Oh Butterfly Garden Cafe, you started out as a such a good idea. Tucked back in a prime part of Bardstown Road, sweet and frilly and selling super cool rings and such out of the front room. You were so girly, so fantastically frilly and cute. You had a nice little menu of salads and and sandwiches. How could you dash our hopes by taking so long and providing so poorly for our growling bellies?
My coworkers and I visited Butterfly Garden Cafe excited for our monthly lunch out together and ready to get our girly on with some finger sandwiches and tea. Though a bit discouraged by the 20 minute wait for a table, we understood: this place is only open during brunch and lunch hours, and we did come and a relatively busy time. We ordered a good selection of things from the menu from our obviously distracted waiter and got some lemon iced tea for our trouble.
We then commenced waiting; we waited A FULL HOUR for our food to arrive. Now, keep in mind, this is salad and sandwich stuff. Nobody ordered anything complicated, nobody ordered a well done steak. The longest item might have been the grilled chicken bits I added to my salad, and even those shouldn't have taken more than fifteen minutes.
When the food finally arrived, we commenced to gobbling. The Harvest salad was fantastic, with buttery little pine nuts and craisins set off by tangy goat cheese. The warm ham and brie sandwich was absolutely delicious, and the cool cup of strawberry soup we got (the special of the day) was magnificent, like a creamier soupier strawberry smoothie. The tuna melt, however, was too fishy to eat and smelled old. The vanilla cupcake we ordered was also a little stale, and the colors from the sprinkles had bled into the frosting (that signifies an old cupcake).
All in all, including the wait for a table and the wait for food, we were in Butterfly Garden for about an hour and forty minutes--not really something you want to do on a work day. Butterfly Garden might be a good choice for a leisurely weekend brunch, or a day off, but don't chance it if you have to get back to the office.
Photos: Elizabeth Orrick
