Goldenrod Kitchen a gem on the West Side
Service has been a bit slow, but the food is so (very!) worth the wait
After months of hearing the hype, I couldn’t wait any longer. I finally paid a few visits to Goldenrod Kitchen on Charleston’s West Side and I’m struggling to find the right accolades to capture its magic.
Awesomely Appalachian. Dripping with charm. Genuinely warm and cozy. A bit whimsical. Effortlessly authentic. Incredibly delicious.
I could go on, but you really need to experience this gem for yourself.
Opening this past spring in the 611 Tennessee Ave. storefront that used to house The Vandalia Co., Goldenrod Kitchen is a cheery, colorful breakfast and lunch café with a farmhouse rustic meets cozy coffeehouse vibe.
You can sip a housemade drink while lounging on chairs and a sofa in the front of the restaurant, or choose among a mishmash of tables in the back or a coveted spot in the small backyard to grab a bite to eat. Once you do, you’ll start to drool over a mouthwatering menu while you wait for a server to stop by.
Breakfast is served all day (bonus points for that!) and includes a selection of stuffed breakfast burritos, stacked sandwiches and melts, traditional eggs with sides and more. You’ll also find housemade granola, oatmeal, avocado or ricotta toast, fried potatoes, breakfast breads and cottage cheese topped with sweet or savory fixings – plus a menu of coffee, tea and fruit drinks.
Starting at 10:30 am, lunch options include a few sandwiches or wraps, which you also can complement with assorted sides.
During our first visit, which straddled both breakfast and lunchtime, I devoured Goldenrod’s signature Sunnyside Sourdough Stack, a glorious sandwich stuffed with two fried eggs, vegan or pork bacon, avocado, spinach, and chipotle aioli.
I also loved a bowl of crunchy, toasted housemade granola with fresh sliced bananas and fruit compote, served with a tiny pot of milk to drizzle on top.
My wife had the other dish I was debating, the marvelous Mountain Breakfast Melt. That’s a wedge of sweet cornbread topped with a runny fried egg, vegan or pork sausage, melted white cheddar and housemade hot honey.
The cornbread was a bit crumbly (meaning a touch too dry) but the dish as a whole was otherwise flawless and the side of Superfood Spuds (sweet potato home fries) we got with it was spot-on – nicely seasoned, expertly cooked and full of flavor.
After hearing many fans claim Goldenrod has the best cinnamon rolls in town, I popped in a week later to enjoy one with a small pot of French press coffee. That roll was airy and moist, yeasty and just doughy enough, and nailed the perfect balance of sugar, cinnamon and icing, easily making it one of the best I’ve ever had.
We were so impressed with everything we tried that we can’t wait to go back and sample more.
Goldenrod’s breakfast burritos feature eggs or tofu mixed with vegan or pork sausage blended with various combinations of peppers, onions, potatoes, avocado, black beans, cheese and sauces. You can also get them made into breakfast bowls without the wrap. I saw one of those delivered to the next table over and immediately regretted not ordering it.
The High Country Turkey Club piled with vegan or regular turkey, vegan or pork bacon, white cheddar, greens, tomato and dill mustard sounds right up my alley. The housemade Edgewood Egg Salad and Backyard BLT do, too.
Goldenrod is truly one of those places where I eventually want to try every item on the menu. So I just might.
Food is excellent, but often not quick
As good as Goldenrod is, it’s important to note that this is generally not a place to pop in for a quick bite, unless you’re picking up an already-made pastry or treat to go. Most everything else on the menu is made to order, and that commitment to freshness takes time.
The staff is very young, too, and I was told several are still being trained to replace some of the café’s original employees, who went back to school at the end of the summer. So those new hires will need a little grace and patience until they get up to speed.
On our first trip to Goldenrod, we were hoping to sample a few items on the menu before heading to a movie downtown. We thought an hour-plus would be plenty of time to do that, but it wasn’t. The place was packed, so both service and food were quite slow – something other tables around us were commenting on as well.
A week later, I stopped by for breakfast during a morning with far fewer customers and still had to wait quite a bit for a server to stop by my table. Once she did, however, she was fairly attentive until the end of my meal, when I had to flag down someone else to pay my tab. My pastry came in a reasonable amount of time, but a side of Mountain Crisp potatoes took considerably longer. (Incidentally, those potatoes were not as crisp and delicious as the sweet potato version of the same dish.)
But here’s the thing: Almost everything was excellent, and owner Nola Todd has been very forthcoming about the challenges she's faced opening her own restaurant (at age 22!) and how tough critical tasks like staffing, ordering, and timing can be.
Still, she’s committed to constant improvement, which speaks volumes about how passionately she wants this place to succeed. She quickly pivoted from a counter to a server model to help eliminate bottlenecks at the register, and has recently upgraded kitchen and ordering equipment, hired and trained new staff, and completed a deep cleaning of the restaurant.
And maybe we should all just slow down every once in a while and enjoy life as it unfolds around us, whatever that pace may be. I think that’s really the heart behind this place, and had I not had places to be the waits wouldn’t have bothered me one bit.
So my future visits to Goldenrod – of which there will be many – will look a little different. I’m going to set aside plenty of time, leisurely hang out for a while, and gradually work my way through everything on the menu in due time.
Because this place really is that special.
IF YOU GO: Goldenrod Kitchen at 611 Tennessee Ave. on Charleston’s West Side is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday-Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday-Sunday. (It is closed on Tuesdays.) For more information, call 304-205-9650 or visit the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Steven Keith is a food writer and restaurant critic known as “The Food Guy” who writes a weekly column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and has appeared in several state, regional and national publications. Follow him online at www.wvfoodguy.com or on Facebook, X, Instagram and Pinterest as “WV Food Guy.” He can be reached at wvfoodguy@aol.com.
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