On Sunday, Tom and I met John and Jackie at Mimi’s Café at Polaris. I picked Mimi’s Café because I had never been there and because it has an all-day brunch menu. It also looks cool from the outside.
Mimi’s Café is a chain that started in 1978. It was bought by Bob Evans in 2004 and sold to Groupe Le Duff in 2013. Groupe Le Duff is the world leader in the bakery café sector. The restaurant felt vaguely French as well as having a huge assortment of delicious-looking bakery items. Their muffins and croissants are baked daily. Mimi’s has 45 locations in 12 states. The one on Polaris Parkway is the only one in Ohio.
Mimi’s Café was very busy when we got there, with a line outside the door. The owner/manager told us it would be a 15 minute wait, so we took a buzzer. We were seated in less than five minutes. This is one of the few restaurants we have been in lately where there are enough servers that all the tables could be filled.
The menu is extensive, probably trying to do too much. All the baked goods I saw looked wonderful and, in a perfect world, I would have ordered one of each to try. But that would be way too many carbs, so I limited myself to one meal’s worth. I considered ordering a waffle because they looked delicious and I love waffles. But I have been trying to be more adventurous in my eating so I ended up with Potato Cake Florentine Eggs Benedict. I also ordered the bread basket which came with slices of fresh, toasted baguette and carrot raisin nut madeleines. There were enough that each of us could have one of each and our own little container of butter. Yum!
Tom ordered a burger. Jackie got a salad with a tuna cheddar melt. John ordered the breakfast burrito. The food (besides the bread basket) was good but not great. The service, on the other hand, was wonderful. Our waiter brought us refills before we could ask and even washed his hands before he used my phone to take a picture. He was just the right amount of attentive despite being very busy.
Because the restaurant was so busy, I had a chance to see other food going by. The muffins looked fantastic and I saw a chocolate cake with ice cream and strawberries that made my mouth water. Obviously baked goods are a specialty. The food might have been better if there was less variety, but I know very little about running a restaurant.
We took our time eating and talking, which meant the restaurant cleared out a little after the noon rush. That was nice because it wasn’t as noisy. The owner/manager had time to stop by the table and ask how things were. The waiter teased us about cleaning our plates. John and I both won that award!
I would enjoy eating at Mimi’s Café again. The extensive menu means I would always have plenty of different choices to make. Next time maybe I’ll have the bread basket appetizer, a muffin for my main course, and the caramel apple pie with ice cream for dessert. That sounds like a balanced meal!