Good | Worth a Return

Café on the Canal

Review by: Michael Stern

THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED

Roadfood travelers gravitate to unusually situated restaurants. Inside a gas station is good, of course, but let’s talk about really unusual locations… like the L.A.P.D. Revolver and Athletic Club Café or a combination catfish parlor / bait shop or eateries inside roadside dinosaurs, ministries and motorcycle shops. That’s what’s interesting about the Café on the Canal, which is located in the Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center of the Augusta, Georgia, Salvation Army.

One good thing about the Cafe is that money spent here is for a good cause. Profits help people that the Salvation Army thinks need help. Another plus: it’s cheap. The all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet costs $5. The food? It’s comparable to what you get at a pretty good free breakfast in a modern motel. No waffles or pancakes, but you can help yourself to scrambled eggs, grits, oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, fruit, bacon, and sausage in both patty and link form. A small cup of coffee adds less than a dollar to the tab.

I am not suggesting you drop everything and head to Augusta for a Salvation Army breakfast. (Augusta has too many truly alluring destination restaurants.) But if, like me, you enjoy a humble meal with ordinary folks in an extraordinary venue, it’s worth the $5 price of a meal.

Note: The Cafe also is open for lunch Monday through Friday. The menu is sandwiches and meat-and-two meals, plus a selection of cakes and pies — all, of course, well under $10.