Poached Breakfast Bistro — Restaurant in Saskatoon

I searched for restaurants on Google maps that have gluten-free food and this came up, so I went out of my way to try it out as the reviews were good. The atmosphere is almost 5-star. They definitely put most of their money towards that which is nice. You can read the reviews of others and look at the photos regarding this. The service was good. They were very friendly, quick, smiled, but did not know much at all about whether the dishes were gluten free and had to go ask a few times. Educate yourself and staff even if you can't provide a gluten-free menu, gluten allergies are becoming more and more common, unfortunately. The matcha latte was "made" beautifully, but "did not taste good" as the restaurant chose to buy low quality matcha to serve their customers at what seems like a fancy place. Starbucks offers low-grade matcha and sells it for 6-9 dollars. I expected it to be much better, since I was paying $7 for this one. If someone doesn't have a clue about what matcha should taste like, they might think it was fine and just want more sugar to cover the taste and be happy with the latte art(it was a heart and nicely done, by the way).

The butternut squash eggs Benedict was a bit too spicy, but okay. The gluten-free English muffins were hard to cut with the butter knife. They were the cheap brand glutenfree muffins (possibly Udi's?)with poor ingredients(corn and white rice flour).

I honestly am not sure if the dish was gluten-free. They said it was and that they use gluten-free hollandaise sauce which was exciting for me to try. Well, I have not had bloating and such discomfort after a meal like this in years and can normally tolerate a little gluten. The fatigue, gastrointestinal distress and lethargy that followed was not fun. Perhaps, there was gluten in the spicy butternut squash mixture and or the hollandaise sauce. The hollandaise sauce is almost white? Normally, real hollandaise sauce is a rich orange yellow... I asked if they use farm eggs and they said no, but their eggs are from Saskatchewan...so they use eggs from the grocery store. Why would a place like this not decide to source their eggs from a local farm which would offer a nutritionally better egg, I don't know. I know the restaurant business has been tough these last few years, but offering cheap quality food for such a ridiculous price is insulting.

I paid $17 for the squash eggs dish plus $3.30 for the gluten-free English muffin, $7 for the "matcha" latte of which I only drank half. I explained to the waiter that it was not good, that it was made wonderfully, but with poor quality matcha. I then ordered a single-shot latte for another $6 and that was actually delicious, the coffee. My total was $36 and change. I paid cash and still left a tip ($13) as I like to try to be a blessing to the people who served me regardless of food quality or service quality. People are more important than my likes and dislikes or offenses. Plus the $3 I paid for parking...this was not a great experience and was way over priced!

*To help, if the owner is reading this....

Try DoMatcha Ceremonial Grade or Aiya Ceremonial Grade Matcha if you would like to give your customers the best OR charge maybe $2.50 to $3 for your current matcha latte...to cover the cost of the milk.

Try ordering gluten-free items from Alkeme and just keep them in the freezer. The country sourdough loaf comes pre-sliced and I would be happy with a toasted slice of that under the eggs Benedict. And it's got good-for-you ingredients that tastes delicious.They ship by Purolator all over Canada out of Quebec.

Try using real butter. (Preferably from grass-fed cows, but butter is always best).

Try sourcing your eggs from a few local farms to get much better eggs both nutritionally and taste-wise. Why not? You seem to care about the quality of how things look, care more about the quality of the food too that goes into people's bellies.

Quality is important. My money and time is important too. Still recovering..but I would return for a coffee date.

Thank you for taking the time...

I have mixed feelings about this place, hence the middling rating. On the one hand, their food is delicious and inventive, especially their Benny type dishes, as the name would suggest. I also like the vibe of the place, like one those hip but tiny New York eateries.

But there are other things that annoy me. There are certain things you expect at a breakfast place which this place, either for hippy reasons or frugal ones, doesn't do. Things like putting cream, sugar and jams on the table ahead of time, instead of having to specially request them as you do here.

You also can't just order a regular coffee; they only serve overpriced specialty coffees.

Even at that, the staff got a simple beverage order totally confused. I ordered an Americano with cream and sugar and a glass of milk. I got a black Americano, no sugar and a side of milk in a creamer jug.

Last but not least there's the wait. Long long wait for a regular old plate of bacon and eggs. Don't go here if you're already feeling hungry because you'll starve before the food comes out.

So, yeah, a cool place but maybe too cool for its own good. Needs more focus on the basics.

ADDENDUM: In their subsequent response to my review, the owners attempt to make some excuses, some of which are valid and others not.

It is scarcely surprising that Saturday at 11 is one of their busiest times, considering that they are exclusively a brunch establishment. If a brunch place can't handle a brunch rush, there is something wrong with their business model.

Priding themselves on "reputable, crafted coffees" does not preclude them from offering a regular coffee. Many such upscale coffee places make a big deal about using "only organic, ethically sourced beans" or whatnot, but they still offer regular coffee.

Not wishing to clutter the tables with condiments and wishing to use fresh jams are valid policies but that would require better flow to avoid customer inconveniencce. I had to ask twice for cream. Instead of asking about jams when the meal arrives and then making the customer wait several minutes to receive it, ask about this at time of order and serve the jam on the side when the...

I’ve been wanting to try poached for a long time but usually it’s so busy with a long wait and I’m too hungry to bother.

This past weekend though we managed to get in when there wasn’t too many people at the time.

The decor and ambiance here is great. It’s cute, well decorated and very hipster. Good vibes. Small location. Parking is street parking.

The menu is… small. It must change regularly because I had been craving French toast or something sweeter, but all they had available was a cinnamon bun breakfast which I figured was TOO sweet. Otherwise it was all savoury.

I started with the black cherry latte. It was incredible- it tasted like black Forrest cake which is my fav.

Then, I picked eggs Benny. However I realized that the menu only specified the one item. It has Gruyère and some dill. Looked great In photos. On speaking to the server I was informed there is no sides. So be wary of this. I had to ask for a side of potatoes and I asked for a side of their maple bacon roll up’s.

Don’t get me wrong. The food was incredible. Each item was tasty and delicious. However the ratio of food to price was questionable. I’m not a cheap person, but when I go out for tasty food I’d like to have more than just a sample portion.

I also was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get the ketchup I’d asked for.

The meal was good, just pricey for what you got since you need to add so much to it.

I probably won’t return unless it’s a special occasion someone else is dead set on. Maybe I’m not that fancy of a...