You’ve almost certainly heard the saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” before. Not only that, but many would argue breakfast foods are in fact the most tasty of all meals.
The problem is, waking up early and preparing your own breakfast can feel like a monumental task at times, especially on weekend mornings when you’d rather just sleep in. And as hard as you may try, you often can’t get your home-made breakfast to be quite as tasty as what you might get from a diner.
If you’re looking for some great breakfast food and struggling to make it yourself, here are five great breakfast options that can be found around Jacksonville.
Liberty Bakery
Where: 6661 Bowden Rd. (Southside)
When: 7am-3pm Tues-Fri, 8am-3pm Sat, closed Sun-Mon
You wouldn’t expect a tiny, dilapidated hut of a building to serve some of the best breakfast in town, but Liberty Bakery does exactly that from their location inside a former Skinner Dairy mini-store on Bowden Rd. The drive-thru-only location offers breakfast sandwiches on your choice of toast, English muffin, or delicious sour cream biscuit. Baked goods like croissants and a large cinnamon roll are also available. While their menu isn’t necessarily as expansive as others, they make up for it in quality of food. The restaurant also offers lunch sandwich
One of the most notable aspects of the Liberty Bakery experience, aside from the delicious food, is the friendliness of their staff. They’ll send you off to wherever you’re headed with a smile on your face.
Maple Street Biscuit Company
Where: 2004 San Marco Blvd. (San Marco), 410 N. 3rd St. (Jax Beach), 1171 Edgewood Ave. S. (Murray Hill), 1627 Race Track Rd. (Julington Creek)
When: 7am-2pm Mon-Sat + 5pm-9pm Fri-Sat, closed Sun
Established in 2012, Maple Street Biscuit Company has grown quickly. In addition to now having four Jacksonville locations, the restaurant has also branched out to Tallahassee, St. Augustine and, interestingly enough, Chattanooga, TN.
Obviously, the main attraction is their perfectly-made biscuit. Those and pretty much everything else are prepared in-house using fresh ingredients. You can create your own traditional sandwich with basics like egg, cheese, and a meat of your choice, or you can choose from 17 specialty sandwiches they have crafted with a blend of traditional southern-food mainstays and modern favorites. You also can, of course, choose to get just the biscuits, with several types of jelly available for spreading. In other words, there’s something for everyone as long as you like biscuits. And who doesn’t like biscuits?
Metro Diner
Where: 3302 Hendricks Ave. (San Marco), 12807 San Jose Blvd. (Mandarin), 9802 Baymeadows Rd. (Southside/Deerwood), 4495 Roosevelt Blvd. (Ortega), 1534 N. 3rd St. (Jax Beach)
When: 6:30am-2:30pm daily, some locations now open for dinner
Metro Diner has been the king of breakfast places in Jacksonville for years. Their original location opened in 1992, and in recent years the brand has expanded to five Jacksonville locations, plus locations in Orange Park, St. Augustine, and soon Ponte Vedra Beach. The brand is even expanding into new states, with spots in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Indiana under development. Pretty much the only complaint you’ll hear from locals about Metro Diner is having to wait in line for a table — even after adding new locations, the restaurants are routinely packed during peak breakfast and lunch hours.
It’s not hard to understand why Metro is such a big deal. Name a breakfast food, and chances are Metro Diner not only does it, but does it well. At the locations that are now open for dinner (San Marco & Mandarin), breakfast is served all day, making it one of the few locally-based options for breakfast at dinner time. (But not the only one — we’ll get to that in a minute.)
Deerwood Deli and Diner
Where: 9934 Old Baymeadows Rd. (Southside/Deerwood)
When: 7:00am-2:30pm Mon-Sat, 8:00am-2:00pm Sun
Speaking of diners, there’s another great one just across the street from Metro’s Deerwood location. Hidden away near a former Hallmark in the Publix shopping center on Old Baymeadows Rd., Deerwood Deli and Diner combines a jam-packed menu similar to Metro’s with the simulated aesthetics of an authentic diner. It also has a lunch menu that’s almost as expansive as its breakfast offerings. The diner technically has two other locations, Edgewood Diner and University Diner, but the Deerwood location is the consensus number-one.
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