The Continental Breakfast

Hey when you're headed to Disneyland with a bunch of kids in tow you'll have all them little shits up early to savor that continental breakfast. Show up in the last hour and all that stuff is gone.

I've been in really nice hotels that have some amazing complimentary breakfasts. Like with omelet stations and shit. You're paying out of your ass to stay there which is why I've only ever been to those on company outings. One time when I was overseas the hotel I stayed in had an amazing spread for breakfast, but my American dollar went very far there and the hotel wasn't killing my budget

Continental breakfast is pretty much for when you don't have time for anything else, or you don't want to pay for anything else.

Outside of that, Google "Breakfast places near me."

Continental = Carb maximus lazy ass "breakfast"

Depends on where you are. In rural areas hotel breakfast can be good. During our pandemic ski trips we just brought a waffle maker, coffee maker, and ate in the room.

“Why always call it continental?”

From Wikipedia’s article for “Breakfast”:

Continental breakfast: The term originated in Britain in the mid-19th century, first used in 1896 public hygiene book The Sanitarian, in which "continent" refers to the countries of mainland Europe, though the idea had been around for a few decades as American hotels endeavored to appeal to the changing tastes of the emerging middle class and European travelers visiting America. The term refers to the type of breakfast found in places such as France and the Mediterranean, which is lighter and more delicate than the typical full English breakfast, which tends to consist of a large plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, beans, and roasted mushrooms and tomatoes, and American breakfasts featuring eggs, preserved meats, pancakes, potatoes, and toast. Continental breakfasts are also more cost-effective for the establishments serving them, because they require fewer staff to prepare and serve them.

lighter and more delicate = a donut

I skip them. Its usually all carbs and sugar.

Most Best Western Plus places do a decent job with the breakfast, though you have to pick and choose items and avoid the shitty bacon, sausage, and biscuits and gravy (which I avoid anyway even if it were decent quality).

I wish hotels would rethink the continental breakfast a bit. I would think they could still keep it simple with some healthier basic items. But maybe they have done their market research and determined that the carb/sugar blast and maybe some greasy sausage is what fills their rooms.

===> "Hey when you're headed to Disneyland with a bunch of kids in tow you'll have all them little shits up early to savor that continental breakfast."

This. That continental breakfast is both a cash and time saver when you're traveling with a large family.

The key is to go to a hotel that does a decent job of it. Places like Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn and Holiday Express do a decent enough job to make it work, with eggs, bagels with cream cheese, fresh fruit, oatmeal and other things to help balance the carb and sugar counts.

On the flip side, places like La Quinta, Choice Hotels and some of the other lower budget chains tend to offer exactly what the OP described - a carb and sugar loaded shot show. When I'm traveling alone and end up in places like this I often skip the continental breakfast.

But for the free breakfast offering my favorite hotel is Embassy Suites. They have a made to order omelet station and lots of good stuff to choose from. They also have suites that can comfortably sleep up to five, which overall makes it a real cash saver for my family. When we stay at one for Disney or some other trip I tell the kids to load up at breakfast because i don't know when I'm gonna' feed them again, lol.

Usually skip breakfast during the week anyway but pre COVID some “upscale” Embassy Suites would have a cook making omelettes and eggs with the “continental” breakfasts. Yeah I’d stop for that!

I am a Hilton Honors member. I used to stay at Hampton inns occasionally. The breakfast was usually pretty good. Especially considering it was free.

A continental breakfast is not an omelet bar. Stop trying to one-up a thread. Its pretty simple really and the point of the OP.

Let's gooo!

I thought the point of breakfast was to break a fast of 12+ hours. Keep it light unless you are a manual laborer and need the calories.

No judgment on sticking your nose up at the crappy free breakfast, but iirc a couple of people in the other thread talked about McDonald’s as their choice of fast food?

Before going gluten free Fruit Loops were always welcome. Ditto with taking a banana for later. Bonus if there was brie and fruit. I forgot where that was, Marriott??

I’m not a big breakfast guy and would never eat that shit. I’d settle for good complimentary coffee. If I’m gonna eat breakfast it’s gotta be eggs made to order and bacon. I’ve been to a couple nice hotels that offered eggs made to order - was worth checking out.

Who the fuck is so hungry that they can eat a continent so early in the day?

I think this likely was the result of one hotel chain (possibly Hampton Inn) offering free continental breakfast with each stay. Other hotel chains likely saw folks enjoyed the offering - and attempted to implement the cheapest possible breakfast in a vacant conference room - and now it seems every hotel offers a version of a carb loaded morning.

With some very greasy offerings at some hotels - I’m wondering how much money is lost due to clogged toilets - as plumbers aren’t cheap!

Coffee and Water for me. I’m cheap and easy.

@nicespice

Cereal lovers know the best way to enjoy Fruit Loops is with chocolate milk.

I usually skip the continental breakfasts when they're offered, since they're usually shit. I do recall scarfing that shit up as a child on trips though.

As an adult, either I stay at a place that offers something a bit more or I go out for real food. Generally I'll make it a point to get a place that has food unless there are special circumstances.

"Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, and a pauper at dinner." (Or something like that). With that in mind, a box of cereal and a slice of toast won't cut it for me.

With many hotel rooms coming with fridge and microwave, I keep some extra sandwiches in the fridge, or in some cases leftover chicken drumsticks. I supplement those with cereal and a banana provided by hotel. Rick D beat me to the punch with Embassy Suites. Was fortunate enough to get those on some business trips.

Continental breakfast? Pshaw!

On my frikin’ continent we hunted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Wildebeest and zebra my friend. And maybe the occasional hairless ape. If they’re disrespectful. ROAR!!!

Of course, now that I’m an African American rather than an African, I indulge in foods appropriate to my current continent of residence. A nice beef filet is always good. Raw - not cooked like you damn dirty apes. I’ve dismembered many a chicken and turkey. And believe it or not this rick enjoys the occasional corned beef on rye. As long as the mustard is good. Overall this rick enjoys a varied diet suitable for a king (of the beasts!)

...and that diet still includes disrespectful apes. They’re delicious. ROAR!!!!

Choice Hotel breakfasts vary. In Bozemen the continental breakfast also had a make your own egg sandwich bar with the meat and eggs made the same size as the english muffin, biscuits and gravy and tortillas with a variety of sides.

For those of you who know history--
I've said for a long time that a continental breakfast isn't worth a continental.