Maple Leaf Pancake House — Restaurant in Hamilton

I just moved to Hamilton a week ago, and earlier today I checked this place out. I'd been looking forward to it all week. Unfortunately, while my food was good, I left feeling a bit disappointed.

I was almost immediately disoriented by the poor staff coordination and lack of customer engagement. The lady who acknowledged me as I stood to wait for a seat motioned to her coworker, asking if a certain table had been cleaned; coworker said yes, so the first one had her seat me. Except she didn't really seat me; she just came out from behind the counter, stood at a table down the aisle from me, and beckoned me to it. Not what I'd call great service. And it was a 4-person booth, even though the place was almost empty and there were plenty of smaller tables.

I'd only been sitting there about half a minute when another lady walked past and then asked, "Excuse me, just one?" Not rude or anything, but not friendly either; very impassive. Then I heard her talking to the others, and they ended up moving me to another table, because apparently they were cleaning the area the first table was in. The table I was given was also for 4 people, and it still had residue on it from the previous diners, for which the waitress muttered a quick apology. I got the impression the place might have been busy a bit before I got there, but it was almost empty at that time, and nobody seemed in any particular hurry, so I was pretty put off by how disorganized and uncoordinated they were.

I ordered French toast, and it was brought out with almost disturbing promptness, even for how slow business was at the moment. It looked about a hair's breadth away from being raw. It still tasted really good, and I don't think it actually was raw, but I feel they should have cooked it longer just for presentation's sake.

The nail in the coffin, though — the part that tipped the scale from "not the best" to "I'm going to complain to my friends" — is that they didn't ask if I was ready for my check. The waitress just plopped it down in front of me, just as I was thinking of asking for some toast. They could have gotten more money from me, but if they couldn't be bothered, I couldn't really be bothered either.

The cash register was being operated by a kid. And I mean a kid — I would guess 12 or 13, maximum. And he wasn't friendly either. Again, not rude or mean — but not friendly. Nobody was friendly. Hardly any eye contact was made. Everyone seemed like they were just going through the motions, like they were bored with their lives. Which is a shame, because it's a nice little place with what seems to be good food, and if they bothered to engage their customers with a cheerful attitude and treat them like they're glad to have them there, it could be a place for the neighbourhood to be proud of, and I'd probably go back pretty often. But if it's going to be like this, I'll only be going occasionally, and only for the food. And while I tipped today, if my next experiences reflect this one, I will probably stop doing so.

P.S. Somebody else mentioned this — they reuse ketchup bottles for the syrup. That's kind of gross, but to me it's not so much sanitation that's an issue, as the fact that those bottles aren't great for pouring, as they have no spout. And it just doesn't look nice. It wouldn't kill them to get proper syrup holders.

P.P.S. A man sitting at the table behind me noticed that his order had only come with one sausage when it was supposed to come with two; and when he asked the waitress for another one, it took several seconds for her to realize that he wasn't asking for an extra one, but hadn't been given the correct number in the first place. This didn't help my impression that the staff are a little bit brain-dead. If they're that zapped by an hour before closing, they need to hire...

Original Review - Updated Review Below Sorry but this place downright sucked! I came here for breakfast with my girlfriend. I think there was only one server for the whole place. It was early so that could be expected but then again, it IS a breakfast place. The food was just ok, really nothing special. My biggest complaint about this place was the absolutely horrible service. Our server wasn't just rude, but mean. I can understand that she was the only server but my girlfriend and I are patient. We can wait but will not tolerate rude service. We almost walked out after the way she took our order. We could feel actual distaste from the server. My girlfriend asked for clarification on a menu item and the server was rude and condescending! I am usually pretty easy going with regard to customer service cause everyone has bad days and I've also worked retail, but NO ONE has any right to treat customers the way that server served us. I would NEVER come back here again and strongly discourage others from eating here. Upon recalling my experience here I realize I actually hate this place.

Updated Review - Dec.2018 My wife (previously girlfriend in the above post) convinced me to give this place another try. It's been literal years since the last time. I'm glad I reluctantly did. The service was completely different. Our server was attentive, patient, polite, pleasant and overall excellent. We had forgotten to ask our home fries to be well done when our order was originally taken. We ended up asking after and she not only accommodated but also confirmed they were done how we like them after we received our food. We didn't have to wait long to be seated, or for our food and the place was packed. Based on this recent experience, I've changed my review. I would recommend this place for a nice reasonably priced breakfast.

However reading some other very recent reviews on here it looks like the service issue is still an issue. Maybe we got the only good server...

The food itself is excellent. We had the maple leaf specials #1 and 4. The prices, however, have gone up considerably in comparison to the pictures posted on the yelp.ca page. However, my main concern was the waitress who served us. From the moment we got there, should really gave us the cold shoulder. Did not make eye contact at all throughout the entire exchange-quite odd, imo. There was a lovely couple behind us who we were in front off. She told us the location of where to sit, and guided the other customers to their seats (shouldn't she guide every customer, and serve who got there first?). I did not know where the menus were as it was my first time. She took the couple's, who after us, order first. Unprofessional. She took our order 5 mins after that. When the food came out, which by the way looked and tasted incredible, she did not provide cutlery, ketchup, or maple syrup. When I asked her this a minute later, as she quickly went away after giving us food, she again didn't make eye contact, said, in exact wording, "Just hold on okay," and brought over the items a minute after that. I don't know if it's just me, but I think that that is just basic service to provide those items either before being served hot food, or simultaneously. And at least be nice about it. I literraly asked, "Would I be able to grab some ketchup and maple syrup," exact wording. The interaction with this waitress (who had blonde hair) was subpar and displeasing. She did, however, act differently towards other tables. The folks there looked-different. I hope you get the message. Would I go back? No. Breakfast and coffee shouldn't cost $25 plus tip (i gave her $0.60 to round to the nearest dollar, since I prefer whole numbers). But the worst part was the service. Absolutely horrendous, unprofessional, and...