Esquire Restaurant — Restaurant in Bedford

I have been visiting Esquire Restaurant for 9 years as a customer. I arrived around 11 am today, and 5 minutes later, I asked the server for Eggs Benedict and Breakfast Combo, and 5 minutes later, a male customer was seated at the table behind us. 15 minutes later, the male customer behind us received his food from the server and started eating. We waited another 15 minutes, and I saw our server check our table 3 times. Finally, we received our food from the server, but after eating a few pieces of fries, a piece of toast, and an egg, we stopped eating. The fries were old fry oil smell and cold. The egg had a black and hard edge, and the toast was cold and mushy. Our server came to our table to check on our food and we told her that our food was cold. As soon as I finished talking, the server picked up my plate and dropped the knife on the table, and offered me a new dish. We were already feeling bad from the disappointment and declined the new food. We asked for a check to pay for the food, and the server only charged us half of the food we ordered. I did not speculate about the situation we experienced today while writing this review. However, our speculations are still in my head. I do not want to pay for a bad...

The Esquire family style restaurant has been at this location forever. The longevity alone should act as a testament to the food and service. I have been coming here for years and have never been disappointed. Sure, there might have been one or two times when the meal was a little less than usual quality, but absolutely never enough to write a bad review. They have won "Best of Halifax" awards numerous times and it is because of the friendly service, the quality of the food and the prices. The place has an old-style decor and atmosphere, and the menu could also be considered as old style. There is a fixed daily special menu and if you can hit it on fish and chips day, well, you are a winner. They are well known for their breakfasts, but I have enjoyed many an evening meal with my family. The servers are always busy because the restaurant is always busy (a line-up is not unusual). There is ample parking in their own lot and there is now an outdoor patio for when the weather permits. If they are busy...be patient...the wait will be worth it. Summary: A great place for a traditional diner style family meal at a reasonable price served by...

I want this place to be good sooooo badly. The vibe is awesome, classic diner. Staff is quick, and very friendly. The coffee is basic and bottomless, exactly what you need at a place like this.

But the food… is not great (in my opinion). I usually just get a basic breakfast when I go out to most breakfast spots: Hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, toast. Their Hashbrowns on multiple occasions seem like they have been sitting in the grill over night. Dry, and tasting like old fryer oil. Scrambled eggs weren’t fluffy and were more “hard” and scrambled a bit too much (kinda like egg pebbles). Their sausages are pretty good though, no complaints there.

My partner got the eggs Benedict one time and the hollandaise sauce was almost inedibly bad. I’m not sure if it was an off day, but really wasn’t great.

I really really want this place to be good. I don’t need exceptional food, I mean it’s a diner style breakfast after all. I just need it to be slightly better than it is now. I will probably go back some day, but not anytime soon unless...