Blue Vinny Diner — Restaurant in Calgary

I had been here years ago and had pleasant memories. My friend and I went to Vinny’s hoping for a nice breakfast or, at the very least, good service. Unfortunately, we got neither.

Food: I ordered the bacon Benny, which lacked flavor all throughout. The potatoes looked amazing but had absolutely no flavor—I had to pour salt and pepper just to taste anything. When I first got my dish, I touched the rim of the plate and felt a weird goo. I wiped the rim of my plate and found (what I assume to be) blackened grease around it. Thinking back in it I could’ve taken a picture of the ‘grease’ on the napkin but it seemed unnecessary at the time.

My friend ordered the ham and cheese omelet and the hot chocolate. The omelet had a loonie-sized amount of cheese inside, and the only ham present were a couple small torn chunks placed on top of the eggs, which also lacked flavor. The hot chocolate tasted like hot water and didn’t look anything like the pictures in previous reviews, except for the blue beaded sprinkles. At some point, while only half the omelet remained, I noticed a puddle of liquid on the plate. My friend took a napkin and soaked up the excess oil.

Menu: There’s a note at the bottom of the menu stating they “chose complementary ingredients, and as such, there will be no modifications made.” This policy is a little odd but would be fine if the menu clearly listed the dish components. For example, some dishes include fruit as a side, but this isn’t mentioned anywhere on the menu. My friend is deathly allergic to kiwi, and we only found out after learning kiwi is a side for the pancakes she was planning to order. Additionally, the fruit was served on the same plate and touched the other food.

Service: I ordered a coffee and a glass of milk and felt instantly judged by the waitress. I know it’s an uncommon order, but what upset me most was when the waitress gave a judgmental look at my friend after she ordered the hot chocolate.

Every time the waitress came to our table, she stood uncomfortably close to me, hunching over and hovering about 12 inches from my face. While she was attentive, I felt uneasy when she kept touching our mugs, rearranging the items on the table without any...

When eating downtown I expect food to be a bit pricey but for what I got in return Blue Vinnie's was not worth the extra dime. The decor is appalingly cheap although it looks like their trying to disguise this by choosing a contemporary decor. Still, the tables were plastic or vinyl and the cheap chairs had a gaudy upholstering. Their pictures weren't hung on the walls, instead just propped up. And besides that they hadn't really done that much to add class to the place. But decor is definitely not the end all be all for me.

The food was incredibly average. The kind of food you find at a family restaurant and not on Stephen Ave downtown. This isn't a snooty thing, this is a it-should-have-cost-ten-dollars less sort of thing for the quality of food. I ordered the porridge and it was just that. Standard bulk oats soaked in water with a little spoonful of brown sugar!!! The serving was three times the size of what a serving should be and it was completely tasteless and boring. They didn't even try to do anything interesting with a fruit compote let alone a piece of seasonal fruit. My husband ordered bacon, eggs and toast and found those to be exceedingly boring as well and hardly worth the price.

The service was pretty good although the server took my menu away from me before I'd even ordered like I was expected to memorize what I wanted.

On top of all this putting me in a grumpy mood the music was from a generic retro radio station. I hate hearing local radio in restaurants with ads and annoying announcers. That was the last straw. I'm...

I cannot believe this place has 4 stars. We went for breakfast on Sunday. I watched a conversation between some guests and who I think was the owner/manager (yellow glasses). I told my friend I had a bad feeling so we kept walking only to realize it was the only place open so we went back. Terrible experience from beginning to end. The service was chaotic. The manager kept yelling at the staff telling them they weren’t doing anything right and go on about who had what table in their sections. Telling guests they were too busy. There were 8 tables and 4 service staff. It was horrible ti listen to. Dirty dishes piled up all over the back counter. The ice machine lid kept falling on the floor and they just picked it up and put it back on. I ordered a regular breakfast that had ‘cured ham’. One thin slice of deli ham does not count. No butter on my small piece of toast. My friend had eggs Benedict with the same ‘cured ham’ and an untoasted English muffin. When the server checked with us we told her our complaints and she said ‘oh sorry’ and walked away. No offer to fix it. She seemed terrified working there under the tyrant manager. We should have just left once we received the less than satisfactory food. Then my credit card had a weird charge for ‘Gramercy events’. Turns out it was this place. I am not even sure it’s a legit business....