Meridian Cafe — Restaurant in Puyallup

Don't go out for breakfast much, but I'm reconsidering making it a regular occasion after trying this place out on a few quiet Wednesday mornings in downtown Puyallup. The Meridian Cafe (which serves breakfast and lunch) does not look like much on the outside but the interior has that modern appeal that blends with the historic charm of the building, while some popular 90's tunes plays out to create a nostalgic ambience that already puts me in a happy place before the food is served.

The menus are simple with the traditional breakfast fare you'd commonly see. What sets them apart from some of your chains like Sherri's, Denny's and I-Hop is the quality, freshness and taste of the food that is served. My wife loves their Eggs Benedict and so far I have nothing but thumbs up to the Corned Beef Hash and Breakfast Burritos. The Cinnamon Rolls were not as sweet as what I am typically accustomed to and that's not necessarily a bad thing as it's still bubbling and gooey fresh from the oven in a cast iron pan but the Maple Beignets, which I didn't see in the menu but were on the "specials" board, were on point.

Take all that and add to the fact that our servers Michelle and Makiirah were very pleasant, always smiling and overall made us feel welcome at this establishment. Now I'm contemplating if I want to spend time experiencing...

My wife and were there yesterday, anxious to go back after it had been closed. It was fairly busy when got there, but did get seated right away. Unfortunately, after that, it took almost 15 min before anyone came over, even for drinks. Once we ordered, it was about 30-35 min to get the food. The coffee is either a very strong roast or not made correctly as it was so strong and bitter I couldn’t drink it, so I switched to soda. Once the food came, my wife’s had the wrong potatoes so they took it back. They brought it back after 5-6 min. As she was eating she realized the burrito was wrong as well (wrong meat) but she ate it anyway. I asked for ketchup which never came, so I got up and got it myself. They did comp my wife’s meal which was much appreciated. We only saw our original server twice, ordering and then for the check. It seems they need more staff and more training. You could hear the staff saying to others, “so sorry, we didn’t expect it to be this busy.” It should have been expected, however as it was a weekend morning shortly after the re-opening. Hopefully things will improve, but it will be a while until we...

I cannot see any reason to not give this place a five star rating. It's a rather cost effective place to have a really nice "comfort food" breakfast and a very nice atmosphere. I was especially please to see the interior"exposed" brick wall is legitimate and not faux brick glue on fake finish. I also thought it a really cool touch that the partitions that separate the booths in the center section can be adjusted to allow larger and smaller groups to use the same booth. This is ALMOST a brilliant idea and one many other places should try to adopt, so weather it was the owner, architect, or interior designer it was a very good idea. Our service was spot on and paid very good attention to our needs....well not actually "needs" since we were just having breakfast and didn't need life saving measures to heighten our experience. Parking is both on the street and behind the building in a lot shared by Trackside Pizza and Crockett's; all three places owned by the same very nice guy...a local boy...