The Sleepy Bee Cafe in Oakley

There has been quite a lot of “buzz” around town about the Sleepy Bee Cafe that opened in December 2013 in Oakley. I finally had a chance to visit the Sleepy Bee a few weeks back for lunch with my friends, and I could see what all the buzz was about….this place is great! The Sleepy Bee Cafe is open for breakfast and lunch each day (or brunch if you will), and they serve REAL food. What do I mean by that? I mean that they serve fresh, organic foods that are locally sourced and dishes that are made from scratch. This quote from Sleepy Bee’s chef Frances Kroner sums it up perfectly: “We are committed to serving local, pesticide-free, non-genetically-modified foods whenever possible. Our menu will be dynamic and evolve with the seasons. We invite you to grab a cup of coffee and make yourselves comfortable. We look forward to feeding you.” The Sleepy Bee menu offers unique dishes and twists on traditional favorites. There are sandwiches, pancakes, smoothies, salads, and more. And they have a great HEALTHY kids menu as well. My only issue with the menu was that everything sounded good to me. Our poor waitress had to come back to our table three times because we just couldn’t figure out exactly what we wanted but it meant that we could have a chat with her. She told us that she was studying a responsible service of alcohol course as she wanted to go into bartending and I told her that she would be great. She was so polite and lovely and she definitely needs to work in the hospitality industry. Everyone that worked in the cafe was really nice though.
What this means is that I need to schedule another visit to the Sleepy Bee soon so that I can try more of the menu items.

One of the highlights of the Sleepy Bee for me was the room in the back of the restaurant where you can sit and enjoy your coffee and read over the menu while you wait for your table. This was perfect for me since I had Henry in tow and there was a short wait for a table. Even a short wait seems eternal when Henry is with me…but not at Sleepy Bee. We made ourselves comfortable in their back room, he read a book and kept himself busy for a few minutes. And of course the books they have for the munchkins to read are about bumblebees. The service at Sleepy Bee was quite friendly, they offer complimentary coffee, have adorable BEE decor made by local artists, and the prices are right. So if you are looking for a new place to grab brunch, consider the Sleepy Bee Cafe.

My brunch…the “Queen City Bee”, a breakfast sandwich with apple, goetta, arugula, egg and nectar sauce on a ciabatta roll made by my favorite Shadeau bakery in OTR.