Modern Electric Lunch — Restaurant in Winnipeg

We over stayed our welcome! A good friend and I met for breakfast at Modern Electric Lunch a few weeks ago. We catch up a few times a year and usually spend a good 2 hours talking. The menu indicates a 1 1/2 hour limit which surprised me that they would need to have that stated. Well, it took 10 minutes for my waiter to come to my table and take my beverage order; he did not tell me any special drink items so I had a plain coffee, which took another 10 minutes to be served. Then, when my friend arrived, he waited 10 minutes to have his beverage order taken and we promptly ordered our food. Over an hour later, our meal came. When we arrived the restaurant was not very busy as we were one of the first 10 customers. What we think the problem is, is the amount of take-out orders the kitchen was doing. It was non-stop with take out delivery drivers picking up food. We think this affected meal preparation. My food was ok, I had an eggs Benedict and a beet salad, although when it finally arrived I had to use the washroom as I had been drinking coffee for over an hour. Our server came around a few times to bring us coffee (after waving him down) but at no point did he ever try to upsell us anything or ask if we wanted a dessert. As a mother of 3 I was out on the town and would have ordered anything he would have suggested. Finally we asked for the cheque and kept talking a bit more before we got our coats on. The server came over to our table and asked that we pay and leave! I was very embarrassed that we were being kicked out; we were paying customers, we each ordered two separate dishes, beverages and would have ordered more had it been offered, plus it took over an hour to get our food! I stated this to the server publicly. I certainly didn’t leave a tip. The atmosphere of the restaurant was nice and bright, everything was clean and the food was fine but the service was not good and I will not be returning. If you plan on visiting, make sure you bring a watch or try ordering...

I visited this place with high expectations based on the Google reviews, but it turned out to be one of the worst places in Winnipeg. My friends and I walked in, and no one greeted us. After waiting for 10 minutes, feeling lost, I approached a waiter who simply pointed in a random direction and told us we had to ask to be seated.

We ended up waiting 40 minutes before getting a table. I ordered their eggplant shakshuka, do not order this dish! It was a complete disaster. I’ve had shakshuka from its place of origin, and while I didn’t expect it to be exactly the same, I did expect something similar. Instead, it was awful. The za’atar spice they used was just sprinkled on dry, rather than mixed with olive oil to bring out its flavors. Za’atar is a dry spice that needs an oil base, but they completely missed that. This ruined the entire dish.

I specifically requested a medium-poached egg, yet what I got was a hard-boiled egg—what a joke. By that point, I lost my appetite. When I called them out on it, the waiter said it would take another 30 minutes to fix, so I just declined and stuck to my coffee.

Then came the bill. They charged me for the meal, even though I had only taken one spoonful. When I pointed it out, the staff was incredibly rude. The waitress wasn’t apologetic at all and even had the audacity to call me a “dine dasher.” I was willing to pay for the coffee, but at that point, I was so frustrated that I just left.

From the very beginning, it felt like every single person there had an attitude toward us, why???? Just because I’m brown? This place felt incredibly racist, and I would never recommend it to anyone. The manager on duty desperately needs proper training. Having worked in a customer service environment myself, I know this is not how you treat people. The experience was beyond disrespectful, absolutely disgusting. They’re definitely losing a huge customer base with this...

March 2023 Randomly found this place while walking around downtown Winnipeg. We were here for a five day Canadian vacation. My son had the Avocado Toast ($8), and he couldn't stop raving about it. The coffee was superb also. Water is served in old glass (probably gin or whisky) bottles with the restaurant name on it. There was a drink special of the day which our server did not mention to us when ordering at the table. I only noticed the special at the counter when we paid. A relaxed, quiet environment, yet it was 9 a.m. on a weekday morning. Clients are obviously aware of this place as there was a constant flow of takeout orders. Many of their items (sauces and syrups) are made in house such as the Gochujang sauce put on the avocado toast, and the vanilla syrup used in the coffees. Really good! The name? Apparently, when this building was being renovated in 2020, original food item (paper) invoices and photos were found. These items are displayed on the brick walls in glass frames. The business was called Modern Electric Lunch back in 1920, hence the current name. How cool is that! There always seems to be a story behind a name. This is my kind of place. A historical location, a story, and great food and drinks. Would definitely...