Thursday, April 12, 2007

Athenian Brunch

It is Saturday, in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Resurrecting myself from the near dead, I am ready for some sustenance around noon. L and I head out in the general direction of Quinpool Road, passing various lunch/brunch options until we are in front of the Athens, a place we used to haunt, but have gotten away from of late. There are plenty of seats, so, why not, for old time’s sake?

Inside we wait innocently to be seated, and oddly, the first person to notice the lineup walks right by us and asked the person behind us how many are in their party. OK, I didn’t have a morning shower, alright! But maybe she could have at least wrinkled her nose as she totally ignored me. Sheesh….

Feeling like chopped liver, we get seated by another staffer who apparently noticed what had happened, and who seated us with a grin, making some minor apology for her cow-worker’s action.

Things get better from here, though.

The service we eventually get is great, fast and attentive. My fish cakes were really good, a mix of salt cod and fresh cod, with a crispy outer and soft inner. Not too salty, either, which is hard to do. The home fries are good (though not approaching those at Johnny’s), the toast not too burnt, and I am happy. L has poached eggs and toast, with sausages that she makes disappear in short time.

The coffee is OK, and is replenished at suitable interval.

The odd thing is that, unlike my memory of this place, it is not packed. There are ample open seats (we scored one of the booths right along the window) and good service is easy to provide because of that. We have some problem getting a bill to leave, perhaps being caught in the middle of a shift change, but otherwise, a solid Halifax brunch experience.

No comments: