The North Star Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Alexandria

To be fair, we went for breakfast at 8am on the Saturday of pirate's weekend. We expected to wait some time with our large group, and be fed the average greasy-spoon fare. What is unfortunate is that with the foresight of pirates weekend, which happens every year, and brings in droves of patrons, is that the restaurant had two servers. After 2 hours of waiting for eggs, bacon, and toast, the food was exceedingly unexceptional. They could have walked down to the nearest McDonalds and gotten the big breakfast, and put it onto a ceramic plate in the same amount of time, and we wouldn't know the difference in speed or flavor. The North Star is a local place, and several tables of locals were fed and expedited from the restaurant while we watched. This is to be expected in a vacation getaway, so no surprises there. I feel bad for the staff, who was overworked and under-supported by their management during such a busy time. Don't go to the North Star if you've ever been there before. If you continue to go there, enjoy it for the whimsy of it being next to the old North Star sign, and have your sub-par favorite dish, and enjoy being with your friends, family, and townsfolk. 1 star for the old sign and 1 star...

We enjoyed Lunch over the weekend here at North Star. Added bacon to the Mushroom Swiss Burger and upgraded with onion rings. The burger had great texture and flavor. The Swiss cheese covered the mushrooms like a blanket, the romaine lettuce was crisp, tomato slices fresh and the bacon had crispy egg. The brioche bun was buttered, lightly grilled with the perfect edge of grill flavor that melted in the mouth when taking a big bite. To add more texture. We added onion rings to the sandwich rather than fresh onion and that took this burger to another level. We did note that the onion rings were over cooked but did not have a burnt flavor as expected based on the look of the onion rings. We did also try the new batch of lobster bisque and it was some of the best bisque flavor we have had in the thousand island region. The Lobster bisque is a must try while they have limited ingredients. We suggest ordering toast with the bisque to give a good side and a way to clean up your cup or bowl to get every last bite possible. Though we like the breakfast here, we are going to come back for lunch as we really enjoyed our time, the service...

The food is undeniably less expensive than many nearby restaurants, but it's simply passable and nothing extraordinary. The diced potatoes ("home fries") were cooked thoroughly, yet they were relatively unseasoned, somewhat oily, and appeared to be mixed in with a prior batch. The eggs were cooked properly, as one would expect. However, the sausage was bland and unappealing, lacking any crisp browning or flavor; it could easily have been microwaved. The pancakes were unremarkable, and with only margarine packets and maple-flavored corn syrup as toppings, they were exceptionally uninspiring and couldn't be salvaged. Surprisingly, the chocolate milk came complete with whipped topping and chocolate syrup, showing more effort than the rest of the meal. At least the mural inside that covers all the walls is pretty nice, though. Unfortunately, you may be more inclined to go here for that, than the food.

Overall, I wouldn't generally recommend it, but if you're passing through and want to avoid exorbitant prices, it will suffice. It's likely a suitable spot for families with kids who prefer not to pay three times as much...