Port Coquitlam BC
We visited for the first time the other day after hearing many good things about the place. We’ve actually tried to go a couple times and then line up his been out the door. But today there was no line up so we only had to wait 5 or 6 minutes to be seated at one of the 5 empty tables
The restaurant has quite a nice atmosphere. Lots of natural light and it’s very welcoming.
Unfortunately though our visit today did not live up to expectations.
We ordered three dishes today.
The Lois and Clark Benny.
Not soft poached eggs, gouda, avocado and ham. Deep fried hash browns. $21
The Big Swim
Scrambled eggs very overdone, lox, toast and fresh fruit. $24
One thing I wish restaurants would do is differentiate between lox and smoked salmon. I realize lox is a type of smoked salmon. But it doesn’t taste the same or have the same texture as regularly smoked salmon. For those of us that like smoked salmon but dislike lox this is always a problem for us when we see smoked salmon on the menu. More often than not they mean lox.
And the Blacksmith Benny.
Not soft poached eggs, cheddar, not crispy bacon and avocado. Deep fried hash browns. $25 ($3 upcharge for avocado)
Unfortunately in all three dishes our eggs were badly overcooked. I’m not sure what’s going on in the kitchen but for a breakfast restaurant this is an area that certainly could be improved. One would think of all things that you could cook right in a breakfast restaurant would be the eggs.
Two other notes I have for the chef.
The cheddar cheese in the Blacksmith Benny overpowers all other flavors in that dish. It should be removed or replaced with a milder cheese.
And the deep fried hash browns, which I seem to find more and more on breakfast plates lately, need to be rethought. You only do it to save time and they taste terrible. Put a nice oven roasted or a pan fried potato on there and you’re going to get much better feedback.
But the real elephant in the room was the prices.
Our bill came to $111 including taxes and tips. Yes even though we had rather unacceptable food I still left a tip.
So that $111 works out to be $37 a person. I am certainly not opposed to paying a lot of money for good food. I’ve eaten in Michelin starred restaurants and have no problems dropping $300 or $400 for a meal. But the difference is you got the quality you were expecting.a
And with the cost of everything in life going up these days it’s ever more important to get good value when you spend the little disposable income you have eating out.
We did not get good value today at the Big Flat Pancake.
As for the service. It was friendly but it wasn’t quick. I didn’t notice them to be noticeably short staffed so I’m not sure what was going on. Perhaps they were in training mode today?
Overall I cannot give the Big Flat Pancake a hearty recommendation. Someone pointed out to me maybe we should have stuck with their namesake, a big flat pancake. Perhaps they’re right.
Not recommended.