If you’re tired of Stacks for your weekend morning breakfast and don’t feel like walking all the way to Malibu for the diner experience, then Turning Point located on the water at 14th on Sinatra Dr. may just offer an alternative.
I know, I know, with 11 locations including Hoboken, Turning Point is technically a chain, but for those of us who didn’t grow up in Jersey, we aren’t privy to the experience. Their claim to fame is their focus on breakfast, brunch, lunch, and nothing else, as they close at 3 p.m.
Walking in Turning Point’s décor is very light and homey, which, when filled with families on a Saturday morning, is enough to bring on a tinge of nostalgia for the good old days of breakfast with the family. At 9 a.m. the place was already packed, but a table for two was available, so we were seated right away.
Taking stock of the fairly extensive menu including smoothies, a large selection of hot beverages, waffles, French toast, sandwiches, salads and more, I ended up choosing lemon blueberry pancakes, substituting their power grain pancakes for the regular, and my partner chose one of the seasonal specials – a Sriracha BBQ breakfast bowl. We added on an order of diced fruit and cinnamon sugar pitas because why not? I was excited, everything sounded so delicious.
Our food came fairly quickly for how busy the restaurant was, and a few bites in, my partner and I both looked at each other thinking the same thing: Why are we here? Yes, the eggs were fresh and were actual real eggs, the potatoes were crispy, the pancakes were fluffy despite their multigrain batter with griddled crispy edges and a decent amount of blueberries, but the food was no different than Stacks. Prices and the number of options are nearly one to one, and Stacks accepts DuckBills and is closer. The only real difference in the menu was that Turning Point isn’t pretending to be something they’re not by offering barbecue.
Aside from the menu, Turning Point does offer the out of the way experience. Located right on the Hudson, very few seats come with a bad view. When the weather is warm, outside seating grants calmer and more scenic views than Washington St. on a weekend morning – unless of course you enjoy the parade of young families mingled with slightly tipsy boozy brunch-goers and those still afflicted with their hangover from the night before.
Neither my partner nor I could imagine coming back. It’s not that Turning Point is bad, not at all – the food was respectable, the service was decent, and the atmosphere was cozy – but with all of the benefits that Stacks offers students, the market is tough for breakfast food. Besides, since Turning Point closes so early in the day, they completely disregard the possibility of breakfast for dinner, and I really happen to enjoy a fluffy short stack around 9 at night.
