Benny's - 183 Weber St N, Waterloo

2.5	71%	3.3	3	3

Benny’s is one of the places I used to get breakfast all the time while I was in university - one of the most popular places for families and large groups to congregate on weekend mornings, we actually had planned to go for breakfast on November 1st; the wait-time caused by our after-10-AM arrival caused us to postpone our visit until November 8th, when we beat the crowds by showing up before 9 AM.

Benny’s fell victim to a fire in July, 2013, and the damage was so extensive that it didn’t reopen until July of this year. Dave and I have been back a couple of times since the reopen, but I wanted to visit again and make notes for the purpose of this blog.

Benny’s has been redecorated since the fire, and its dark-coloured decor, airy windows, and industrial-style ceilings give it a calm and professional air - great for business meals (or hangover breakfasts). The high booths and carpet cut down on the noise and provide the illusion of privacy, too, which is nice. Benny’s in the morning is a happening place, even @ 8:30 on a Saturday, though, so be prepared for some squalling kids and the general rumble of other customers.

We were seated quickly by the hostess (who is there to greet everyone who comes through the door), and brought coffee and water right away. The food came quickly, too, and our server, Jenny, did a fantastic job making non-awkward small-talk, providing substitutions when we asked for them, and keeping our coffee full.

Benny’s offers a full range of standard breakfast stuff, with polish sausage available as a meat and a great variety of their eponymous benedicts.

Dave ordered the Cordon Bleu Benedict ($11.49), which he said was delicious, with good (and plentiful) hollandaise, swiss cheese, and “real ham” on an english muffin. The benedict came with a side of hashbrowns and fresh fruit, which included apples, strawberries, and grapes on the standard melon-pineapple base. The breakfast potatoes were your standard-from-frozen deep-fried cubes, but well cooked with a crisp exterior. Jenny made sure to ask Dave how he’d like his eggs poached, and his requested medium was done perfectly.

I ordered Benny’s Ultimate (standard slam with eggs, several meats, toast, potatoes,and pancakes - $10.99) and substituted my three kinds of meat for chocolate chips in my pancakes and tomatoes. I love when a restaurant can make these kind of creative substitutions - it shows a level of empowerment to staff that enhances customer service for me tremendously.The pancakes were fantastic; there were lots of chocolate chips, and there is something about Benny’s pancakes - they taste good and have an almost crispy outer layer that holds up to syrup and keeps everything together. My eggs (over-easy) were cooked well, and my rye toast (option of white/wheat/rye) was good and practically dripping with butter.

We found the food at Benny’s to be good, but it was the service that really made the place stand out - our drinks and food came almost unbelievably quickly, and she took complete care of our every need. A+ Jenny!

SCORECARD

Atmosphere	Price	Variety	Taste	Flexibility	Service
4.75	3.5	4	4.25	4.5	5
Cleanliness	Special		Flavour		Courtesy
5	$6.49 weekend		4.5		5
Ambience	Coffee		Cook		Speed
4.5	$1.99		4.5		5
	Pancakes		Coffee
	$6.49		4
	Omelette		Potatoes
	$8.99 (just cheese)		3.5

TOTAL SCORE: 4.25

Dearborn Restaurant - 105 Lexington Rd, Waterloo

4		4	4	3.5

Dearborn Restaurant - hidden away in darkest Waterloo - is a former frequent-breakfast-haunt of mine. Dave and I went on November 1st, since apparently Benny’s is packed on Saturday mornings at 10:30. Dearborn claims “Best Breakfast in Town” on its sign outside, which is how we first discovered it a few years back.

Dearborn offers a family-style atmosphere in one dining room with semi-open kitchen, carpets and wooden booths and tables, and an all-table tiled second dining room. They were doing steady business when we went in, but there were also plenty of tables available for a Saturday mid-morning.

Dearborn offers a pretty comprehensive - if standard - breakfast menu. It doesn’t offer much in the way of unusual items, but there were a good number of options for benedicts, omelettes, and breakfast sandwiches. We sat ourselves, and coffee was served almost immediately by an extremely friendly and efficient server; she also visited a number of times to see how we were doing and fill coffee.

Dave ordered a Peameal Breakfast ($8 plus $0.50 charge for rye), which he thought was pretty great - especially on the peameal end of things, as it was super thick and delicious. He commented that the toast was good (“definitely worth fifty cents”), eggs cooked fine, and the potatoes - slices of real potato done on the grill - were not as bland as some, but still underseasoned.

I ordered chocolate chip pancakes ($5.95 plus $1.00 for chocolate chips), and they were pretty good too - good texture, quite fluffy and flavourful - although I would have liked to see the (plenty) of chocolate chips spread through the pancakes a bit more, rather than concentrated in the middle of each. Neither of us liked their coffee at all, but, you know, it wasn’t poisonous.

The bill brought almost immediately after we were finished, but we were told to “take as long as we wanted” and brought more coffee. Overall, Dearborn served good food, but the standout for us was the extremely efficient service - our drinks, food, and refills all came in a crazy-timely fashion.

SCORECARD

Atmosphere	Price	Variety	Taste	Flexibility	Service
4	3.5	4	3.5	4	5
Cleanliness	Special		Flavour		Courtesy
4	$4.95 weekday/ $5.95 weekend		3.5		5
Ambience	Coffee		Cook		Speed
4	$1.95		4		5
	Pancakes		Coffee
	$5.95		2.5
	Omelette		Potatoes
	$8.50 (several items)		3.5

TOTAL SCORE: 4

Frieda's Place - 210 Pinebush Rd, Cambridge

3.5	71%	3.6	4	3.5

Frieda’s Place is an old-school diner, and has been a fixture in Hespeler for over 20 years. Based on their professional and informative website I was excited to visit, and tried out their breakfast on Hallowe’en with my aunt and grandmother, both Cambridge residents.  At Frieda’s you order at the counter and pay immediately (tip in the tip cup at cash); condiments, coffee, and water were all self-serve. The tables and decor were what I expected at this kind of place - sparse and utilitarian - but the place was clean and accessible.

Frieda’s prices were all very reasonable, and they offer all the standard breakfast things, with the addition of “bologna steak” as a meat option. The employee working the counter was slightly curt with us when we ordered, and while I understand that the self-serve nature of the diner can be a perk, having to jump up and down for everything including water, jam, and creamer got to be a serious hassle, and my food ended up colder than it might otherwise have been.

My grandmother and aunt ordered identical breakfast specials ($3.99) - eggs over-easy, rye toast (choice of white/brown/rye), bacon, and hashbrowns. Frieda’s provides generous servings, and this is particularly noticeable in the huge piles of potatoes! They both thoroughly enjoyed their breakfasts, (but also: criticism is not a strong point for either).

I ordered the breakfast slam, which included pancakes (or french toast), hash browns, toast (rye for me), eggs (scrambled), and meat (which I substituted for tomatoes, but was offered an additional egg as a substitute as well). It was okay, although I found it kind of bland - the scrambled eggs were weirdly light-coloured, the pancakes were fluffy but firm, the hashbrowns were the cubed-frozen-deep-fried kind, and the 3 tomato slices that were my sausage-substitute were verrrry thin cut.

At the end of the day, I kind of doubt Frieda’s “best breakfast in town” claims, but it was a perfectly adequate meal, and great for those who value quantity and price over quality.

SCORECARD

Atmosphere	Price	Variety	Taste	Flexibility	Service
3.5	4.5	3.5	3.75	4	3
Cleanliness	Special		Flavour		Courtesy
4	$3.99		3.5		3
Ambience	Coffee		Cook		Speed
3	$1.50		4		3
	Pancakes		Coffee
	$5.50		4
	Omelette		Potatoes
	$6.95 (several items)		3.5

Total Score: 3.75