Keeping first responders fed and ready to support the community. Barry’s Café makes hearty foods with an a great story. This local watering hole is perfect to grab breakfast or brunch and catch up with friends and family on the weekend.
South Raleigh Eats!
Barry’s Café is tucked into the Swift Creek Shopping center in the Oak City (Raleigh). The unassuming sign and strip mall physique may not have you running to the front door. This local gem has been hidden in plain sight for over 30 years at the same location.
Crossroads mall and the NC Farmer’s Market are not a far drive from the front doors. Luckily, the parking situation is easy going. The large shopping mall has a gracious amount of parking that is never filled up. You are far more likely to find the restaurant filled than all the parking spaces.
Some of the finals turns getting to the shopping center are a little odd. People do not see all the stop signs and fly through some intersections. Keep your eye out and be safe.
Americana Classics
Barry’s Café sports a true America pedigree. The founder (Barry) made a name for himself and his dinner in the mid 90’s by making a significant and selfless contribution of biscuits and coffee to hard working local first responders. This lead to more and more selfless acts of support for these hero’s. He finally jumped into it with both feet and began a non-profit called Feed the Fire Fighter’s Foundation. The full story of Barry’s History can be found on their website.
This dedication to home town heroes and the broader fire fighter community shines through every inch of this place. The classic red and white checkered table cloths, neon “Breakfast All Day” sign and open kitchen firmly cement the Americana atmosphere.
We are a little biased towards this fine establishment. I asked Kaitlyn’s parents if I could marry her here. On top of that, we also celebrated the morning after I proposed with her parents here too. For the record, we loved coming here even before that but I have to be honest.
We even enjoyed our short wait outside. Madilyn found a massive, vintage fire extinguisher with wheels that still rotated. Check out our Instagram page for a cute video of our adventures.
The sad part about this experience was learning that Barry passed away a few years ago. The memories of his life and loving family are still on the walls and shine through the staff to this day. His family still operates the store as of this writing.
Just Like Waffle House Used To Make
Barry’s Café serves hearty breakfast fare and some classic diner foods as well. This suits them as their hours go from 7:30am to 2:00pm as of this writing. We came for after church one Sunday and found the crowd reasonable. This is a local watering hole for the area so I was expecting a larger crowd. We may have just been lucky.
Kaitlyn loves their breakfast burrito and did a little dance in the parking lot while we waited just thinking about it. Madilyn is slowly gaining the love for breakfast foods that my mom passed on to me. Needless to say, she loved her eggs and toast and tried on multiple occasions to sneak bites from her grandmother’s plate.
As an avid Waffle House fan, I saw quite a few parallels between the yellow fish bowl and this fire fighter paradise. Service focused on speed and quality. Everything came out exactly how we ordered it and we did not wait long. They have won quite a few awards for their food over the years here. I did not get to try everything on the menu but I was satisfied by their marquis “Firehouse Breakfast”. Top notch.
Feeding Heroes
Some might say the fire fighter theme is what makes this stand out. I personally found their journey to be an inspiration. This is an exemplary story about how one man answered the call (like literally he got a phone call) to help people and found his life changed forever.
Overall
Barry’s Café inspires with its story as much as the food fills you up. We greatly enjoyed coming here on multiple occasions. We share some significant memories here and we think it is a great place that makes true on its promise “to make each person leave happier than when they first arrived”
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