The Pigeon Hole

Stopped in Charlottesville just for the weekend. My boyfriend brought me here this morning as he has always enjoyed the breakfast provided in this quaint establishment. I really enjoyed the layout of the restaurant and the character it held. The wooden floors, fireplace, and front porch were especially comforting. I ordered the Huevos Rancheros while my boyfriend ordered the egg and sausage biscuits with a side of grits. I was pleasantly fulfilled with my meal. The crunch of the tortilla shells paired nicely with the softer eggs and beans. My boyfriend devoured his meal as well. During the meal, the salt shaker didn’t work properly and we ran out of hot sauce. The servers were all quick to help each other out and take care of us amongst other guests. I only give it 4 stars because we ate at the bar, near the door, and the noise levels as well as the amount of people brushing our chairs as they entered, wasn’t exactly peaceful. We will definitely return though on our next trip.

Came here for brunch on a Saturday. The monte cristo was passable, but the french toast was eggy and the ham was a thick, salty slab of what appeared to be a cheap grocery store ham. My dining companion was not impressed with her huevos rancheros and said they were inauthentic and relied too heavily on canned Valentina «red sauce.» The «hash browns» were actually homefries heavily seasoned with rosemary. They weren’t crispy, hot, or fresh tasting in the slightest, but I liked the flavor.
All in all, it was not an unpleasant experience. The food was filling and the service was attentive. I won’t be back until the kitchen makes some substantial changes in its use of cheap/​pre-​made ingredients, however. They also don’t do separate checks.

We live in the area, and we finally got here for Sunday Brunch. We were seated immediately, although it was the last weekend before student move-​in, so given popular it is, that’s probably not likely once UVA students are back. Our server, and all the staff, were really friendly and helpful. The food takes time, but it was worth the wait. I had the breakfast burrito, my husband had the huevos rancheros, and our kids had either pancakes or eggs and toast. The only disappointing item for me was the hash browns, which were room temperature and not particularly flavorful. Loved how all the coffee mugs were different; like eating at a friend’s house. Definitely recommend!

This restaurant’s rating is overinflated and needs to be brought down to where it truly should be.
For those who are unaware, The Pigeon Hole was sold by its creator to what appears to be the graveyard shift of a Waffle House. Everything that one grew to love about the original is now a fake, disgusting, horrible attempt at trying to recreate it. This is a staff that hasn’t a clue what good food is or is supposed to be. This is a waitstaff who should be serving tables at a local diner that serves precooked bacon and white toast. This is a kitchen staff that belongs hitting the preset microwave oven buttons at a fastfood joint. This is not a staff that belongs in a restaurant that billed itself as something special.
I made the mistake of bringing two friends here because I figured they would love the hole-​in-​the-​wall gem that The Pigeon Hole used to be. It was Sunday brunch time, and the place was dead. That should have been an indicator. We were seated inside towards the back and were not approached for a long time. In fact, our server came by the table a total of two times, despite the place being mostly empty. The owner approached our table once or twice to talk up the food, as I guess words were her one hope of fooling our tastebuds.
Every one of our dishes was a joke. It was either cold, or just horrendously prepared. My guests faces looked up at a few different points in utter disappointment. A great example of just how bad everything was would be the bacon. This was on their specials board – candied bacon! – and was either $ 4 or $ 5. It had to be good, right?! This is something pretty easy to prepare. You can simply sprinkle some brown sugar over it and bake it in an oven, then let it sit for a while and you have yourself some candied bacon. But it was so ****ed up that I wondered if it was a group of four-​year-​olds in the kitchen. There were literally just big chunks of brown sugar on the bacon as if it was added as an afterthought, or put on bacon that was already cooked. It was terrible. Just like what this place is now.
I would recommend avoiding this place at all costs. It is more worth it to wait for two hours for a seat at one of Charlottesville’s good brunch spots than to get seated immediately at this dump.
Fortunately for its owner, this is a restaurant that can stay afloat because of the hords of UVA students who need to refuel after heavy drinking nights, so despite being a place that needs to go out of business so its staff can return to their respective Waffle Houses and McDonald’s, it will likely be around for longer than it should.

I’ve been here many times and I seem to be disappointed each time I go there.
Tl;dr: bad/​rude service, dirty, expensive for what you get, taste is okay at best
Service: ¹⁄₅
We came in and the waitress was very rude. She told us to find a seat that already had other people’s leftover food and that she would clean it up eventually. It should be clean before we sit down…
The waitress also started yelling at the little kid that works there, which I didn’t think she should have done, especially around customers.
The place is also VERY DIRTY. The tables were dirty with leftover food and the whole place seemed like it was an ex-​frat house that decided to serve food. They need to do major remodeling. Bathroom is disgusting.
Food: ²⁄₅
The price is insane for what you get. There are way cheaper AND better tasting places on the corner for brunch. Go to Trinity, Boylan, Virginian or anywhere but here.
It tastes okay, but it is not justifiable for the price or crappy service or the dirty atmosphere!

I’ve been here a handful of times and here’s the skinny:
The food is actually quite good. My favorite dish would be the Biscuits and Red Eye Gravy (Creamy red-​eye gravy made with onion, ham, and coffee. Served over biscuits and topped with two eggs over easy) and those darn addictive Sticky Buns with pecans and homemade caramel. The serving size on the Biscuits and Red Eye Gravy is huge, and I mean massive to the point where I have to take a breather in between. It’s probably because my eyes are bigger than my stomach and I try to eat that entire dish with a side of grits, and then try to eat the Sticky Bun. The Sticky Bun is sweet, decadent, and tastes incredible with coffee. Sold.
However, as many other patrons have mentioned, the service and wait time is spotty. Depending on the day, our service has been lukewarm to standoffish. On the rare occasion, we’ve had a friendly server, but then we never see them again. Regarding the wait, it’s been anywhere from 10 minutes to an hours, and if it weren’t for the service, I’d be more inclined to patiently bide my time.
I should also mention we recently learned that their was a change over in ownership, so many of these aspects may also change. I really appreciate that they allow dogs on their patio and will put this on my «dog patio» approval list. I will definitely be back once their Bloody Marys and mimosas are back up and rolling!

I really wanted to be wowed by this really cool looking establishment. My review is that is is a solid… meh.
My husbands Monte Cristo was just syrup on a ham and cheese sandwich made with bland French toast. My French toast special was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with the same bland French toast slices. My daughters grits and eggs were unflavored, creamed grains and «toast better than they look» browned, scrambled eggs.
As I’m writing, I’m trying to figure out why I’m even giving it three stars. I just asked my husband, and he said «give it two, I was being generous.» He’s right.
The ambiance and setting are really cool. But the patio and porch dining, vintage, adorable house, and good service (though they took quite a while and then overcharged us by $ 11) just weren’t enough to redeem the food.
In a nutshell: Come full, then enjoy the atmosphere with a drink and be merry.

Waited over an hour for our food which never came. Kitchen is clearly clueless. All we ordered were eggs. Got up and left, hungry and frustrated. Avoid if you don’t 2 ½ hours to commit to breakfast. Also they lost their liquor license. No bloody Mary’s or Mimosas to be had while you wait forever for your food that may never come… Avoid.

Consistently disappointed by the Pigeon Hole.
As an undergrad at UVA, I’m always on the Corner and eating there as a break from dining on grounds. My friends and I frequent many of the restaurants for Sunday brunches, Tuesday dinners, etc.
However, in the three times I have been to the Pigeon Hole, I have been consistently treated like a burden and an unwelcome guest. I’ve been motivated by these three poor experiences to write this review.
The first time we went, the food was delicious. I had the french toast and the side of sausage (which is five extra dollars for two patties, but I digress). My friends and I were all delighted, until our bill came and we asked to split the check. Because we’re college students, and clearly one person isn’t picking up the whole thing. Not clear to our waitress! She became very frustrated and explained they had a policy where they would do one check or two split down the middle. This is SO impractical for a restaurant right on the Corner, where groups come and are clearly not all paying together. And her attitude really didn’t help things.
The second time I TRIED to go to the Pigeon Hole. I tried to take my family there on a visit for Sunday brunch. I struggled for a full ten minutes to get anyone’s attention, and finally managed to get our name down on a list of people waiting for a table. I gave the «host» my number and asked that he call me back when our table became available. I spent a full 45 minutes (!!) walking my family around Grounds (with no call back), then came back only to see a party that had been behind us seated and eating their own food. Fed up, we left.
The third time I went, I made it for a Friday brunch and there were only four tables in the restaurant. Despite the low number of patrons, it took 45 minutes for our food (5 people) to arrive. The breakfast burrito was bland and literally just eggs and beans. The french toast was undercooked and the sausage totally blackened. The fruit cup had two massive pieces of orange and a few chunks of green apple. Our waitress said probably two words to us throughout the entire experience, and had the worst attitude of any server I’ve had in a long time.
I have tried to give the Pigeon Hole the benefit of the doubt, especially since it’s in such a cute little building and seems so quaint. However, I am frustrated by this restaurant that acts as though my business is a huge inconvenience for them. It’s too bad– ask anyone who’s been and I’m sure they’ll say the same of the rude waitresses and unorganized experience.

Honestly, I go to the pigeon hole because of its great atmosphere and I used to love their Irish coffee. Unfortunately, now that their liquor license has expired, I’m left with mediocre food.
They do use fresh ingredients in their food, but the overall taste is just… mehh. It might be because I expect so much due to their high prices. Honestly, how much are eggs and beans for huevos rancheros? The markup on their food is not worth the quality. If their prices were adjusted, I would give them 4 stars! I’ll admit, their fruit cup is the best fruit cup I’ve had. It included fresh mango, pineapple, strawberries, and apples. The tropical fruits are typically not used in fruit cups, but I’m so glad the pigeon hole does!
The pigeon hole is a fun place to brunch at, but be ready to pay a lot for breakfast. And not have a mimosa or Irish coffee alongside your dish :/

A very popular undergraduate brunch spot with good diner food and enough inside seating for about ten people.
I never ding a place for being popular, and all the problems that causes with crowd control and wait times. So I’ll start by saying that The Pigeon Hole is extremely popular with undergrads during brunch, so come early or expect a long wait. The restaurant is more of an outdoor seating location, as the inside is very, very small and cramped. That being said, the service was good and we were served our food quickly in spite of the lines.
I ordered the Monte Cristo ($ 9) and my girlfriend got the Eggs and Biscuit ($ 9). The food’s not bad. The Monte Cristo was especially good — french toast, ham, cheese, with honey drizzled on top (nice touch). The home fries were only okay — very little seasoning and no extra ingredients (such as onions, peppers, etc). The Eggs and Biscuit was, again, just okay — the eggs were cooked well and the biscuits were soft, but the dish was simplistic and lacked any other flavor. Perhaps I’m just getting picky in my old age, but I could make a dish very similar to this one at home.
Overall, it’s not a bad spot for breakfast, and I imagine if I went to UVA I’d have fond memories of this place. But as far as brunches go, this place is middling — there are better brunch opportunities around Charlottesville. Leave this one to the undergrads.

Was here for a girls weekend and we picked this spot to brunch as the final hoorah before departing.
Honestly, nothing spectacular. I had the granola, fruit, and yogurt, which was tasty! However, I felt like the granola was nothing to write home about. Was it homemade? Eh, I have my doubts. Though the presentation was flawless! We also split the biscuit basket. The biscuits were warm, fluffy, and tasty! I highly suggest ordering one for the table! Though ask for extra jam. They don’t give you much to split amongst three biscuits…
I also sampled around some of my friends dishes and nothing really stuck out. It all tasted pretty bland. However the main reason for lack of stars would be the service. We had a table of 6 so I understand that six gabbing girls can be overwhelming, but there were a lot of mishaps that were frustrating. For example, one girl didn’t get to order before the wait staff walked away. It made us feel like we were a burden. Things were continually forgotten or ignored throughout the meal. It just wasn’t awesome.
However, they do have a killer porch an don’t take reservations so if you have a small group and can get there early it may be worth it to give it another shot?

Service is OK, food is OK, not enough seating so usually a long wait involved. Not my favorite, but they do have fairly yummy brunch. I just think it’s a bit overpriced.
Monte Cristo is huge and pretty good, egg biscuit is yummy, biscuit with red-​eye gravy also yummy. (Always choose grits over hash browns, the hash browns are very meh.) Just didn’t expect to pay something like $ 13 for brunch, seemed like a bit much for just fairly decent food to me.
EDIT: Went here on a Wednesday afternoon for lunch, and when there weren’t other guests, I felt like I was getting leftovers. I usually like their biscuits and red-​eye gravy, but the biscuits were suuper dry (baked the night before??) and their «over-​easy» eggs came out more over-​hard, so I couldn’t even soak the biscuits in a runny yolk (which I prefer) to make them more edible. Moved down from 2 stars to 1 star for that day’s food. Was not impressed.

The one star is for the lovely attentive waitstaff at this spot in beautiful Charlottesville. The 4 missing stars are due to the horrible brunch we had there. The eggs for the eggs Benedict were a hard boiled disaster. The hollandaise was practically nonexistent which was actually a blessing in disguise because what little was on the plate was runny and tasted like lemons. The hash potatoes… Oh where shall I start with these? Burnt? Week old? Microwaved? All of the above. My friends grits were decent but her two eggs over easy looked like they were used to clean the grill. They were grey and gross looking.
I believe the good reviews for Pigeon Hole are due to the unknowing and innocent palates of the university students. They are hungry and don’t know any better. We should have gone around the corner to the bagel place.

My fiancé and I are in town from the city for a few weeks, and had a specific brunch in mind. She loves eggs benedict, and I’m partial to huevos rancheros. We searched for a place that would satisfy us both, and The Pigeon Hole was the spot.
First, the part of town it’s located is perfect. You walk up stairs onto a cute little porch before entering a small, intimate atmosphere.
We knew we made the right decision when we heard the specials. There was a french toast dippers appetizer — my 2^nd fave bfast item as an app! They also had a steak tips eggs benedict, which my fiancé ordered.
Overall, we were super satisfied with both the food and the service. Owner/​employees are very friendly and want you to be as satisfied as possible. Will definitely go again on our next trip to Cville (or possibly even again on this trip!).

Came for brunch with a group of friends… Sitting is very minimum very intimate since its downtown near the college scene.
Our table decided to ordered a pitcher of mimosa for $ 20. It happened to be a bit more orange juice then champagne but it wasn’t bad your typical mimosa.
Foods ordered were the Babycakes Benedict, Crabby Florentine, Monte Cristo, Egg biscuits, and the pumpkin French toast.
I ordered the Pumpkin French toast… was. A bit dry of a French toast for me seemed like it could’ve soaked a bit more and it need a textural topping pecans or walnuts. Pumpkin flavor didn’t shine much and the caramel was buttery but overly sweet for me that also needed maybe a tad of salt just to balance the sweetness.
Babycakes benedict surpised one of my tablemates she said she wasn’t expecting so much crab in the crab cake so it was pretty good for her. The fruit cup wasn’t her favorite… she thought the fruit was cut weird. It did look a little sloppy. Another table mate had the crabby florentine and she also thought that it was really good and was surprised at the amount of crab it had. No comments on the monte cristo my guess is that it didn’t really wow my table mate cause she didn’t say too much about it. Another tablemate got the egg and biscuits and thought it was pretty good also.
Overall…the pigeon hole was a decent place for brunch. They offer your typical brunch cocktails so that’s good. Mimosas and bloody mary’s and apparently pitchers were buy one get one half off or something like that for mimosas. The food is pretty good… their hash browns were more like homefries though… but to each their own. Either way they were pretty good. Like i mentioned before decent meal for brunch. Their sticky buns did look pretty good also. If i hadn’t ordered french toast i might have gotten one.

On a sunny fall afternoon, to sit outside at a place like this, relax your heart and soul, I would like to express my gratitude to the owner for providing such a natural and sweet spot. Plus, good food.
5 stars.

The go-​to brunch spot in Cville in my opinion.
And here is my go-​to dish: two eggs and choice of meat. It’s only $ 7 and you get a side in addition to those items.
Outdoor seating is nice and relaxed.
What more could you ask for (when you’re not craving a bagel)?!

Pigeon Hole– well known at UVA. A very cute brunch house joint, just down the side street in the Corner. Was on the list of things to do before you graduate so we hit it up for a friend’s birthday!
It’s very popular so make sure all your group is present as they can’t seat you otherwise. Better for small groups or a few people because it’s a cosy space and they can’t split the bill unfortunately (Very confusing with tips on top of this!).
Decent food– had to get their namesake, Pigeons in a Hole– over easy eggs over grilled toast with a side of grits. Overall, nice atmosphere. Enjoyed our breakfast brunch!
Must come back to sample more of their menu!
[Reliving my semester abroad at the University of Virginia]

My friends and I found this place while looking for breakfast in Charlottesville on a Sunday morning. Be advised, this place will get busy as there was a very long line as we were leaving (approximately 45 minutes after being seated, when there was no line and were seated promptly). The hostess and waitresses are all very sweet and very attentive. Be patient and understanding if the place gets busy, as all the employees are working hard to make sure everyone is being attended to.
My friends and I ordered three different items: I had the peach cobbler French toast (which was at once delicious and decadent, perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth), one friend had the pigeon hole with a side of ham (eggs baked into toast), and the third had egg biscuit sandwiches with a side of fruit (they looked great as well). Suffice to say, all three plates were empty when collected.
Portions were a great size; you won’t be stuffed and you won’t feel wanting more. All in all, I recommend this place and will definitely return next time I’m in Charlottesville.