You all know how I feel about chain hotel restaurants. No matter how good they look, or how enticing the menu is, the food always manages to be lackluster. Whether they be inexpensive glorified diners, or fancy eateries, I’m never impressed. Even as I love the Hilton brand, I’ve never truly loved a restaurant on their premises. That changed with a visit to 32 Palm, located in the Hilton Oceanfront in Ocean City, Maryland. We ate there for breakfast on the morning we checked out. The hotel had given us vouchers for breakfast as a Hilton Honors member, and I wanted to put them to use. That being said, I figured I might as well order the most luxurious thing on the menu while I was at it.

Think Eggs Benedict are great? Try adding crab cakes instead of Canadian Bacon. That’s exactly what I ordered. An English muffin topped with a tomato, spinach, crab cake, poached eggs, and Hollandaise sauce. It was one of the better renditions of this dish I’ve ever had. The eggs themselves were perfectly poached—like little clouds, with the yolk oozing out of them. The cakes could have had a bit more crab (I hope that’s not what they give you for the $30 crab cake dinner on their menu) but it tasted delicious and with everything else, well, you could not ask for a better way to start your day.

My friend had the smoked salmon platter, which I also was debating getting. It was listed as an appetizer but it was definitely large enough for a meal. There was a decent amount of smoked salmon and a platter with diced hard-boiled eggs, red onions, tomatoes, and a leaf of dill cream cheese. It came with a bagel that was sliced horizontally in four places. His only complaint was that the pieces were uneven (one really thin one and another than was thick) but as an appetizer, understood why it was cut in that way.

I am going to give 32 Palm a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was not flashy, but this was as fine a breakfast you could have. Especially given my history with hotel restaurants, this comes as a pleasant surprise. I’m not sure how their dinners are, but I would trust them. Breakfast is recommended from me and if a future visit entails a lunch or dinner, I’ll post an update.

32 Palm is located at the Hilton Oceanfront at 3200 Baltimore Avenue in Ocean City, Maryland.