Owned and operated by Mary and Scott Wong, College Station’s newest breakfast, brunch and lunch addition is the Toasted Yolk Cafe. Toasted Yolk is currently set to open on Monday, Sept. 13, and boasts a wide selection of dishes at an affordable price.

For Mary, the opening of the cafe is a welcomed return to the restaurant industry following her absence to spend more time with her children. The decision to open a Toasted Yolk Cafe was a “no-brainer,” Mary said.

“We made the decision that we didn’t want to do dinners, late nights and alcohol and all that comes with that, so we started looking into different breakfast franchises,” Mary said. “We tried them all, Snooze, First Watch, Another Broken Egg, but when we ate at the Toasted Yolk in Conroe, that was it. We were sold. It was the best food, the best atmosphere hands down from all of them.”

Though the couple has 25 years of restaurant industry experience under their belt, the process of scouting locations and going through the remodeling process was extensive. For Scott, he said he saw this business as an opportunity to give people the unexpected and surprise them in terms of appearance and energy.

“We felt like with the proximity to campus and the prime location on University [Drive] this was the one,” Scott said. “It’s been a huge undertaking to get it to this point, but we wanted to do it right. We gutted it down to the slab.”

“We wanted it to look and feel different than anything you’ve seen or been to,” Scott said. “We didn’t want that, ‘Oh yeah, this is where the Genghis was, I can tell,’ but to walk in and go, ‘This is completely different,’ that’s what we’re going for.”

On top of the unique vibe, Scott is excited for students to sample the menu, and he said it’s not only delicious, but well worth the money.

“The plates are huge. We feel like we know Texans well because we’re native Texans. You get more of that feel in a smaller town like College Station,” Scott said. “When we came here, we knew Texans like to eat, and they want the best bang for their buck.”

While delicious food is a strength of the franchise, both owners want their staff to strive for excellence in their work, and Mary said she hopes to redefine good service.

“We feel that good service is a lost art, that people have settled for mediocrity. They’ve settled for someone taking their order and bringing it out and that’s it,” Mary said. “So we tell [our employees] we want to bring real service to the full service restaurant.”

Alongside the high goals for their service, Scott said his vision is for the restaurant to be a place that all people, customers and staff alike, want to be. 

“We’re trying to create a culture of excellence, of family, a Texas vibe and a very welcoming feeling. We think of it as the place where everyone wants to be,” Scott said. “We feel like our staff will want to be here because they’ll make great money … We’re giving you that, but also farm to table and the highest quality freshness, and the food is off the charts phenomenal.”