ottawa foodies

Decent family-friendly atmosphere. Not the greatest food, but not bad if you want straightforward traditional fare.

We went to pick up our son from the skate park at 11:00 AM (they rented the place for their group for $200 for their cycling team for 2 hours). Since the indoor skate park is close to St. Laurent Street, we decided to have brunch at Perkins after we picked him up.

The place was packed as usual. Many people waited inside and outside already. So, the staff told us our wait time would be about 20 minutes. She gave us a wireless type coaster pager (www.pager.net). So, we picked up the menu and used the wait time to review the menu. We didn't wait for too long and we were alerted by the coaster (it flashed and vibrated) when our table was ready.

Overall, the food was fine. Please see the photo below for the food we ordered. Not too much excitment for egg and sauage type food.

The food is so so. But I like the atmosphere there. We took our friends there for a breakfast on a Sunday and the place was packed. We had to line up and waited for about 20 minutes. I remember that their special was a good deal.

The Buttermilk 5 looks impressive, but that was just too much pancake and sugar for me! Tasty though. Would make a great sharing plate for a group having some eggs.

The pancakes here taste like they came from a mix. An awesome, perfect, addictive mix! I first had them many years ago, and I recently returned with my kids to see if they were as great as I remembered them. Yup!

The rest of the breakfast was fine. It's great to see real hashbrowns being served! The huge carafe of self-serve coffee is nice.

At $10.99 + $2.59 coffee, this was not a cheap breakfast. But 3 meats plus pancakes! I didn't need to eat anymore that day.

Service was super friendly too. A real treat!

This is the BBQ Bacon Supreme Burger ($8.99) my son ordered. He told me it was good. I am sure that he was hungry after 2-hour non-stop exercise.

I wasn't too hungry. So, I ordered the Classics egg favourites which includes 2 sunny side eggs, hash browns, 3 buttermilk pancakes and sausage (or bacon). I think it is a good deal for $6.89.

This is the Granny's Country Omelette ($9.29) my husband ordered. Wrapped inside are diced ham, onions, chedder cheese, celery and green peppers. Also served with 3 buttermilk pancakes and hash browns.

While they're not exactly high quality, I have to admit that I do like the pies at Perkins. Their caramel apple is decadently sweet and a nice, rich treat. Their chocolate silk resembles chocolate pudding under a mass of whipped cream and chocolate shavings, but even then, it's quite addictive and there's no way you can stop at one piece. Right now for breakfast, I'm chowing down on a coconut cream pie from them, and while there's a hint of chemical taste, it's not nearly as prevalent as most mass-produced commercial baked goods and the flavours are quite nice as evidenced by the hefty dent I've put in it, sitting here with the pie plate and a fork. They also put in a nice amount of detail with respect to appearance, from the aforementioned chocolate shavings on the silk chocolate pie to the toasted coconut on the coconut cream.

Pretty good value for $12... a huge step up from the garbage pies they sell at the grocery stores that usually taste like fruit swimming in a gluey, cornstarch rich paste, wedged into a cheap, tough crust (ick)!