Hometown Diner — Restaurant in Saskatoon

updated so it's been well over a year since we've been back, Sunday wait times were up to 45 minutes to 1 hr at 10am. We checked at 9:30am and no waits, so very busy around this time, probably because most shops open around this time or later on a Sunday. The hostess had quite a few people getting added to the list ahead of us when we got there, but by the time we made it to the front, another woman came in behind us and grabbed her attention ahead of us. The hostess knew we were there first and could have insisted she wait until we were helped first, but she didn't. The woman behind us was obviously rude, but the hostess should not have let her. (1st mistake) The menu has changed a bit, which is to be expected. We ordered an Oat Latte and a London Fog to drink before looking at the menu. The Panini Breakfast Sandwich sounded good, I ordered this and my Husband ordered eggs benedict. Our waitress came by after about 5 minutes and asked if we ordered drinks with her, to which we reminded her our orders again. It seemed as though the order didn't get put through until this 2nd time, as we waited a bit to receive them.(2nd mistake) I've recently enjoyed Oat Milk in my coffee so this was my first one here, and I would say it was ok, but not great. I've definitely had better elsewhere at actual cafe's, but it was palettable, my husband agreed that his London Fog could have been better, almost as though there wasn't enough or any syrup in it. Our meals arrived in a decent amount of time, but they BOTH came as Paninis, and my husbands eggs benedict was nowhere in sight. I mentioned that he should flag our waitress down to rectify the situation, but he insisted it wasn't that bad, as this was actually his 2nd choice. (3rd mistake) We chose wrong😔 The sourdough bread was perfectly fine as was the cheese, but the egg on this sandwich was really heavy. At the centre of it, there was easily almost 85% egg to Bread/Cheese/Sauce ratio happening. I would say the egg was really flavourless and the sandwich overall could have used more sauce/cheese. I could not finish my sandwich and my husband only ate half. Throughout our meal we oversaw multiple mistakes from patrons next to us, so we were not the only ones to have a less than satisfactory experience. We ordered a donut of the Day to go and left. Overall, the atmosphere was a bit too loud to chat easily over breakfast, and we left feeling the $50 meal before tip was not overly enjoyable. There were plenty of places we thought in hindsight would have been better for our money. I know service staff have off days, and I'm willing to overlook 1 or 2 things, but when we see overall even around us that things are not working, it throws us off it all together. While we were waiting around for our bill, I noticed the hostess at the front door standing around and I could not help but notice she was chewing gum. Now I may be nit picking here, but in the food industry, right after a really brutal pandemic(for which is still happening, regardless of what regulations are in place) chewing & smacking gum in public while working in a restaurant just seems unprofessional. After speaking with my husband, we won't be in any rush to...

Hometown Diner is not what you would expect from the name. I was prepared to walk into an old-school mom-and-pop shop run by a couple in their seventies. Instead, what I walked into was a modern-looking breakfast/brunch spot with open spaces, bright lighting (both natural and artificial), with a good mix of old school sit at the counter, long tables for big groups, and booths for groups of four.

A superficial glance at the menu reveals the usual suspects of a modern brunch spot: eggs benedict, something with salmon, a vegetarian breakfast option. However, the Ukrainian Brekkie caught my eye as something I'd not seen before on a brunch menu. Perogies, sauerkraut, bacon, sausage, sour cream. It was a wonderful combination, the ratio of perogies to everything else was good, and I only wish that I had taken the waitress's recommendation to add some Frank's Red Hot to the dish. It would've cut through the sourness quite well. She also mentioned that when she gets this dish, she likes having mushrooms as an add-on. I concur with this, and would definitely recommend doing so as it would add a nice sweet touch to a dish which is borderline a little too sour.

They also happen to have regular specials, and glancing at other diners' food, it does look to be quite interesting and appealing. So another point for elevating Hometown Diner above the average millennial brunch location.

And the final point regarding the food - they have take-out options for quick and easy breakfast sandwiches, and I saw quite a few diners take some in-house doughnuts (which looked quite appealing) to go home with. I'm not a huge donut fan, but I admit that the specials today (I think it was some sort of special chocolate affair) looked incredibly appealing, especially coming straight out of the kitchen.

The staff are nice, friendly, and fantastic with the coffee refills. The wait for food was not too long even though they had a full house. They press their own juice in-house as well, and source all their ingredients locally.

Is it worth visiting? Yes. Is it worth coming everyday as they are open seven days a week? No. The price point makes one a little squeamish, although not terribly so. My total (including coffee) took me to 21 dollars. Good for a treat or a meet-up with friends, but not cheap enough (or worth-it-value-wise-enough) to come on a very regular basis. If I could have given this a 4.5 rating, I would have, and the .5 docking would only have come due to the pricing.

Will return! Although just...

Bustling Dîner with an Inviting Space

Tried this place while visiting Saskatoon based on all of great reviews I read online. Great vibe, cool space, lovely server, OK food.

Food

Bacon + Egg Panini

Sandwich was pressed nicely Served hot Thick pieces of bacon Cheesy

I wasn't sure what the 'secret sauce' was, no particular flavour profile was evident Maybe there was some mayo? It was hard to tell The sandwich needs something, another element - sweet, spicy or savoury - candied bacon, onion, green onion or chives in the egg, a spicy mayo or some other sauce The additional element would bring it from OK to great

Hash browns

mini potatoes with skin on, smashed (a little) and deep fried Topped with parmesan and a little chives? Again, hard to tell The potato pieces were too thick for me and lacked flavour

They too could use something else - a flavourful spice blend or served with a unique sauce or brushed with a herb butter, something to give them flavour

Service

One word: fantastic

Server was friendly, personable, quick, checked in with a us a few times to make sure we had what we needed We waited a little long for our food but our server acknowledged this, kept us up to date and provided a complementary donut to share while we waited

Atmosphere

Cool space, nicely designed, exposed brick and wooden ceilings, loft-like feel but space didn't feel cold or hollow, lots of white with a cool blue/green accent colour for the booth seatbacks, loved the plants suspended from the ceiling, great energy, loved the all gender bathrooms

This was a great spot to visit despite the fact that the food was just OK. The service and atmosphere more than made up for what the food was lacking. I would return to this place for the atmosphere alone and give a different...