This is Marie, contributing an article revisiting a go-to favorite of ours for breakfast on the Island, The Sandcastle Cafe and Grill. We have possibly visited on almost every trip we’ve taken to visit my family since that initial mention on our blog way back in 2010.
It is a cute little place in the Village at the Pier, very close to the water, and has a lovely porch that is sadly only really usable for about two weeks each in spring and fall when the temperature, humidity, and sand gnats all conspire to be absent.
It has been around since 1989, taking the place of a restaurant called the Pier Cafe, making it one of the longest-lasting residents of that area, and I commend them for their resilience. You don’t stick around that long making an inferior product and they are always busy. The interior has a surprisingly large amount of seating for such a small place, however, and we have never failed to get a place to sit. Nearly always that is in the last booth at the end, where we can effectively corral our increasingly wiggly toddler.
The Sandcastle has a menu but aside from my father’s favorite Rosti (described on the menu, and pictured above, as “Hashbrowns smothered in grilled ham, Swiss cheese and one poached egg”) the rest of us generally wind up getting the buffet so we haven’t had a lot of experience with anything else. Because I like one sausage and lots of fruit and yogurt, and maybe a muffin, I don’t get the most of my money’s worth out of the buffet but it works for me anyway. The buffet comes with a pancake or half waffle, but you generally don’t get much good out of those unless you come with an exceptional appetite.
The menu has several amusingly named items, like the Oivey (bagel and salmon, etc., of course), the Eggs Aorta which is subtitled Test Your Ticker, and so forth. As I am easily embarrassed, I probably wouldn’t order these, but the rest of my family takes delight in the silly names.
While my husband doesn’t wholeheartedly approve of breakfast (or even halfheartedly, really – he feels it interferes with meals he likes better such as lunch and dinner) he seems to find a way to eat more than he’d planned most times we visit. As do I.
You can see all the restaurants that we have visited for our blog on this map, with links back to the original blog posts. It’s a terrific resource for anybody planning a road trip through the southeast!
Marie, Let's Eat! 