Meadows Diner — Restaurant in Ottawa

(See May 2015 update at end)

OK, first things first… don't let the decor put you off. The decor is… functional. Go there for the food, and the prices. OK, even if the prices were higher, go there for the food!

They have a breakfast called the Garden Scramble. It's kind of an omelette, except there's so much in it, it ends up scrambled anyway. It has onion and broccoli… don't let that put you off… it's amazing! It just feels refreshing! My biggest complaint is I like the Garden Scramble so much I have not explored much of the rest of the menu. The Club is supposed to be one of the best in the city and I really want to try it.

My spouse always ends up ordering the blue collar I think it's called. It comes with three pancakes, which although not advertised as such, must be buttermilk. They are served at the end of the meal, almost like a dessert. That used to annoy me until I realized he's usually full and I get to eat them! The blue collar has 3 eggs, and lots of meat, so he's almost always full. Anyway, the pancakes are really good!

I find the home fries have a great home-style feel about them. If you like dry, or deep fried feeling home fries, you may be disappointed. These are what you get when you cook up pre-cooked potatoes with onion and butter on a grill. They are what home fries are supposed to be. But some people don't like them.

The service is great. There's one to two servers, who seem to be able to do the work of 5. There's one guy there who gets coffee to you so fast, there's been times my bum isn't even fully engaged in the seat. And he won't let you feel like you're waiting on coffee. This guy gets service… wish every server could be like this guy. He even smiles.

If you're looking for a good breakfast or lunch place in Little Italy, check this place out. They have lots of other things on the menu to try out, and please let me know what the club sandwich is like… I will probably have another Garden Scramble!

UPDATE May 2015: Meadows Lunch has undergone some serious renovations, and the decor is much nicer. Fortunately, the food is still great... and I don't go to restaurants for decor... I go for the food. But I did think I should...

We were looking for a new place to try for breakfast and saw all the positive reviews and thought we would try this place. The food was mediocre at best. We ordered the breakfast club and the blue collar breakfast. The eggs on the club had the consistency of boiled eggs with American cheese mixed in and it was off putting. The breakfast potatoes were burnt and had about as much onion as there was potato. I also asked for a side of beans, which turned out to be British beans and not baked beans and they looked to be right out of the can. The blue collar breakfast was supposed to come with pancakes, but they were just never made or brought to us. We put in our order before another table and got our meal about 10 minutes after them, missing items. Additionally, there were hornets and flies constantly around us when we were sitting outside. When we were done our meal, the waiter who hadn’t bothered to check in aside from when he took our order finally noticed that the pancakes never arrived and asked if we wanted them. We declined and asked if this could be subtracted from the meal cost as, at this point, we had already been at the restaurant for over an hour (30 minutes of which we were just waiting for service and our food to arrive). The cook gave us a dirty look for asking and they refused to take them off. We paid $50 for a meal that was worth no more than $20 and terrible service and customer service. I am confused by all the positive reviews because this is not a place I would want...

The food was traditional run-of-the-mill diner food. The eggs were great done over easy. The toast was wonderfully toasted not too light, not too dark, but nice and crispy yet soft. The hash browns were grilled with a few onions and green peppers in them and they were not deep fried. Coffee was good. Bacon was crispy but not too much so. It was fairly busy. I am giving this place five stars for the food.

The only criticisms I have is that the cook mumbled a lot under his breath which is not great when you have an exposed kitchen but if you're not sitting at the counter then you won't notice that. The cook did keep the cooking surface fairly clean.

The other recommendation I would give you is to not sit at the counter in front of the grill because it is very hot and in the summer they have the doors open and it can be really really warm. I bet it's really cozy in the winter.

It was a great cheap delicious breakfast in a family-owned...