Baker Street Cafe

I never did post here about this little place, and I’d been meaning to for some time.

Baker Street Cafe opened earlier this year in what used to be an Irish pub called Annie’s. They seem to be pretty popular for breakfasts and claim they have been given a ‘Best Breakfast in Ottawa’ award. Before we went here, I’d heard they were a place to go if you wanted down to earth, honest and wholesome food.

Sounds pretty good, right? Well, maybe not.

The first problem we noticed when we came in was the fact that the place still really looks like a pub. The lighting inside is poorly done, so that unless you’re right at the window (where it is too bright on a sunny day) you’ll feel like you’re in a dark and dingy place. They’ve also painted one entire wall with chalkboard paint, which is good for functionality (they can write all the daily specials and such on it) but not so good for reflecting light and giving some warmth to the place. Rich commented that it felt like having breakfast at The Dom.

We also noticed the floors were pretty dirty. Now, I’m not a neat freak by any stretch of the imagination, but when Rich reached down to adjust the coasters propping up one end of our table (which was another problem in and of itself) he noticed some old french fries and other bits of food under the table. Yuck. Needless to say, we switched to a booth shortly after.

We also had a bit of a problem getting our server’s attention. She seemed to be pre-occupied with something else, and while other tables were offered coffee refills with good frequency, we only got one near the very beginning of our meal. We weren’t the only table with that problem; another table had ordered drinks that never arrived. It wasn’t unfriendly service at all, just inconsistent.

All of that said, here’s the thing: The food really is good. I had eggs florentine, which was delicious. The eggs were perfectly poached, the sauce was a good consistency, and the accompanying roast potatoes and fruit were delicious. Rich had their cinnamon raisin French toast, which came with sausages or bacon (he chose sausages) and fresh fruit. He said the French toast was delicious, but he was a bit surprised at the fact that their sausage is the large ‘banger’ variety rather than breakfast links, which are what one would expect with breakfast. Even so, the sausage was tasty, just unexpected.

While food quality was good, we found food quantity was a bit much. We know people like to have the best ‘bang for their buck’ but honestly, there was too much food on our plates. We both felt overly full when we left, and neither of us cleaned our plates. So if you’re going to head here for breakfast, I suggest you go very hungry, or share plates with someone else.

Would we go again? Probably not. I think I’d order take-out if possible, but I found the place a bit too dark and dingy to want to sit and have breakfast there again.

Baker Street Cafe, 385 Richmond Road, 613-729-8807. Breakfast for one with coffee, $10-$15.