Express cafe — Restaurant in Meridian

Express Cafe will always have a tender spot in my heart. I have so many fond memories of this joint. Many breakfasts have been eaten here when my daughter was little. Many mother's day outings here with my daughter before I worked my 13 hour shift serving other moms. It will forever hold the best memories for me.

It has been close to 9 years since I have eaten here. Moving towards the north end created a big distance between us. But I was in the area with my neice today so we stopped in for breakfast. There's no other place in Meridian that I'd rather eat breakfast at!

I remember this joint when the old owners owned it. It honestly was run down, old and dated. Your typical greasy spoon. My friend, Bob, took it over about 10 years ago and has totally given it the face lift it needed. It's brighter, cleaner and welcoming. I love the fresh flowers with our beautiful country's flag by the front door. I love the flowers painted on the windows too, it gives it such a fun appearance. I love the bright white building with the black trim. I love the bright lines in the parking lot. It's been revamped outside and it's gorgeous.

Inside of the venue has had work done as well. The drapes were red, white and blue to go with the 4th of July. I love that they decorated for America's birthday. I'm sure they change it through the different holidays. The lighting is brighter. The decor is simple and fun. It just looks cleaner and fresh inside. It's not the old greasy spoon it used to be.

My neice and I decided to sit at the bar, that's where my daughter and I used to eat at all the time. Kaitlyn greeted us and got our drinks started. I got hot coffee and my neice got an orange juice. I appreciate the creamer they had neatly placed by the condiments. It was nice not to have them just thrown in a bowl. Little details like that are fantastic.

After breezing over the menu, we got our food placed with Kaitlyn. I got the popeye omelet with only 2 eggs instead of 3, cheddar instead of Swiss with no onions or mushrooms. I got fruit instead of bread and potatoes. My neice got the Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream on top with a side of hashbrowns.

My omelet was cooked perfectly. It had a generous amount of spinach. We know spinach shrinks really bad when it's cooked and vanishes. You can tell they didn't hold back with the spinach. The cheese was nice and melty in the middle. Even though I asked for my omelet to be 1 egg shy of it's normal 3, I only ate half. It was a hearty omelet. My fruit was ok. It wasn't fresh fruit but I didn't mind. I ate a much as I could. My neice polished half of her huge waffle. It looked tasty with the berries and whipped cream. The side of hashbrowns was no joke. It was such a huge portion! We ate about a third of it and took the rest home to enjoy later.

My friend, Bob has done such an amazing job making this place his own. Express Cafe will always be one of Meridian's best breakfast joints. The amount of years it's been around speaks for itself. I'm so proud of Bob and all that he's done. The food was good today. Service from Kaitlyn was fantastic! I'm just sad that it took my close to 9 years to come back. That's going to change and I look forward to having Express Cafe be a part of my day sometime soon. I won't allow another 9...

Express Cafe wow it's very hard to sum up this place the owner doesn't just sit at home and make money he is the guy that wears glasses and has gray hair and is standing usually next to where they give you papers so you can casually sit in your car sit outside to smoke a cigarette either way you're able to know when you're called up to get a table and a heads up if it's just you had for the bar it's straight ahead when you come in the door there's usually one seat open hands down the best food I've had in the world I've served in Iraq and Afghanistan is a civilian contractor and hands down to this day they have the best biscuits and gravy around if you like biscuits and gravy go to this place ask for the full order of biscuits and gravy and you will be pleased and its just a secret but the reason they're bacon taste so good is because they halfway cook it put it in a big pile put it in the freezer and then when you order it it's quick and easy and it comes right out perfectly definitely a way to cook bacon honestly I I have watched them work from the bar area for years now I have probably spent at least $4,000 in this establishment whether it's taking my employees out to eat friends or family hands down this place has the best food in Idaho in the world or in the universe I haven't ventured outside of Earth but if I did I'm sure that their biscuits and gravy or the best I've been to Dubai I've been to Ukraine I've been to Sri Lanka I've been to many other places I don't want to list them all but I'm pretty sure they have the best biscuits and gravy and their service is impeccable and if you call ahead they'll make your food ready for you when you get there and save you a seat also they have a drive-thru so if you don't want to go in and you just want to take your food home that's also a great option that they have hands down this place is the best breakfast place I have ever been to in my life I've been to many of the places in the world in Idaho in Boise and Meridian in Nampa no other establishment comes close to the service quality of food and price you get all three when you come here I hope this helped you figure out where you're going to go to eat your next breakfast and I'm not saying it lightly there's a reason why this review is so long because their food literally is the best breakfast food I've ever had in my life I keep going back there when I can even when I don't have money or I'm at my zero and I'm literally broke I will still go spend money at this place because it's so good and the owner is a great guy he loves his employees he pays them well and there's a reason why he puts the number of years that they've worked their on their shirts it shows that it is a great place to work eat and enjoy talking with the staff the cooks are personable they pay attention to you when you're at the bar and if you're a regular you know what I'm...

I've been here a total of 4 times. The first two times were about ten years ago and it was fantastic. The last two times were within the last year and I'm quite disappointed with how far this place has fallen. Last year I stopped and got an order of Eggs Benedict and hash browns to go. I work about a mile down the road. When I got to work the Eggs Benedict was still hot. The hash browns were still frozen in the middle and the outsides were barely warm, they were not even a 1/3 of the way properly cooked. The Eggs Benedict was lack luster at best. The hollandaise sauce had decent flavor and was hot, the eggs were over cooked, the ham was luke warm at best and the muffin was cold. I figured part of it would get a little cold on the drive to work but not like that. This is also not counting the 25 minutes it took to get the food from ordering it to receiving it.

I went back again today and the only thing that was actually hot from the entire breakfast was the coffee. It took 20 minutes from the time I ordered my food for it to be placed in front of it. I ordered the biscuits and gravy breakfast with over medium eggs and crunchy bacon. The only thing that needed to be really cooked was the eggs and bacon and I could do that in less than 10 minutes at home. When the plate was put in front of me the bacon had already cooled to room temperature, the eggs were barely warm (though properly cooked), the biscuits were slightly warm and the gravy was the warmest thing on the plate. I did not need to blow on it at all. The gravy was bland and turned to runny snot after a few minutes, which means it is instant gravy (at best). It was like my food was done 10 minutes prior to getting it and then finally brought out to me. The sad thing is another customer, who was there a good while before I was, got her food about 5 minutes AFTER they brought mine and her hash browns looked bleach white like they cooked them in the microwave.

I spent $20 between the meal, the coffee and the tip. I was generous with the tip because Idaho business owners like to screw their employees, especially servers. The saddest part of it all is the fact I could go down the road to a couple of different breakfast/lunch restaurants and get the same exact meal with hash browns added, coffee and tip and spend $15. About 8 years ago when I took my wife there we spent about $25 for both meals, including tip, and had great food and great service. The biggest mistake any restaurant can make is raising prices, lowering quality and offering lack luster service. It's the perfect recipe that has ended numerous businesses here in the...