Cora Breakfast and Lunch — Restaurant in Ottawa

Saturday afternoon lunch was fantastic. The server was polite and helpful. The food was cooked properly and served hot. The wait time was reasonable. Only down side, and it is no fault of the restaurant, is that the parking is tight and was a little bit of a challenge getting my young son in and out of his car seat.

This is a follow up review. We have been to this establishment several times. However the last few times have been very disappointing. They have implemented a sign in sheet for tables in waiting. Which is a good idea however we were not informed of this sheet by staff. It was fellow patrons that told us about it. There are no signs informing customers of this policy.

The wait after we order has increased to 45 minutes. The servers have been apologetic and offered a bowl of bananas for our young son. If this was a single occurence I would accept it but it was multiple times. The food was good when it got to us therefore I will leave 2 stars. Presentation was good and the eggs were cooked the way we asked.

This last visit is the final straw. We had brought guests with us. We were two couples with my son for a total of five people. We signed in as per usual. We waited.

The source of my frustrations is that although we were a table of five we watched tables of 3 and 2 be seated next to each other while we continued to wait because there was no table of 5 that was free . Obviously the tables of 2 and 3 that were seated before us, even though they arrived after us, could have been pushed together as they were side by side. There was even a table of 4 that arrived after us that was seated before us. There was ample room to pull up a chair for my son as it was an end table.

After over 30 minutes of wait and having watched the scenario above play out several times we decided to leave and go elsewhere.

As a former cook with over 15 years in the industry the root problem is obvious. The was no sign of a front of house manager. Junior staff were left to organize seating and prioritize client.

I do not think we will be returning to this location anytime soon. The couple we brought with us were so unhappy they will also not...

I have been going tot his Cora for a few years from time to time. The food used to be good but in the last few months, the service has degraded and so did the food quality. My wife and I were disappointed the last few times we went here but today was just the #1 worst breakfast I ever had in any breakfast restaurants. The waiter looked flat out angry but wasnt impolite so this is something I could normally forget. Despite having several empty tables, the food took over 15 minutes to come. We ordered 2 cora specials which usually are served much faster. After finally getting the meal, I proceed to eat old soggy fruits, overcooked eggs FULL OF SHELLS, bacon that was neither greasy or crunchy, just rubbery and tasteless and burned potatoes. The break sausage and crepe were fine. Most of the food was cold as well. I finished my water trying to ingest the disgusting bacon but never saw the waiter again to refill. After my wife and I were done and ready to go, and after waiting several minutes trying to wave at the waiter to get the bill or any service for that matter, some other staff member (the guy that usually take the cash with the purple shirt who by the way is always awesome) asked if I wanted the bill. I said yes and he asked one of the girls to get it for me.

When I went to pay, I was waiting anxiously for the typical "how was everything?" so that i could at least vent a little...but it never came...the lady just told me the price, I paid and I gave 0 tip for the first time in my life. I usually tip nomatter the service and the few times it was horrible I would simply advise management but today, I was in an especially bad mood by the time I left. I told the lady that i just broke one of my rules and that I did not give a tip today. I figured that may prompt her to ask why or show some concern...nope...just a weird look and not a word.

He is unfortunately not the only terrible waiter there...one of the old lady is equally inept but I am usually patient and forgiving so I cut her some slack and never complained. Today will be my last time setting foot...

There are too many reasons NOT to go here:

1. Our wait time for the food was 1.5 hours. We were third in the restaurant (got there nice and early!). No warning beforehand on the wait. We have 3 kids, one of which is 2 years old. We need to be made aware if the wait is 1.5 hours. We could see the pick ups coming in and going so they were obviously prioritizing phone orders.
2. once we got our food, they had the wrong order.
3. Unbelieveable that you cannot substitute bacon for sausage on some of the specialty breakfasts or for kids items e.g. i had the audrey and we couldnt do it for one of the kids break.
4. The staff were not very nice at all. When I approached one staff member, they made some not so nice comment and walked away from me.
5. I asked to speak to the Manager twice. She came just after our bill came and said "oh it's too bad you paid your bill already, I would have given you a discount". I highly doubt that was the case because we waited to speak to her for 50 minutes. She also said "that's not what were about" but there are plenty of comments on here that suggest otherwise.
6. Lastly, the food was not great or fresh. That was the most disappointing. I've gone to other Coras and it's so good... but here, it was not great. Anyways, we waited 3 years to go to Coras. We thought about it so many times but were wanted to wait because of covid and such. Lets just say that experience makes us think we didnt miss anything. I suggest people take their business elsewhere or go to Johnnys Diner or something. I'm sure there would be better service.

We still provided a good tip because the server was nice. Came to check up on us when we had our food a few times to make sure we had everything we needed.

Unfortunately, this location has ruined Coras for...