Restaurant Review: Hathaway's Diner
HATHAWAY'S DINER
13225 132nd Street ~ hathawaysdiner.com Instagram: @hathaways_diner Co-Diner: Tim Golem
Don't mess with the classics. Who doesn't love a good, comforting diner experience? It feels wholesome and right. When Avenue Magazine said that Hathaway's was the Best Diner 2020 I had to check them out for myself. Located in Wellington, they're in a part of the city that I don't normally venture into. However, they've been around for over 13 years (which I didn't realize!) and have been making people happy with their filling meals ever since. In fact, they only do breakfast and lunch so don't be rolling in expecting to grab some eats later in the day. When I arrived on a Saturday morning there were customers outside waiting to get in - probably a good sign that people like this place. It didn't take too long (and the weather was lovely, making an outdoor wait pleasant) before we were seated inside at a table with a shiny aluminum top. The restaurant is cute and small, offering tons of kitsch all over the place. The floor is checkerboard and there are knickknacks as far as the eye can see. It's what you want your diner to be, honestly. The music was also very good. I think that they were just playing the radio (which feels like a Saturday morning to me, complete with the smell of bacon in the air) but I liked all of the songs. Our server was extremely friendly and happily collected our order. Although I will say that the service was a bit on the slow side and we felt somewhat forgotten about on several occasions. The restaurant was completely full of customers and I understand that it was a busy time of day. But still, a little more attention when needed would've been nice. Hathaway's offers extra special things on Saturdays! For example, they only make eggs benedict on Saturday. There's an entire whiteboard devoted to the day's specials but it was the Drink Special which caught my eye: Mimosa ($6.99).
I normally order black tea when I have breakfast in a diner setting but I figured that this was a good opportunity to treat myself! Unfortunately our server forgot about my mimosa and I had to ask for it a second time, hoping to receive it before the meal was finished. But it did arrive and was super cute with a cherry on top. Unfortunately, I found myself asking if there was any champagne in it at all (or if they had forgotten it). I'm used to a much more obvious taste of champagne and effervescence, of which this had barely any. Seemed pretty expensive for a flute of orange juice (not fresh-squeezed). There are tons of breakfast options on the menu and the majority of them are exactly the types of dishes that you hope for when you visit a diner. They do skillets and omelettes, as well as the aforementioned eggs benedict on Saturdays. However, I was in the mood to go ultra classic - it seemed like the right thing to do. Hence the Breakfast Classics with Bacon or Sausage ($11.99) being the choice for me.
The food itself was served quite quickly and an ideal plate of breakfast comfort food was laid before me. I also enjoyed that our server automatically brought two different types of hot sauce to our table, which I appreciated as a hot sauce-loving kind of girl. I ordered my eggs "over-medium," which is the way to go in my opinion. This cook tends to avoid any of the white being runny, which I personally dislike. These eggs were done perfectly! A few shakes of salt and pepper on top and they were exactly the way that I like them. I went with the toast and hashbrowns as opposed to pancakes. I was offered about three different types of bread to choose from and selected the sourdough. Nicely buttered, I loved the slightly tart flavour of the sourdough and enjoyed adding peanut butter and strawberry jam to my slices. The hashbrowns were pleasantly tender, however I found them a little light for my taste. I would have preferred a bit more crispy browning which would have added a bit more flavour. But after some salt and some ketchup and hot sauce to dip into, they were acceptable. I chose bacon as my meat and requested that it be prepared "extra crispy." And it was! The bacon was served exactly the way that I like it, nice and crispy, without any chewy fatty parts. I was also impressed at the amount of bacon served on the plate, as I'm sure that I was given at least four strips. This meal was pretty darn close to ticking every box in terms of creating a comforting, classic breakfast plate. I couldn't leave before getting some pie! Hathaway's is known for serving amazing homemade pies and of course I wanted to try a slice. On my visit there were nine different types to choose from. However, we waited and waited and no one returned to clear away our breakfast dishes or to ask if we wanted anything else or even to drop off a bill. Eventually my husband got up and went up to the cash to pay for our meal and while doing so he asked for a slice of Flapper Pie to-go.
Flapper pie is a TOTAL prairie-Canada thing. I'd never even heard of it before moving to the west. It is made with a vanilla custard topped with meringue on a graham cracker crust. It's a lot of fluffy textures and pleasingly sweet flavours. This was a great version of the iconic flapper and I especially liked the addition of graham cracker on top for a bit of added bite. Hathaway's Diner is the complete opposite of an upscale, pretentious brunch joint. And while I believe that there is a time and place for both, sometimes you just want a diner that will give you exactly what you grew up with, because that's what's in your heart. Hathaway's does a pretty good job of offering exactly that.
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