Cora — Restaurant in St. Albert

We are from down East where Cora originated from. We always enjoyed our experience in Cora’s Montreal locations. We decided to give it a try over here, despite the bad feedbacks we heard from local friends. I don’t know if Cora went through a big change Canada wide, but I have to admit that we were really disappointed in the experience. We were shocked by how expensive the menu is now. We know normally the ingredients quality is usually top notch, we decided to stay and eat anyways knowing the food is usually delicious. When we received our plates we were disappointed to see that the quality of the food is not what it use to be. The size of the eggs are not the larger ones that we were accustom too and we also received not fresh pineapple with black spot on them. We like our bacon and I never thought I would see bacon that thin in my life. The bacon they served us was not paper thin but rather Kleenex thin!!! Just looking at it in our plate and that slice of bacon goes into dust… I have nothing negative to say about the waitress, she served us very well and came to see if we needed anything more then once, however the food was definitely not the standard I was use too and the pricing is now beyond...

I was here last Sunday with my fiance, and although our service was good, the food was...extremely close to inedible at best. We came later into the brunch service (between 1:30-2, I believe), and I ordered a smoked salmon omelette. What I got was the thinest piece of shoe leathered eggs with some salmon and very sad looking capers thrown on top. There was absolutely no flavour besides the salmon and the salt of the capers, the potatoes we received were extremely soggy, and in all honesty, if I hadn't been starving from running around doing errands all day, I wouldn't have eaten it at all. With a price point that now competes with higher end breakfast establishments like OEB, I would have expected something at least pleasant to eat.

I typically really enjoy Cora, so this was quite the disappointment. Maybe this was just an off day or an off location, but I can't say...

Having worked at Cora's prior to it being a large chain (20 years ago), I have very specific expectations of the food. Most of the local chains that I've been to have been ok, but not quite up to the standards that I was used to. This is the first location that made a crepe to the correct thickness. Where the omlette has the right proportions of filling and cheese. The right amount of hollandaise. My only criticism was that they didn't offer to refill my very obviously empty coffee until after the meal. I could have flagged someone over, but that isn't my style unless I desperately need one. But, it should be part of service to check sometime during the meal. It was nearly empty when my meal was dropped off. Other than that, a surprisingly familiar meal. I'd...