Broadway Diner — Restaurant in Hamilton

How do I put this.. The staff is friendly and the service is fast yes, but all of that becomes pretty much useless if the food is horrible. I go to a restaurant expecting to eat good food, especially if the food that I'm ordering is pricey. If I wanted to get pampered I'd go to a spa or a brothel, so the food is more important overall. Usually I don't eat steaks and certain types of meat in Canada as it is mostly GMO in a place where your average working class citizen can afford it, and I usually can't afford to eat out in an expensive restaurant where the steaks usually taste...good, which is how they are supposed to taste. I'm not here to promote Jack Astor's as I don't agree with their prices compared to their quality either, but they made a decent steak and I took it upon my brother's advice to eat one there, and it was satisfactory. I have friends who have eaten steaks elsewhere and at Jack Astor's and they said Jack Astor's made nasty steaks, but compared to what I'm used to dealing with, it was actually...nice. Now, I went to Broadway Diner on Upper James, I ordered a steak, I forgot which one it was but it was the most expensive item on the menu, it was 21.99 at the time and it came with gravy and mushrooms on top. Since I just recently had a steak at Jack Astor's, I was expecting it to be of similar or even greater value for the price. Usually I don't dine at bars or diners either. I ordered medium rare, just like we did at Jack Astor's. When they brought it, it looked good, really good. It took me a while to cut it, but I didn't let the lack of tenderness discourage me from taking a bite, or the smell similar to when a wound becomes infected and starts gushing yellow liquid. So I took a bite... What followed was a plethora of emotions that I'll never forget in my life. I literally started tearing up, as I felt the cow tortured, beaten, yelled at, electrocuted, drowned, run over with a combine harvester, whipped, hanged, ropes tied to it's legs and spread apart by panicking horses, like it was put inside a brazen bull for months on end before it was slaughtered and had been poked repeatedly with a pitchfork by the Devil himself. I never felt turning into a vegan and a monk as much in my life as this moment, and I love my meats even though I'm against animal cruelty and would not be able to stomach and see how my meal got slaughtered. I've had some pretty questionable foods over the years in my travels throughout the world - chicken hot dogs that tasted like horse meat, chicken kebabs that tasted like expired fish food, ice cream that had bits of metal in it, a schnitzel that had broken glass in it, etc. and I've never been so appalled as much as I did with this meal. I had to spit it out, it tasted so bad I couldn't even speak as the waitress asked me how it was and I just nodded and gave her the thumbs up while I felt a part of me inside die together with the cow this steak was cut out from, like an extremely sad and aggressive haunting from a ghost child that was brutally tortured, murdered and raped by his mother when all it longed was for her love, and wants to be set free from it's endless torment. I've been in some pretty traumatic, life and death situations in my life(I've been shot at point blank range at the back of my head, attacked with a knife, cigar, broken glass, beer bottles, chairs, been in the same room as an explosion and had explosive devices thrown at my window when I was sleeping) and I've never been in shock as much as when I took a bite out of their steak. On top of that, I saw the kitchen staff go out for a smoke and they were smirking at me, like they had done something rectal to the steak before serving it to me. I gave it to my father if he wanted to try and eat it, and he's had an injection while serving in the military that strengthens your digestive and immune system against eating rotten food. He eats expired food often as he also came from a poor family and hates to see food thrown out. He couldnt so gave it to our dog, which eats his own feces, and ended up with a...

I had lunch here yesterday and it blew my mind. This is a fantastic restaurant. Home-cooked meals, great service and fair prices.

So here we are on a very snowy, Tuesday afternoon around 2pm. My husband says, "Honey, let's take a break and go out for a late lunch." I'm surprised by this because eating out is never our thing. Truth be told, restaurant food is consistently disappointing, bad for you and overpriced. Especially lunches. Although skeptical of the outcome, I agreed.

We headed out to the Broadway Diner on Upper James Street. We hadn't been here before but had heard good things.

First impression was how busy it was. I never expected to see so many people at this time of day in a snow storm! Did they know something I didn't know? Regardless there was no wait time. We were greeted and seated right away in a nice big booth. Our server was personable, efficient and sweet. Smiling, she quickly took our order and promptly brought us drinks.

I need to take a moment and mention the size of the menu. It was huge. There were a lot of options! Basically anyone can have whatever they want. All day breakfast, pork chops, sandwiches, hamburgers... the works. And to me, this isn't always a good sign. I looked at my husband who was already looking at me and smiling. "They have liver!" He said excitedly.

We love liver! But it's almost impossible to find a place that cooks good liver. We took our chances and both ordered it. We were surprised again when our waitress asked HOW we wanted it cooked. This was a first. No one has ever asked us before how we want our liver cooked. Shaking our heads we asked for medium.

Minutes later the food arrived. That was fast, I thought to myself. How good could this possibly be if it's cooked this quickly? The answer? Amazing.

This was by far the BEST liver I have ever eaten. It was hot and cooked to perfection. Tender and no part of it was chewy. (How did they do that?) Huge portion sizes. The liver was smothered in gravy and caramelized onions with three big strips of crispy bacon across the top. Bonus! Sides were great. Vegetables were perfectly al dente. Mashed potatoes had an amazing consistency and tasted homemade. Great flavour.

We dove right in and started to devour our plates. I immediately regretted not taking a picture first because the presentation was so great but the food was impossible to resist. Halfway through I was full but I couldn't stop eating!

The owner actually stopped by our table and asked how everything was. He had cooked it himself. I can't remember the last time somebody ask me if I liked my food in a restaurant. I'm quite obviously eating at the wrong places.

I do a lot of Google reviews and quite honestly I feel like I'm a bit of a tough critic. I don't give 5 stars easily. Congratulations Broadway Diner. I will...

My partner and I went to Broadway Diner for brunch on a Ticats Game Day, so we knew it was bound to be busy --- but the tables move quickly, and the servers are ultra quick at busing their tables. We likely waited about 20 minutes, but it's was completely worth the wait.

The atmosphere is pure "diner;" we wouldn't want it any other way!!

Our server was lightning quick taking our drink order, and equally fast taking our food order. Total ticket time from ordering -to-serving: 13 minutes ---- I don't know who the chef is, but his/her crew are FAST!!

My partner ordered The Real Canadian Omelette ---- which she couldn't finish simply due to the amount of food. Be prepared for a LOT of cheese (who can be upset about that???).

As tempting as the burgers sounded, I was there for their PANCAKES ---- which are rumoured to be the finest. So, I ordered the Showstopper Breakfast. If you plan on contemplating this dish, either share, or bring a hefty appetite. It's "two's" of everything (except for the toast, which comes as three slices, and eggs, which come as 4).

The bacon is crisp and not even remotely too salty. Same goes for the grilled ham, and the sausages were excellent. Don't turn your nose up at the beans; they may come from a can, but they just add something to the meal.

The rumours were right; the pancakes are light and very tasty. Eggs? I ordered "sunny&runny" (don't knock it until you try it), I got sunny & runny----perfect.

Bottomless coffee is served - meh, it's a diner; it's diner coffee....but the staff are quick on the refills.

If you're not keen on waiting for a seat, order take out! It's an option!!!

Not a long detour from the Airport, we'll be sure to visit every...