ottawa foodies

Just a pile of standard mashed potatoes, meh... but crisp fry large chunks of it, maybe throw in some onions, peppers, bacon, and yeah, i’ll allow that as home fries.

The "are mashed potatoes suitable breakfast potato" question has been an ongoing debate between my group of friends for the better part of a decade.

I am firmly on the pro side and like the mashed potatoes as a vessel for yolk and beans.

Admittedly I haven't been to ESD for breakfast in awhile so can't comment on the current quality.

I hadn’t been to Elgin Street Diner since 2006, and now I remember why.

Service was non-existent at our table (but given exceptionally to the table next to ours of two military bros), which is unfortunate because we could have flagged that mashed potatoes are not homefries earlier on in our experience.

When we did mention it, our server argued that this was a reasonable expectation of what homefries are, going so far as to open a Wikipedia article to build his case. (Potatoes that are wedged, diced, sliced, shredded, all apply. Mashed does not appear, if you’re curious.)

The trick, if you must eat here, it seems, is to order fries, not homefries. The latter remains an awful pile of gently fried mush made with margarine. They reminded me of Sherriff instant potatoes. $30 for two breakfasts and one coffee is also a steep price to pay for what this was.

Date of Visit: December 3, 2013

I don’t often eat a full breakfast when I am on culinary adventures to Ottawa (or elsewhere, for that matter) and this mostly because I prefer to only have something light in the early morning so as to save myself for lunch. On this particular occasion, I was up very early and, having spied this place on a tour of the neighborhood, I decided to give it a try…

The Meal
Pea-meal Bacon Breakfast ... Rating: 4 out of 4

Overall
The Elgin Street Diner is obviously a very popular place and deservedly so. It serves good, cheap, and hearty fare around the clock and has a very inviting and cozy atmosphere that makes eating there a pleasure. I would certainly return and I rate it at an unstinting 5 out of 5.

See a full pictorial review at: sybaritica.me

Today for breakfast, the Elgin Street Diner had on special their "OMG Eggs Benedict," which is a bacon cheddar grilled cheese sandwich with a couple of poached eggs on top, covered with hollandaise of course. It was delicious in that "well, I don't have to have that again for another year or two" sort of way.

You can have the sandwich done with whole wheat, white or egg bread. I chose the egg bread, but next time I will choose the whole wheat, as a bit more texture to the bread would have been nice.

Went there for breakfast a few times.
I always order the Dagwood club sandwich.
Very high and soooo delicious. Make sure
you're hungry or better...you can actually
share it. There's enough for two unless
you're a baseball player. Service can
sometimes be a bit slow but not bad for
a super busy place. Try the Dagwood...
Yummy for my tummy!!! :)

Went for breakfast here once. I found the restaurant dirty. The service was slow and not very friendly. My eggs were overcooked and I don't know who thought frying mashed potatoes in a clump on a griddle would be appetizing? It was a mush that was sort of greyish in colour and still sort of cold in the middle. Wow, ESD wins my all time worst breakfast ever award! Mark me questionable if you must... somethings just have to be said.

I've been there while under the influence and didn't really enjoy it either. I had the smoked meat - however I'm from Montreal and spoiled on late night dining :)

The one visit was my only one so I cannot comment on the food at other times of the day.

Sorry, why is Dita's comment flagged but not Snoopy Loopy's????

Drunk people are the only reason why this place is still running.

Have you ever been here at 3am on a weekend?

Late night indulging on a bacon and onion poutine at ESD. I understand there is controversy but I personally enjoy their poutine. Sure, it's not an every day poutine but they have great fries and they really don't skimp on the portion and toppings. This was $12.99 and easily satisfied two very hungry people

Is there anything else on the menu!?
As a fan of shoestring fries I enjoy the fries here and the generous portion is adequate to soak up certain preferred beverages. Being open at all hours is also a plus. All in all just an average poutine that I would never eat sober.

One of the grossest poutine's around. a disgrace to poutine...but when it's the only thing open at 4 a.m..what else can you do? lol

The only time I eat it is when drunk.
I do like the fact it is vegetarian.
It is very salty and the fries are way too thin for my liking.

Love it because it is VEGETARIAN! That's right, apparently it's a mushroom based gravy!

The poutine here is way too salty and I find it has an aftertaste. The fries are often limp and get soggy too fast.

I'm a hardcore poutine nut, and every time I go to ESD (at the request of my not-so-French spouse), I order the poutine; not because I enjoy it, but because I forgot how lame it was the last time.

Their fries are just too small and shriveled to adequately serve as a vessel for the gravy and cheese. If only they'd cut them twice bigger, it would be pretty darn decent.

I had an underwhelming smoked meat poutine last Friday. The meat was not the problem (fairly average yet tasty), but the poutine itself just wasn't up to snuff. The skinny fries were off-putting, and it didn't feel like there were enough cheese curds. Still, where else is an inebriated person going to get poutine after midnight?

I like it thin and salty - you can better eat it with a knife and fork. The gimmicky experimentation also kind of charms me. But really it's just the fact that they celebrate poutine and give it special billing on the menu that urges me to celebrate alongside. I think my fave for the actual food is the light blue fry truck that parks(ed) along Slater near Kent and Bank Streets.

Count me in that camp too. I found it way too salty (and I like salt) and with the skinny little fries it's nothing like real p'tin. But... it's still better than no poutine!!

The banana chocolate milkshake at the diner is quite possibly the best diner shake out there. Pass on the poutine, go for the milkshakes.

Sorry - I just can't get down with the fried mashed potatoes instead of homefries. I've tried to like this place, but there's much better value and food out there as far as breakfasts are concerned. The 24-hour breakfast special used to be ~$4 and it's probably twice that these days.

This restaurants thrives on it's reputation and location (OK the poutine is good, I'll give them that)

This sandwich is delicious as far as vegetarian diner fare goes, but when compared to anywhere that specializes in veggie-based meals, I give it a big fat meh. I'd reccomend using a red pepper spread instead of mayo to add flavour, and knock down the price! C'mon, I know what vegetables and bread cost.