Ms. Carolyn’s Restaurant

I’ve been here three times and so far everything has been great! The service is great! (Thanks Holly!!). If you are expecting fine dining go somewhere else.

Great breakfast place! Service was great — the coffee refills kept coming. Wide variety of option on the menu. I opted for the western omelet and it was wonderful. Generous portions and everything was well priced. We’ll go again when in the area!

Short version: Food is fair to poor. Coffee is fresh, but poor. The most disappointing part is that this place coukd be much better if it just bought better quality ingredients.
Seevice was good and friendly. It is not a nice looking place. But, it was clean.

This is a simple olé diner, nothing fancy, just good food. Their breakfast business is very busy which shows that it is a great place to eat. You may have to wait a few minutes to get a table but the hearty Cooke to order breakfast and friendly servers are worth the wait. We also ate lunch here. It is a typical diner lunch with good food but not as busy. Be sure to order a piece of cake (coconut and chocolate) to eat or take with you! They had a lot of people taking whole cakes out with them! With these delicious home baked cakes you really should eat dessert first!

Just the diner atmosphere I was looking for. I’ve now visited twice, once during the Amelia Island Concours and again last weekend, and the staff is nothing short of amazing. Quick refills on tea and coffee without even noticing, and the combination of steak, eggs, home fries, and rye toast is spot on. I’ll definitely be back, and I can see why several locals recommended it to me!

This place was terrible. It was busy but completely not accommodating for parties other than 4 and under. Our party of 6 was jammed into a booth with a chair on the end. Uncomfortable to say the least.
The food is lacking in a few ways.
1. Make the portions smaller and give everyone potatoes AND toast.
2. don’t charge $ 2 for toast that is clearly Walmart brand. And i know this because this is how it looks when i toast it.
3. Prep is key. My veggies were raw and made my eggs wet. Gross.
Your staff could be friendlier. The older lady that was seating us couldn’t be bothered to put 2 tables together and pretty much gave us the option to cram into a booth or go. Apparently this place is going well enough that they don’t care if we stayed or went.

Stayed overnight on the Island and headed over here for breakfast before Sunday at Amelia Con. It was a short walk from the official Con hotel, and the reviews looked good, so we figured that we’d check it out.
Upon arrival, we had about a 10 minute wait for our table with folks standing at all corners of the restaurant waiting for their turn to eat. It’s rather uncomfortable to be stared at while you eat because others want to rush your meal. Is Ms. Carolyn’s the only place open on a Sunday for brunch or breakfast in Amelia?
I was hoping for some better food given the reviews that I read here before suggesting this as a place to eat. Honestly, I just wasn’t all that impressed. There wasn’t anything to write home about; no stand out dish or taste. Some bits of our breakfasts were overcooked, and others were just rather tasteless.
Service was sorta okay, but the staff seemed a bit frazzled by the crowd. They also seemed a bit distracted by each other whenever they were in the kitchen/​prep type area. It’s not quite a Kitchen Nightmare scenario, but it could easily turn into one.

Miss Carolyn’s is the best ever!!! We are locals and enjoy eating there at least 2 – 3 days a week. We mainly go for breakfast because it’s the bomb! You must try their shrimp and grits, oh what a delight and then you must try her crab omelette, just to die for!!! Next the pecan pancakes are fantastic and if you’re into corn beef with her homemade biscuits, you will truly leave there with the ‘iItis’!!!
This is the best way to start your day!!! f

Returned for those homemade biscuits & gravy. Excellent!

My wife & I are on the island for vacation. Stopped in for breakfast. Had the biscuits & gravy & split an order of potatoes O’Brien. Loved the fresh biscuits & good service. Will returned before going home.

My favorite thing here is getting an omlette with onions, spinach, feta cheese, mushrooms and tomatoes. OMG. :D Delicious! I get that when I treat myself and it comes with potatoes that are made with sauteed peppers. Everyone here is nice and the food comes out quickly. Be patient when it’s crowded though! Breakfast is always their busiest time BUT they have a spectacular lunch menu as well. I have tried the portabella melt which was served open faced and it’s so so so amazing. I always get the pasta salad. It’s got a unique taste that I really like but my boyfriend does not. I heard the cinnamon rolls were amazing but I haven’t tried them yet.

I don’t quite understand the negative reviews that were written because every time i come here this place is delicious! Best breakfast on the Island! my Father from Va. Always comes here for breakfast when visiting. They’re pancakes are amazing ! My wife and son loves they’re french toast and bacon. This place is the fashizzle!

Didn’t get what I ordered. Sent it back. Came back wrong again. Normally get good service and food. Was disappointed.

Great cakes and pies. Love the coconut cake.

Food was very good but service was spotty. Servers were gabbing behind the counter and not refilling coffee, she forgot my water; and also — HEALTH ALERT — were playing with each other’s hair and one was giving another lady a quick shoulder massage behind the counter.

Not so happy with our breakfasts. The eggs were properly cooked and the dry toast was okay but there is where the good part ends. My sausage patty was so overcooked that it was not only black on the outside, it was black on the inside and it was dry and tasteless. The bacon on my wife’s breakfast was also overcooked and our home fries were not very good either.
Be careful if you use the salt shaker because the salt pours out by just turning upside down. The waitress was no better than the breakfast, Very seldom do we ever NOT leave a tip when the service was below par, but this was one of them. The noise level was so loud that it added to an unpleasant dining experience.
October 13, 2015
John and Mary Ann

My group ate breakfast there twice because we enjoyed it so much. I had the «Heavenly Hash» plate both days and loved it. The place seems to be popular with the older folks so that’s probably a sign the rest of the menu tastes great.

Breakfast was great! Great find! Traveling with work always great to find gems like this. Locals said you need to try the cake!

I had the LumberJack Breakfast not as large as portrayed by the waitress… fast service — tasty smoked sausage was really salty but the eggs cooked perfectly… fairly inexpensive — no waiting kinda loud… louder than Starbucks but a good overall value.

Don’t drive past this place!
This restaurant is must if you’re in the area for breakfast. We have only been here once, but the food was great! The service may need to step up their game, but it didn’t phase us much. We were there to relax and were not in a hurry.
The location of the restaurant is a little strange being in a strip mall, but don’t let that deter you. This is more of a mom and pops place, but it’s not too small. We were seated within 10 minutes of arriving (they were packed with it being a late Sunday morning). I ordered the biscuits and gravy and my boyfriend ordered the crab benedict. We ended up ordering a cinnamon roll towards the end and I’m glad we only ordered one… they are huge! No complaints about anything!

Came for lunch. Really enjoyed our food and the coconut cake was awesome. Saw some pretty pretentious reviews on here regarding the location, seating, etc. I was happy with my service and experience. Not 5 star dining but definitely a unique twist on café/​dinner food. Home made bread, unique style on dinner style foods, fast and efficient service.

Great breakfast fast .and they were busy nice price doesn’t look like much from out side but staff fast and nice

Went back for a 2^nd time and it was as good as the 1^st! This is a MUST go to place for breakfast for locals and vacationers! It was sooooooo good! They say their lunch is as good as their breakfast. Closed on Mondays. Open from 7:00 — 11:00 (breakfast) 11:00 — 3:00 (lunch)

We LOVE Ms. Carolyn’s! Best cakes for miles (I have NEVER liked strawberry cakes or ice cream, because they always tasted like someone’s idea of what strawberry is, rather than the actual fruit. HER strawberry cake, however, changed my views 180 degrees, as it is made w/​real strawberries everywhere! Icing is absolutely horrid… in that I cannot stop eating it! I’m usually not a huge icing person, either, but this is like real-strawberry…fudge, perhaps? Buttercream extraordinaire, at the very least!!!), & brunch there is a TREAT! I don’t know what the negative reviews are grumbling about — one lady actually said the scramble she ordered of sausage, egg, & cheese had the NERVE to come out as… sausage, egg, & cheese, scrambled together! Then she complained about too much cheese! Is that even possible? Sheesh. Poor lady w/​her dreadful troubles. Must be so hard to be her.
ANYWAY, MY favorite breakfast is the «Hippie Scramble», but I ask for poached eggs instead of scrambled (which is NEVER a problem at Ms. Carolyn’s!). What you get is Eggs Benedict, but w/​potatoes w/​onions & green peppers instead of English Muffins! How brilliant is THAT?! It’s heaven on a plate. I always ask for extra hollandaise & that’s never an issue, like at some restaurants I’ve visited through the years. I poke open the perfectly-​poached eggs, w/​the whites firm but the yolk still runny (ask & they will cook them to your liking), and it flows all over the lovely potatoes. Then with the smoky Canadian bacon, zingy hollandaise, yum eggs, & awesome potatoes, my mouth is soon on cloud nine. I actually hear myself moaning in joy… I’ve looked around before, to see who was making those moans, & then realized it was I who was the «culprit». Just can’t help it. Sigh.
My husband loves the corned beef hash, & also says the coffee is good (I don’t drink coffee). He says «it’s not Starbucks (his favorite), but it’s good.» He’s picky about his coffee, too. Perhaps people who complained about it have been there on an «off» day?
We both LOVE the pancakes (ask for banana! Banana mushed in the batter, sliced into the poured batter, & then sliced on top of the finished pancake! WO! Perfection), but I warn you — they are HUGE! I always order two, end up eating only one, & then make my husband promise me he won’t let me order more than one the next time. And so it goes…
As to the waitstaff — AWESOME! The sweetest, kindest, most attentive-​but-​non-​obtrusive waitstaff on the planet! They remember us (or at least pretend they do; what’s the difference, really?!), & treat us like family… family who they actually like.
Try it! You’ll love it!

Stopped here on the way out of Amelia Island because it had such good reviews! We drove up to what looked to be an abandoned strip mall with just Ms Carolyn’s there. There was a wait but only about 10 minutes. Inside was definitely a small town diner feel.
Food was ok, coffee was ok. I got the loaded bowl and tried a pancake. The pancake was pretty good, better than the pancakes at the Ritz!
Overall, I probably won’t be coming back but I’d get the pancakes if I did.

We stopped in for brunch prior to heading back home after our weekend getaway. Overall, not totally impressed with the food or service here. The food is mediocre at best and the coffee — I don’t even think it should be called that. Whoever is making it clearly doesn’t drink coffee or they would know how terrible it tastes! I had a scramble of some kind — eggs, sausage, and cheese. It was basically a sausage patty scrambled with eggs and so much cheese. The toast was a bit soggy and I wish we would have just stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a bagel or something.
If this is one of the best brunch spots nearby, that would be pretty sad but would leave someone room to open an amazing restaurant. This place has seen better days and is in a weird strip mall that is a little bit deserted.
Service was slow and with a 6 hour drive ahead of us, I hoped it would’ve been a bit more attentive and prompt.

This place is awesome. My family loves it here. Classic go to place for locals and tourists a like in Fernandina Beach/​Amelia Island, Fla. It’s definitely a local favorite.
Sometimes it takes a while to get a table and occasionally the place is so busy that the tables and floors gets messy. When they get busy, they don’t do to go orders.
I always get the omelette with cheese, bacon or sausage, jalapeño and spinach. My kids love their buttermilk pancakes. And their fruit bowl.
For lunch, I recommend one of their signature sandwiches. But I always get the Swahili wings and a side Caesar salad.
Their coconut cake is amazing! Enjoy!
Jackie is my favorite server. She’s fun and generous. A real pro.
I wish they were open for dinner. When it was KP’s, it was my favorite dinner spot in town.

Food here is delicious! Our server today was Holly, and she was fantastic! Couldn’t ask for better food or service! The heavenly hash is amazing!

We have breakfast this morning at Ms. Caroline’s restaurant. I had the shrimp and grits and it was phenomenal. Normally I’ll take a picture and then post but after taking one bite I had to eat a whole bowl before I posted pictures.
The dish is prepared with fresh Florida shrimp, grits, spinach, onions, cheese, crumbled bacon and sausage gravy.