Eggspectation - Ottawa — Restaurant in Ottawa

This was not my first time at Eggspectation, but it will certainly be my last.

I have previously eaten at Eggspectation a number of times over the past few years, but the quality of service from the restaurant has noticeably deteriorated recently. While the food is far from excellent, it is in a reasonable location downtown to get together with co-workers over the lunch hour, where you can order something aside from the usual lunch fare options.

Our group of six made reservations for lunch today and we were promptly seated upon arrival. As per usual for this restaurant (and not a good start), it took about 10-15 minutes before a waitress came to talk to us. Our orders were placed and we began to wait for our food. After about 40-45 minutes, we made an inquiry with our waitress and her only comment was "a lot of people came at the same time, so your food is not ready yet". Really? I didn't realize that a number people happened to eat at the same time, what a coincidence! Wait, it's called lunch, and your restaurant serves the same meal everyday. It must be terribly difficult to poach eggs and toast bread in under an hour...

After multiple inquiries, promises of "only 3, 4, 5 more minutes" turned into excuses and our group began to lose patience.

During our wait we saw another table give up in frustration and leave before their food came, drinks on the table and cutlery untouched. No one bothered to approach or talk to them during this entire time, even as they left.

Nearly an hour after we placed our orders, our entire group decided to follow suit and leave as well, as some had appointments to attend to shortly afterwards. Not surprisingly, no attempt was made to reconcile our decision to leave - no staff member seemed to care, or even try to offer a solution. When walking past the open kitchen downstairs, I overheard our waitress telling the kitchen staff to "cancel our orders", likely meaning that our food had barely even began production.

We walked past the manager on our way out the door. He merely turned away and shuffled some menus and papers beside the entrance, ignoring our exit. I guess this must be a common occurrence in this establishment, what a shame.

Poor food, poor service and poor management. At least they are consistent in living up to their own Eggspectations.

Save your money and go...

The place was very loud with some kind of rock music on, which I normally enjoy, but didn't match the vibes of the restaurant and encouraged even more noise. Everyone working inside was wonderful and very nice. The poor wait staff have to run up and down a large staircase anytime someone's order is ready! We ordered a Montreal beef eggs benedict and a rosemary chicken sandwich. The fries that came with the chicken sandwich were the best part of the order, everything else was just okay or lacking. The Montreal beef was very very chewy, but I might have just gotten a bad part with too much fat. I couldn't break it down and I tried like 3 or 4 times. The rest of my bite would be fully chewed and the Montreal beef would still be intact somehow. There was also an insane amount of Hollandaise sauce which I'm sure many would enjoy. The chicken sandwich did not come on focaccia bread like the menu described, but some kind of a roll with a little bit of itallian seasoning on top. The fresh orange juice wasn't strained and had a couple of big chunks of the white part of an orange and a couple of seeds. It was otherwise good. I was disappointed with the food in general especially at this price point. They were also really busy and the kitchen looked pretty small and we sat around for about an hour before we ate anything. I feel like the place has potential which is what made it so disappointing (did not meet my eggspectations 😆). Should also maybe invest in a food elevator of some kind and save their...

Reviews were great..so we wanted to go there as it was so close to our place but we never did. Today we finally decided to have breakfast. We loved the interior. Food felt average but could have tasted much better if the service was acceptable. Personally I dunno if all the servers were too exhausted or something is wrong with the management as none of them ever smiled. Not to us..not to any other customer. They just had a straight face. Our hostess was Les*. She took our order with a straight face. We placed our orders and asked for water specifically. Though water is usually served right after being seated. One cup of coffee arrived after 15mins. Another after 5mins. A single glass of water came after 25 mins whereas we are two people sitting there. I had to ask for another glass of water for my husband. Glass was not even clean. By that time I started to wonder is it only us that being served like this...thats when I started to look around and noticed none of server has a happy face. We have been to a lot of breakfast places..and you feel happy to see a nice meal infront of you. But this time the food started to feel bland. We had to wait for 15mins to get the machine to pay after receiving the cheque. Though we left with a tip, but never felt so disappointed after leaving a...