As we all know, Penn State lost a close game to the bums who play football somewhere in Ohio. Saturday was a roller coaster of a game, and included a long day of tailgating prior to kickoff. Tailgates were long and plentiful, and everyone was on their feet all day. After the long day of food, fun, and football, I crawled into my cozy bed with my legs on fire and my knees weak from being on my feet all day and fell right asleep. When I woke up, I was HUNGRY. I have no idea how I did this, but I popped out of bed at 9 a.m., and I was STARVING.

As you may know, Redifer doesn’t open until 10:30 a.m. (PSU hates feeding people breakfast at reasonable times), so I didn’t know where to go. Luckily, my roommate’s dad was in town, and he offered to take us out to grab some food. And boy did we find a gem.

The place I covered last week, The Waffle Shop, was our first choice. We walked over to find that the line was out the door and down the block! Nope. We walked down College Ave. looking for another spot, and we just happened to see a small sign for a 10:30 buffet at The Tavern. What a lucky find that was.

Located just off of College Avenue, the Tavern Restaurant is a great spot to grab a hearty dinner when your parents are in town. If they just so happen to be visiting on a Sunday, you have to stop by the Tavern for their 10:30 a.m. brunch! Like I said, 10:30 is an annoying time to open up, but the food is so great that you want to come hungry!

I walked into the restaurant at 10:25, but I was surprised to see that it was already packed. I walked up top the hostess and asked for a table, and she said, “Do you have a reservation?”.

My heart sank. A reservation for a brunch buffet? What is this?!

Luckily, she said she could sneak us in. Phew. We walked back to our table, sat down, met our waiter, and then got right back up and hustled over to the buffet line. This place was flooding with people. Luckily we had showed up before it was technically open because we got to hit the buffet before the masses showed up.

So what did they serve here? NO. What didn’t they serve?? We’re talking french toast, Belgium waffles, scrambled eggs, hasbrowns, sticky buns, bacon, sausage, eggs benedict, chicken, ham, and even steak! That’s not even the entire buffet lineup. I am definitely forgetting some items.

My first pass I go for a waffle, some french toast, some eggs, some bacon, and a sliver of steak. What else can I say other than incredible. Everything was cooked perfectly, and the bacon had a great crisp to it. I inhaled my plate and went back for more. How could I not go back?!

Round two. I’m back in the buffet line, this time we’re talking grilled stickies, ham, more eggs. Then I spot a game changer: the pastries table. They’ve got it all. You’ve got every danish ever know to man, cookies, bagels, toast, you name it they got it. I grabbed a few of their tiny, flaky danishes and headed back to keep the calories coming. It’s rare that I dislike any ham, so good there. Those grilled stickies, wow. They were incredible. I wouldn’t say that it’s the best option there, but certainly up there. Those little pastries, easily in my top two of the whole breakfast. They were kind of warm, they were flaky, and the flavors were amazing! They had raspberry, apple, cheese, and a few more which I didn’t try. You know what came next? ROUND THREE BABY!!

This time through, I’m wandering around the tables looking for anything I may have missed. Low and behold I find the omelette table. Sectioned off in the corner of the buffet, there’s a guy making omelettes to order for you, and wow, they are great. I ordered a ham and cheese omelette, grabbed myself some more bacon and headed back to polish off the last of my food.

I’m a huge omelette fan, and I have to say that the buffet’s omelettes are their number one option. The man behind the counter is whipping up large, fluffy omelettes with whatever you want in them, and it’s tough to beat.

Overall, the brunch experience at The Tavern was exceptional. It was semi-crowded, but if you keep an eye on the line you’ll never have to wait more than a couple minutes for whatever it is you want to grab. The food is plentiful, and I didn’t try anything that I disliked. If you’ve got $21 and are absurdly hungry, I highly suggest stopping by The Tavern on Sunday. Just make sure you get there right at 10:30 a.m. or make a reservation!