Ole Piper Inn — Restaurant in Blaine

10/5/2024 This is always a stop when we’re in town. Unfortunately, during today’s visit, the waitress was extremely rude, and that’s an understatement. We called ahead since we had a large group. The hostess showed us to our tables and even offered an additional table when they didn’t have enough chairs. The waitress (baseball hat on, long hair), however, was NOT happy, came over to the table and said, “You need to move. We have other customers.” We explained the hostess offered us the table. She wasn’t having it at all and said “that’s too bad. Join the other tables you already have. It’s not my problem you don’t want to sit with the kids.” Keep in mind, the kid table was full (we squished in as many as we could), the high top for adults was near full, but since I had a baby with that needed a high chair, I asked where she would like to go with the baby since the high tops won’t work with a high chair. My husband asked about two other empty tables/booths that were smaller, but she said those were for other customers (although there were lots of empty tables in the restaurant and nobody waiting at that time). Asking what we should do or where we should sit, she said “figure it out. We need this table. You’re not the only customers, you know.” I said, “you are being very rude,” and she responded with “you’re just mad because you’re not getting your way.”

I’ve worked in the service industry myself, but regardless of the situation, I would never speak to a customer in this manner. In fact, had she POLITELY requested we move and explained the mix up between her and the hostess, found seats for us, or offered any other solution than just “move”, I wouldn’t be writing this. She never once greeted us politely, apologized for the inconvenience, offered a soliton. A nearby table, who clearly had waited awhile requested to order from her, and she spent the first few minutes bitching about our group to the customers. It was an unbelievable experience I’ve never had a restaurant. She’s clearly not a fan of groups, or kids with their parents in town for a tournament, or quality...

WiFi password is “homeofthegnome”

First time impressions: Interior is either new, clean, or both. Every seat in the place was taken and it was load but not load enough that we couldn’t talk at a natural volume. A surprising amount of children for a bar atmosphere but it was 8 am on a Sunday. They provide crayons.

The table has cream, butter, jelly, ketchup, and silverware as self serve and a craft of coffee was left at the table (without request :). Unfortunately a craft of water was not left and was missed as the wait staff was INCREDIBLY busy. A plastic straw was served automatically with a request of water. Water was not served automatically for us but was for some others /shrug.

Menu options are abundant but not to many (the right amount). Some original ideas and options with the normal cafe breakfast standards.

They have a serve yourself Bloody Mary bar that looks like a disaster area. The idea of laying my hands on it absolutely disgusts me. I love Bloody Marys but I can’t bring myself to reach into a public shrimp bucket and crate a Bloody pickle toothpick skewer.

The food took a long LONG time. About 30 minutes from order to serve. The hashbrowns without toppings and the bacon were PERFECT! The sausages were burnt on one side had no flavor or spice and were DOA. Over easy eggs were acceptable as were the pancakes (a bit rubbery). The hashbrows with cheese and onions dramatically added to the salt taste of the hashbrowns and did not work. The meat burrito needed more spice and maybe it’s contents scrambled (maybe different cheeses?). The coffee was better than average but not amazing.

This place is a minor league team on the verge of making the show. It just needs a dozen small tweaks to everything they do and it could be the best breakfast around.

We will try them out again.

P.S....

My family was very excited to try Ole Piper Inn for the first time because we're always looking for places that serve all day breakfast but our first time there will also be our last after one of the worst dining experiences ever. First of all, if a restaurant doesn't know how to handle orders for specials, they shouldn't offer specials. We went on St Patrick's Day so I was excited to see some themed specials offered but were told they didn't know if any orders for the specials would be filled. I chose a different meal and then waited, and waited, and waited... While all the tables around us, including those sat more than a half hour after us were served. Said tables also ordered the specials.

Even my 5 year olds pancakes, which we ordered as soon as we sat down, took a half hour to come out. The food for my husband and I still wasn't ready after an hour of waiting and we couldn't wait any longer. My son needed to get home for bed but just as we were going to tell the server to charge us for the pancakes so we could leave, she told us our food was ready and she would have it boxed up for us. It took another 20 minutes for the kitchen to box up our food.

By the time we got home and got my son to bed, nothing was edible. The nachos I ordered were a soggy disgusting mess and they forgot to take the olives off. My husband's burger was overcooked and rubbery. We essentially paid $50+ for 6 mini pancakes and to sit in a restaurant that smelled strongly of marijuana for over an hour. Needless to say, I would...