies were fine. But there were huge blobs of cheese which were off putting, especially when you take a bite and it's 99% cheese. Hashbrowns were good. Perfect amount of crisp. Once we were done eating, it took a long time for someone to come back out to bring our check as well. Overall, this was fine. There are plenty of other brunch spots that are mediocre but still better. lol this will def be a brief (and only) encounter

This place is a very small restaurant in the Bellevue area. It's a good spot as a back up place. If all of the other Bellevue brunch spots are full prices are definitely a bit expensive for what you get. I've tried the eggs benedict, the two egg breakfast and the cinnamon roll. All of them are pretty standard. Their hashbrowns are my favorite part. It's super crispy. Service is pretty standard as well sometimes they forget about you but it's ok. It's very accommodating spot for parties six or more so that's super helpful and there's a parking lot so that's super convenient! Hygiene could be better :,) utensils were a bit dirty

Delicious breakfast on the Eastside. My go to here is the country hash and eggs with house made corned beef and a biscuit. Diner feel. Service is quick and friendly. Located in a strip mall with available parking.

nothing too crazy, just a casual breakfast diner in bellevue. our food took quite a while to come out but everything tasted pretty good. if you're looking for a typical american spot you should come here.

Ordered a breakfast burrito for lunch... $14 for this? Gave it the benefit of the doubt in case it was the best tasting burrito ever and it is a meh burrito.

Oh so disappointed. I had been craving biscuits and gravy for two weeks but didn't have time to make them myself. My mornings have been hectic, and I kept missing breakfast at my usual spots. So, I decided to give this place a try. I called ahead for a pickup order, and the gentleman on the phone was polite. He asked how I wanted my eggs, but I didn't want eggs or hash browns. I asked if there were any substitutions, like fruit--he said no. I asked if I could just leave them out--he said no, it "doesn't change anything." That was frustrating, but I went ahead with the order anyway. When I arrived, I noticed the menu offered a side order of biscuits and gravy, which would have been perfect. Not sure why he didn't mention that as an option. Now, the food: * The online menu listed the meal at $16, but I was charged $18. * It was supposed to come with two biscuits, but I received two cold, rock-hard halves--so really, just one full biscuit. * The gravy was advertised as sausage gravy, yet there wasn't a single piece of sausage in it. * It was completely bland and also cold. I was so disappointed by this experience and will not be back. Save your money and go next door to Subway.

First of all, this place is an institution! I'm pretty sure they have been serving diner food for at least the last 30 years if not more. The interior doesn't look quite the same as I remember it from the 90's but it's in the same location with the same welcoming vibe. I had a Patty Melt with fries ($12) and it was amazing. I don't know how I made it to my 40's without trying a Patty Melt, but this was a darn good sandwich and the fresh hot crinkle fries that accompanied it were a perfect pairing. The service was super friendly, making us feel like we were old friends. Pros Great diner food! Very reasonable pricing Good parking Cons Smaller space, probably not great for groups

Pros: Cute spot with really nice clientele and staff! The prices are reasonable and it feels like a true mom n pop shop. They have a big menu, which was great! Cons: I settled on the huevos rancheros and ordered my eggs scrambled. It came to me with eggs over easy, low on the veggies and sour cream.. and on a heaping pile of black beans. Even with all that, it needed hot sauce, ketchup, and salt. It surprisingly had little flavor. Also, they only have regular coffee.. would be great if they got a coffee machine for an espresso! Overall, I would come back but maybe order something else with more flavor.

This is our family's go-to breakfast spot. It is tiny, so you have to time it right to avoid the wait. Our favorites are the Tuckers Scramble, french toast, traditional eggs Benedict, and the Texas style breakfast sandwich.

Price is too high. Two people for breakfast for 50.00. Must be the over priced eggs. Potion is just okay. Unless you order burgers. It seems okay portion. Services are great. Location is great too near Bellevue square.

$23 for a scrambled egg, sausage and 1 pancake with a small cup of caffe was a bit to much. The service was off and seemed very disconnected from the customer experience.

We finally went back to Brief Encounter to give it another try. Big mistake. We both had the two egg breakfast with meat $17 . The eggs were overeasy as requested. Just needed to add salt & and pepper, and they were good. The meal came with a small bisket, which was very hardy like a hocky puck with little flavor. The hashbrowns were ok, but they were barely browned but better than our last time here. My bacon came out not warm, but there were 5 pieces of it. My wife's ham was very much like rubber. Guess we will wait a few more years and try them again.

Went for brunch on 7 October. First off the silverware was dirty and hair in the napkin not a good way to start a meal. Our waiter was pleasant but had little to know of product knowledge and showed a willingness to ask. He may have been newly hired but nonetheless pleasant. I ordered a BLT with extra B. Came out in 10-15 minutes seemed just fine however no choice of bread or side. White with fries only. Fries hot and fresh bacon was overlying crisp to almost burned. Two slices of tomato and a bit soggy. Lettuce chopped yet fresh. Over all was just okay wok I be back? Eh I won't go out of my way

What a lively, little spot! I stopped for breakfast and was stunned by the great coffee, amazing service and outstanding food! 100% will be back.

Fry's undercooked. Burger overcooked and no bacon even though I was charged for it. My be better onsite but food was sub par when picked up App wouldn't accept special instructions

Nice little cafe. We had breakfast, eggs and pancakes. The food el was good, pancakes weee nice and light. Service is very friendly.

Quaint, cute diner that serves classic American breakfast/brunch food. Like many reviewers state, the food itself isn't ball busting or anything crazy but for the price, it's hard to beat. I would say the french toast was okay, pancakes slightly better, but the breakfast burrito was superb! For $12, it was packed with meat and eggs while the tortilla was well cooked without being either flakey or chewy! I am always disappointed whenever I bite into a burrito and it's just skin but this was not the case. Highly recommend if you don't know what to order. Extremely friendly and fast service!

Who doesn't love breakfast for lunch. Overall was good. Nothing crazy food wise but the service was wonderful our waitress was super friendly and attentive. We were a group of 6 and the food came out fairly quickly and the bill was super cheap. If you're looking for cheap/typical diner breakfast foods, this place is a good one.

A small but unforgettable place that offered plentiful & hearty options. Waitress was so kind and friendly. Everything cooked well. Recommend the Huevos Rancheros & biscuits with butter and jam! Crowd gathered for this local favorite by brunch time.

My husband and I stopped here on a whim and are so glad we did! The Rueben was one of the best I've ever had (and I order them a lot!). The meat is all made in house. My husband was also very satisfied with his chicken fried steak. Loved the hashbrowns. We will return again!

After driving by numerous times I finally decided to give this restaurant a try for a late breakfast. I ordered the Breakfast burrito with bacon and added potato along with Pancakes (2), biscuits and gravy along with hash-browns. My mom and I loved our meals - The breakfast burrito hit the spot and it's the best I've had since I moved here to Washington. My mom loved the biscuits and gravy and hash-browns and we split the pancakes. The aroma of the pancakes made us drool. There is a vanilla smell to them and they tasted delish! I definitely look forward to returning and ordering different items on the menu. My breakfast burrito was absolutely filling. Although I did not finish it (half of it) I will have it for breakfast tomorrow morning. I ordered the food online. Fast and easy process. I was greeted immediately which is a big thing for me. Look forward to returning.

Classic, delicious diner food without the overly greasy plate. I love their scrambles and gluten free toast. Amazing service every time!! Very chill ambiance. Highly recommend

This place is super yummy & they're generous with the portions! I believe ordered it on Uber Eats.

My favorite part about Brief Encounter is the atmosphere. Its always pretty busy but the feeling inside is so comfortable almost as if you're eating at a large family gathering. There's always lots of laughter at the bar and the waitresses are all happy and casual. Food is great, nothing mind blowing but no complaints at all. Portions are large and prices are not bad at all. I'm someone that eats ALOT and the Joe's Special was enough to stop me from helping my friend finish her food so that's a big check in my book!

Nice people, pretty good breakfast spot. Haven't had their lunch items. I really like their biscuit n gravy and scrambles

I dont get how this place has 3-1/2 stars. This place is easily a 4.5 star place. Customer service is extremely friendly, coffee was great, and the food was great. I really enjoyed the everything omelette and hash browns. Place is tucked in a strip mall so its a nice low key spot to eat at too. I cant emphasize enough how great the service was.

We had a short wait time and the restaurant wasn't too crowded. It's a cute diner. Our waitress was such a sweetheart and the bussers were kind as well. Food was delicious and I wish I could eat here every day.

Very classic subpar diner vibe. It is very obviously popular with seniors. There were so many walkers in that joint on a Sunday around 11:30, you could barely fit inside the door. Which was packed as it was, and we waited almost 40 minutes for a table. The restaurant is small so there is not a lot of room to wait by the front entrance, so everyone was on top of one another. The staff were not the friendliest bunch, although I understand they were packed so everyone was stressing, but still. One of our servers was actually very sweet, but I can't remember his name. As I said before, the food is very average. Home style potatoes weren't seasoned, the has browns were as hash browns are expected to taste, and not much grease which was nice. The ham breakfast sandwich was very expected. Just no wow moments with the food. Actually, I think the best plate by far was my husbands (we had a group of 6), who got the German sausage and potato cake breakfast. The cakes were tasty and he really liked the sausage. So, win. My bestie and I got the salmon scramble and the salmon was on the dry side, which made the fact that there was hardly any cream cheese in there that much worse. More cream cheese and green onion would've done wonders. I liked the wheat bread a lot. We love our brunch time but this will not be a go to for sure.

Small but wonderful food and very friendly service. True homemade breakfast and lunch!

Their menu is pretty basic. The one option they aren't equipped to handle is potato instead of hash browns. Finally we agreed what I wanted for breakfast- she really wasn't hearing me wanting potato's over hash browns, I didn't want the included pancakes or french toast. Overall really clean place, really nice folks and the food was great. Very inflexible on what similar options you have. Over 20 bucks with tip for 2 eggs, bacon, potatoes and coffee officially makes you the most expensive breakfast I've had in any corner of King county. That's a lofty, but not necessarily a positive aspiration.

Worst service experience ever at any restaurant. Would never go back. They must have changed ownership. Waitress ignored us for 10 minutes after we let her know we were ready to order. The place was 20% full, just a few tables. Waitress went to table next to us, still ignored us and started sorting silverware and napkins. We left money for the cup of coffee and went to one of Bellevue's best breakfast venues a few miles south. Really bad service.

Been desperately looking for good breakfast places and hoped this would be one. It's not. Fox News on the tv when we came in meant it probably wasn't gonna be a good match but gave it a chance. Everything tasted like it was a Costco mix. Pancakes were definitely just a mix with water. Nothing special at all. Country fried steak was TV dinner quality. Definitely wouldn't recommend this one.

Affordable, good-sized portions, homey, comfort food. It shares space/management with a take-out charcuterie business.

This place offers basic American comfort food. I had eggs Benedict and they were flavorful. It was a good value and there was good service.

Good portions, decent prices, but pretty average food. We had French Toast which had big pieces, but was pretty mundane. Also, had Joe's Special which was good with hash browns and biscuit, but had a bit too many onions. It's a crowded place and staff were friendly, but it took forever to get the check.

We are from Europe so when we go for breakfast in the USA, sometimes we want the old fashioned diner experience and that is exactly what we got. And then in a very positive way. An extensive breakfast menu with all the old favourites, served at high quality by friendly staff. Well worth going to. If you are into trendy eateries, stay away, if you want a good old fashioned breakfast, queue up.

Love this little dive. Service was great and the coffee cup was kept full. I always loved the veggie scramble, but this time I decided to change it up and got the Texas style breakfast sandwich with veggies. This has become my new favorite! I always ask for the hashbrowns crispy and they never disappoint. I'll be back soon!

By far the best local breakfast place in Bellevue. And it's not even close. Best pancakes I've ever had and service is like family. Not a fancy place but it's clean and damn good!

Best brunch in Bellevue! Incredible service, extremely friendly staff, and DELICIOUS food. Best pancakes I've ever had.

I took my little sister here for brunch on Saturday morning and the place was steady. There were a couple groups already there, but we were able to be seated immediately. As soon as we sat our server asked us what we wanted to drink. When I asked her what the drip was she mentioned it's Caffe D'arte. The menu had a good amount of different items for breakfast and lunch (which is served after 11AM). After asking if the server recommended the Carnitas Scramble or Jake's Burrito, she mentioned that the Carnitas Scramble was her favorite. My little sister ended up getting the Tilly Philly Breakfast Wrap. It didn't take long for us to get our food. While my little sister enjoyed hers I wasn't much of a fan of mine. Though the portion is a lot it was lackluster. The pork carnitas meat was dry and the eggs seemed to be lukewarm. To top it was pico de gallo, but wished there had been more shredded cheese on it, since it was so bland. I asked for Tabasco sauce, which helped. My entree also came with a tortilla, which I didn't eat at all, as it was hard to chew, like a rubber-y texture that won't break off when you bite or tear a piece. Our server never checked in with us, but luckily someone else saw my empty coffee cup and refilled it. We had to ask for waters and had to flag someone down to get the check. All in all, it was a meh experience with food that I wished tasted much, much better.

Want a breakfast that is home cooked goodness. Brief Encounter serves deliciousness with great service. Their coffee is nice and hot and eliminates my trip to Starbucks. Crepes and cinnamon rolls are sooo tasty. And Egg dishes are great too. Here's a pic of our breakfasts we ate outside this morning. Warm heater by our feet-oh my goodness, what a treat!!!

On Sunday, through Doordash, I ordered delivery from this restaurant for the first time. My order consisted of a Patty Melt w/potato chips and a breakfast (bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast). The food arrived in Styrofoam containers, which in itself isn't great. The recycling for these is doable but a pain. I opened the first container and I see a bag of Kettle Chips on top of the patty melt. My first thought was gross, is the bag of chips even clean to be sitting on top of my food? Plus, the patty melt is greasy which made the bag greasy. The patty melt itself was fine, nothing I'd order again. The second container was the breakfast. The toast on top was limp, I'm guessing from sitting with the warm food in the container. I put everything on a plate and noticed that the bottom of the Styrofoam container had melted from the hash browns and even created a hole. This cannot be healthy for the food being consumed. I submitted feedback on Sunday to this restaurant on their website. No response. Because of the handling of the food in these containers and the lack of response, I am giving them a 2 rating.

Brief encounter is an amazing in the wall diner visited by locals on a regular basis. The portions are massive. The waitresses will always make sure you have enough coffee. We ordered the Texas style breakfast sandwich and early bird special. When the food arrived, there was more than enough for the two of us (and even a friend who dropped by). If you're looking for a nice, casual breakfast, this is the place!

Friendly service, good breakfast, reasonably priced, not pretentious, just a nice neighborhood diner. If I want to have an eggy breakfast, this is at the top of my list. Not a posh establishment, so if you are looking for brunch with mimosa, this may not be what you are looking for.

What a great breakfast place. They have plenty of delicious options and several of these are for vegetarians. They know how to do the eggs right and one of the things that pleased me the most is that they have soy milk because I try to avoid dairy as much as I can and typically, breakfast places do not have non dairy options. It was nice to finally visit a breakfast place and be able to enjoy nice soy milk latte along my tasty breakfast. The only thing I would say could use some more work, would be their sweet crepes. It had a bit odd, oily taste. Next time I give this place a try, I will go for waffles or pancakes as my sweet option. Overall, the place is cozy and the service was excellent. Our waitress - Tana (first time in the U.S. when I ran into someone with the same name) was very attentive and sweet. I will definitely come back when I am back in the area.

So I DoorDash this place. I love breakfast foods. I ordered the strawberry crepes and a cup of fresh fruit with apple juice. This is the first time I ever had crepes ice cold. It's suppose to be topped with whip cream, mine was missing. The fresh fruit, not so fresh, well the strawberries were fresh. The cantaloupe and pineapple not so fresh. I've had better, but I have to try them out in person. So I am giving them 3 stars for now.

I like avocado toast and grain bowls as much as the next person, but come on. Sometimes you need a big omelette or scramble full of meat, vegetables and cheese with a pile of hash browns on the side to fuel your day. This is the place for the coffee shop-style breakfast of your dreams. Every element is delicious, including the coffee. It's small and gets crowded on the weekends and there's really no place to wait inside, but service is brisk and food is put together quickly so you'll be seated in no time.

This is the real deal! It's a locals diner from the 50s (but updated), and just like the good old days, everything is fresh, made to order, and darn good. The food is excellent, portions large, and the service is fast and friendly. It's a great brunch spot, and has a good lunch menu as well. Closes at 2pm, so don't be late!

Fantastic service, good food, and easy to get to! The staff were incredibly friendly and their service really stood out. It made for an enjoyable way to start the weekend.