Nelson's Market — Restaurant in Bellingham

We were so happy to discover this place and had a great experience the first two times. This time I was excited to share with in laws and we end up waiting 1hr and 20 min (no exaggeration) with next to no communication from waitress as if this is just normal and acceptable. When the food came the waffle and omelette were great. The other dish was just scrambled eggs and a biscuit - eggs were rubber and the biscuit was completely flat and stiff. The eggs benedict was completely ruined by the inedible hollandaise sauce (other people tasted it at the table to make sure I was being reasonable and everyone agreed it was gross). This was good when I had it before. Their breakfast menu isn't that big, which is fine, but when you have a smaller menu and a section for various kinds of Eggs Benedict I think you should be able to be consistent with edible hollandaise sauce - maybe not perfect every time - but edible. We did get comped after complaining but I really don't think this would have happened without being assertive. So this is the first review I've ever written. But after an unacceptable wait with an incompetent waitress who mostly avoided eye contact when the wait became painful and then some really bad food you feel pretty infuriated. I did ask the waitress nicely if they had a new cook or something was up today that would explain this really bad experience, hoping we could give them the benefit of the doubt and continue coming, bringing guests, and suggesting to others as we had been doing - but she was a bit dismissive and didn't have any good explanation. So if nothing out of the ordinary was going on then unfortunately how can we return and not tell everyone we know to avoid this place - there are lots of other options in B'ham. So sadly, what we thought was a gem we had discovered wasn't, or is not able to serve a busy Saturday crowd with...

This place gets so much love from Bellingham due to inertia. Like many places in Bellingham the food is entirely mediocre, at best, but cause it's local people think it's amazing. The breakfast is basic short order diner. That's fine if done with any care. That said, every time I've been there the potatoes are overcooked and the toast is burnt on the edges and uncooked in the middle. That's not the worst part though: The service is SLOOOW. When I showed up on Mother's Day (it's where mom wanted to go) there was one server! There were three people in the kitchen, and yet it took almost an hour for our food to arrive. That was after being sent to a table without menus after waiting over 5 minutes to even be acknowledged by someone I assume to be an owner "trying" to help. This guy was slow, inefficient in his movements and bumbling. I know that local neighborhood bought the place to save it as a labor of love. That's nice, but if you don't know how to run a diner, hire (enough) people who do and pay them well. The "short" order kitchen seems to address each ticket in the order it comes. there doesn't seem to be multi-tasking, and based on how the owner "helping" was doing things, it's clear no one really knows how to run this place. There's MUCH better breakfast in Bellingham. Do more research and...

I had a lot of fun joining in for my first game night (they have them every Monday from 6 - 10pm). My friend and I went together and shared food beforehand.

I got the BLT with avocado and it was sooo good. The bacon was perfectly crispy and they did not skimp on the bacon or the avocado! My friend got the chicken strips with a side salad and the chicken was perfectly crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. The ingredients were all fresh and everything tasted great. They have beer on tap too and there were probably about 5 or 6 options, with a good variety to choose from. I highly recommend the cider they have on tap right now.

I've been there for breakfast too and really enjoyed everything I've tried, but my favorite is the chicken and waffles with the real maple syrup added! One thing to be aware of is that the kitchen is a little smaller, so when things are busy it might take a little longer to get your food, so plan accordingly.

Such a great local spot to enjoy a good meal and relax! Oh, and they have Wi-Fi too, so it's easy to work on a laptop while eating or...