Tutti Fruitti

On our way to Little Ray's Reptile Zoo this morning, we stopped for some breakfast at Tutti Fruitti. This restaurant is very similar to Coras, with sculpted fruit plates and many options including crepes, omelettes, etc. Inside it is a loud and busy restaurant with many tables and there was no line.


We were seated right away, given high chairs, children's menu, crayons. Coffees were ordered and drinks for the littles. Our waitress looked just like Brittany S. Pierce from Glee and I thought that was funny. Behind our table was a chef who worked exclusively on the fruit in his own designated open kitchen. Next to that was a busy kitchen with a dozen cooks and a cafeteria look where the waitresses helped themselves to certain portions of the meals including cereals and toasts.


We chose a fruity feta omelette, Asparagus and Swiss Benedict, and chocolate chip and banana pancakes. They took about 10 minutes to bring out the adult meals while the kids waited an extra 5 minutes for their food. Any parent knows that this is a big no-no for restaurants who cater to families.


The benedict was good. Not exceptional, but I enjoyed it. The waitress asked casually while ordering if I want onions in the home fries. I didn't realize that they would charge an extra dollar for them. I was disappointed that they weren't actually cooked with them, but rather poured on top. They seemed to be steamed and were very flavorless. Not a happy addition to the side at all. The fruit was great. Nicely sculpted and perfectly ripe. Toast Man enjoyed the feta omelette very much. It contained large chunks of feta cheese and green and red peppers. The pancakes were quite good too. The kids really enjoyed the big selection of fruits available.


The service wasn't great. We waited for a while for our coffees to be refilled and it only happened once. The prices were average for that type of restaurant, though the kids meal was reasonably priced at $5. Coffee was not included in the price, either.

The menu is available online here

Toast Rating

 

Family Friendliness
Speed of Service
Food Quality/Taste

Stone Face Dolly's

With a thirst for a more upscale breakfast experience this morning, we left our suburb to travel down to Little Italy this morning. Our destination: Stone Face Dolly's, which was boasted to us by many as the best breakfast in Ottawa. We were warned of a long wait, and without good reason. The line was out the door. Funny enough, we met 2 different people we knew inside. It is certainly a popular spot. Once we were  seated (about a 20 minute wait) we put Toast Boy in a high chair and check out  the menu. There was no children's menu but the adult menu looked amazing.
We ordered 2 coffees and a mango-orange  juice for Toast Girl (sadly, not as good as we had hoped). They were brought right away by our very friendly waitress. The staff was all very quick and very
friendly. The owner came over to say hi  to the kids for a bit and our coffees  were constantly full.

We carefully selected our meal choices. It all sounded so good. We settled on banana bread French toast for the kids, a 2 egg breakfast for Toast Man, and the standard eggs benedict with in-house made brown bread instead of English muffins.

The food came out surprisingly quickly. It was certainly less than 10 minutes,  but cooked perfectly to our requests, hot and delicious. The banana bread French Toast was a huge hit for the kids. I tried it too and it was even better than it sounded. The benedict had a unique seasoning that was slightly spicy. It was complimented by the sweet bread that was  the base of the benedict. It was served  with a bowl of fruit. The 2 egg breakfast was made better than average with their potato side and home-made bread. As recommended by a friend in line, the hot-sauce provided on the table, made the meal even more delicious. 

The price tag was on the high end. Our meal cost us over $50. Coffee was not included and there was no children's pricing. 

Overall, we were happy with our experience here. Children are clearly not the target market, but if your kids appreciate a delicious meal and are capable of waiting in line for a while, then I wouldn't dismiss it. For our readers without kids, just do it. Its worth every penny.

 

Price range: $7.25-$16.75

The menu is available online here

Toast Rating:



Family Friendliness
Speed of Service  (Once seated the service was very fast. There was a 20 minute wait for the table, and often much longer waits)

Food Quality/Taste

Elgin Street Diner

Saturday we went to Winterlude and Toast Man was very keen on eating at ESD downtown afterwards. Parking was hard to find and we only found a spot a few blocks away. After a mad dash through the cold, we walked in. It was a very busy place with tons of tables pushed close together. We were seated at the back of the restaurant and given a colouring menu, crayons, and a high chair. We ordered coffees and milk and checked out the menu. We were pretty late, but were set on breakfast. We ordered the All day breakfast and Toast Girl ordered blueberry pancakes.

While we waited, we watched massive plates of food carried to different tables. I had debated ordering a poutine, but when one was lugged across the dining room standing nearly a foot tall and wide, I thought that my diet would thank me for passing. They looked so good!

Our food didn't take too long to arrive. It included eggs, toast (white, whole wheat, rye, egg, etc!), meat, beans, and homefries. Coffee is included. The homefries were like a mashed potato but very tasty. The kids pancakes tasted home made and were finished by toast girl. The food was all palatable and satisfying. It wasn't anything amazingly unique, but it was pretty decent none the less.

If you have kids in diapers, change them before arriving. There are no change tables and the bathroom is tiny.

 

Price Range $7.99-$13.99

 

The menu is available online here

Toast Rating

 

Family Friendliness
Speed of Service

Food Quality/Taste

Cheshire Cat

On Sunday afternoon, we were in the Stittsville area and decided to go to lunch at the Cheshire cat. We had planned to do breakfast here with a friend, but figured that while we had lunch, we could check out the breakfast menus for next time. When we entered we were awed at the atmosphere. It felt like we were stepping through the doors of a traditional pub in the Cotswolds. The feeling was amplified by the heads of most of the patrons that turned to look at us as we entered as if to ask "Who are you?". I almost expected the staff to have British accents. They didn't. We were led up the old wooden stairway to the top floor where we sat by candlelight at one of the tables with old wooden mismatched chairs. The room was filled with young children, seniors, and everyone in between. Clearly this was a favorite among many. The service was friendly and the food was delicious. It turned out that there was only one breakfast option, and Pat ended up getting it. It was a sausage and over easy eggs meal. The sausages were great and the food was all delicious. I had a cauliflower soup with a chicken sandwich and Toast Girl had a grilled cheese sandwich. We left the restaurant feeling as though we had experienced, not only a delicious meal, but also a piece of history.

The next morning, before we had even written up our review, I heard some very sad news. The Cheshire cat had caught fire that very night and was burning to the ground. We are so sad to hear about the destruction of this community gem and my heart goes out to the owners, staff, and regular customers. The owners plan to rebuild and there is a project on the go called "Keep Calm and Rebuild The Cat". In the meantime, you could support their sister restaurant, Alice's Village Cafe. A trip is planned soon for the Toast family, so stay tuned.

The news story is available online here

Lonestar - Kanata

When someone told me that my favorite restaurant would be offering breakfast, I let our a little squeal of excitement. Today we got the opportunity to try it out and we weren't disappointed. We arrived at Lone star (Located on March Road at Carling) at opening time-10am ready to eat! We were the first customers to arrive and were seated in the middle of the restaurant at a big table to accommodate our group. We were brought high chairs and a kids menu with crayons. Lone star also offers a unique carseat holder so that the bucket seats could sit along side the table like a high chair. Toast girl's orange juice came in a small plastic cup with a lid and straw and a couple baskets of chips and salsa were placed on the table to stall our hunger before the food arrived. The menu was what you would hope for from this restaurant. Breakfast Fajitas, Huevos Rancheros, Breakfast Enchiladas, and of course a 2 egg breakfast. There was only one children's option- Eggs with toast and bacon. The coffee was really tasty. I'm not sure what they put in it. Cinnamon maybe? I just wish that the waitress had returned with it more often. The food took a long time to arrive, which was surprising because there were very few customers there. It was worth the wait, though. My mouth is still watering just thinking about it. The breakfast fajitas are made very similarly to the dinner version. Scrambled egg and your choice of steak or pork grilled with onions and peppers are brought out on a sizzling skillet. You roll your own fajitas using a tray of toppings (salsa, sour cream, Pico de Gallo, etc) and their amazing tortillas. The enchiladas were made with the same delicious tortillas stuffed with seasoned scrambled eggs, grilled peppers and onions, and topped with a salsa-like sauce and cheese. They came with spicy baked beans. It was all fantastic. The kids breakfast was good except that the eggs were very peppery. Toast Girl had a bite and got upset because they were spicy. The waitress was very nice about quickly bringing her a new plate of scrambled eggs without any seasoning. Toast Boy, who will eat anything, gobbled up her spicy eggs in no time. Once the eggs were replaced, she cleared her plate. It came with eggs, bacon, toast, and beans. Our breakfast guests had the Texas two deal with the eggs, bacon or sausage, toast, and beans. The place is quite family friendly. It is big and no problem if the kids are loud. There are change tables in the bathroom, plenty of high chairs/booster seats/carseat holders and the staff is all very friendly.

The menu is available online here


Price Range: $6-$12 coffee is extra at $3

Toast Rating

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