Brunch Glory — Restaurant in Central Core

When I came in, I was told to seat myself, although I felt a bit bewildered by the lack of two-person tables (as basically all of them were put together to make seating for four). I ended up sitting in the far corner of the restaurant, in the plush bench seating near to the kitchen doors.

My server was the only one around, as it was a mid-afternoon slow time with just me and one other customer in the place. He seemed a little awkward with his English which made him a tad shy when talking, but he was very nice, polite, and as attentive as he could be.

Upon being seated, and before I was even given a menu, I was immediately offered coffee. Fortunately, I like coffee, so I accepted, but I don't think the offer would go well for folks who'd rather have tea or juice or something else. It would have been better to offer a range of drinks, or give the customer a chance to see the menu for a minute first and then ask.

I pored over the menu for some time - and quickly noticed to my chagrin that either the menu had been altered significantly or I seemed to be missing a page or two. (My best guess, based on looking at a different copy of the menu again later on, is that my prior menu's pages were just very stuck together - likely fresh from being wiped down - and I failed to notice. And the server was probably too busy to notice that I only ever had the middle of the menu open). 🙃

I tried to ask the server what the cut-off section on the top of page 2 (actually, page 3) was - when I should have been more forthright and asked what was up with this menu, lol. He seemed to not understand my question and started describing one of the dishes instead. The only words I could make out were "cubes" and "hollandaise sauce". I dropped the whole issue - the items in that section weren't appetizing to me anyway and just wanted to eat something. So, I ordered the breakfast quesadilla. The server was describing the side options (after initially offering just fries, but I wasn't keen on that), and again mentioned "fried cubes" as an option. I asked him to clarify what he meant. He said, "Oh, they are fried potato cubes". I said, "Ohhh, you mean hash browns!", and he smiled and said, "Yes, potato cubes". 😂

By the by, it would be nice to have both cubed and shredded hash browns as options. Or, if the shredded kind was an option, I didn't see it on the menu and wasn't told.

The breakfast quesadilla came quickly enough. I was sad to find the hash browns over-cooked and so VERY crispy. But they were edible. The quesadilla was better, although I was surprised to find a neat patty of scrambled eggs with the meat and veg inside, so it felt like part quesadilla, part crepe - but it was tasty, although the tortilla part was very hard to cut. It came with a nice garnish of vegetables, although I wish it was more of a full side of them than just a garnish. There was salsa on the side (in a separate container, which is wise), and on the plate by the quesadilla lay a mound of what turned out to be sour cream, garnished with a bit of chopped green onion and a sprinkling of paprika (or at least it looked as such - it didn't stand out at all taste-wise, likely because it was only for show).

Anyway, the food was filling and overall tasty enough. Just not impressive. And if I'd known earlier that skillets were indeed on the menu, I'd have had that instead. But oh well - next time!

About the menu sticking-together problem: In the short term, I'd suggest adding some tabs at the top of each menu for "Breakfast", "Brunch/Lunch" and "Dinner", so that if two pages are stuck together, it's easy to tell. In the long term, I recommend having all the menus re-laminated, so that the edge of the laminate is about half a centimetre longer than the paper edge, and then that edge is tapered. This is a feature of most other breakfast/brunch places that use a laminated menu style, because it makes it very easy to tell if two pages are stuck together. The slight downside is that the thin, tapered edges of these menus are...

Very nice brunch place with no line up. The food took a very long time to come out and was barely warm when it did. Coffee was weak like others noted. Service was friendly; the staff smiled and greeted us warmly. We had the salmon eggs Benny, chef special hash, and poutine. The poutine was surprisingly good!! There was real cheese curds and the fries were crispy but not greasy. The gravy was average salty and not smooth like you get at a ski resort, but there was something about the fries I really liked. The Salmon eggs Benny was ok but I wouldn't order it again. Hollandaise was not the best powder package and certainly not generous. Everything else on the plate was very good. I did not like that the salmon was not already under my eggs. I had to deconstruct it and put it back together. The portion of salmon was minimal and we asked for an extra portion - that actually arrived with capers. Why are the capers not already on my plate? The chef special hash was good. Fresh ingredients but there was barely any cheese. I guess I should have specified how I wanted my eggs but the scrambled one top of the hash was a bit dry. It wasn't very expensive but the breakfast items were only ok. I really liked that they took care to minimize the cooking grease on the plates, and most of the ingredients were fresh. I felt that they made an effort but the sauces definitely need improvement. Overall I would...

EDIT TO PAST REVIEW: I've eaten here a total of four times and they seem to often be understaffed, resulting in delays or small mistakes. Most recently, a server forgot to get our friends order to the kitchen and took 15 minutes to get our bill to us. Things like that can happen anywhere, but if you're worried about time and have somewhere to be after eating, it may be prudent to pick a different restaurant.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

The food here is pretty good. The bacon is flavourful, the hashbrowns are the perfect level of crispiness, the real fruit smoothies are tasty and legitimately do taste fresh, and the service is prompt and friendly. I was excited by the awesome variety of omelets, waffles, and more! I will definitely be coming again!

That being said, the eggs were undercooked, the $5.50 milkshake tasted like cheap syrup, and the tv programming was really weird. While I loved the How It's Made episode that played, I didn't like the show that came after about a Western-led NPO ineffectively trying to change starvation and climate change in Africa while I was trying to enjoy my meal with my partner. Social issues are important, but there's a time and place.

If you go, get the smoothie instead of the milkshake and ask for more well-done eggs than you usually do. Choose a table far from the TVs (my seat was very close to a very large...