To celebrate an early Father's Day, we headed to the Atrium Cafe for brunch yesterday with my family-in-law. We requested to come here, because this was the place where I first met the future in-laws, and also because we had become such regulars at Tom Goodchild's Moose Factory that we've actually just nicknamed it the "Moose." Not good, even though their brunch is pretty good.
Anyway, when we arrived (late) and got seated, my first thought was, "I need some coffee!" Unfortunately, the server did not come around nearly frequenty enough at the beginning of our meal, so I did not have coffee for the first 20 minutes that I was there. Not good for a brunch where coffee is considered a staple beverage. As well, there were no glasses of water on the table. I failed to notice if perhaps the water was at the "beverage station" where an assortment of juices and punches were available for people to get, but my thought is that water should always be served at the table, because it too is a staple beverage of most meals.
The atmosphere was great, however. Their indoor fountain was running, and I think that there is truly nothing more soothing than the sound of running water. The atrium also has a lot of skylights, enough to allow natural light to pour into the area.
When we got up to get our food, I was at first a little lost. Because of the layout of the atrium, the brunch is not centralized to one particular location, but rather, spread out in stations over a large area. From where we were sitting, we passed through the following stations (in this order):
-the fruit station (consisting of assorted melons, citrus fruits, and strawberries)
-the dessert station (featuring bread pudding and a "display case" filled with squares, cookies, cheesecakes, and tortes)
-the omelette station
-the cold cuts / cheeses / seafood station
-the breakfast foods stations (the first one offering eggs benedict, cubed potato hash browns, French toast, and pancakes, and the second one offering scrambled eggs, sausages, and bacon)
-the lunch foods stations (the day's features were wild rice pilaf, beef stew, grilled veggies, and roast beef)
-a full waffle loading station
-a beverage station
-the salad station
-the bread station (which not only offered breads and buns, but croissants, muffins, banana bread, and pound cake)
Impressive spread, non? I thought it was very thorough, although with quantity came a loss of some quality. The roast beef was over-done and very dry, and the stew looked rather unappetizing and not loaded enough. As well, the bacon was done en masse and you could tell it had lost some of its flavour in the cooking process; I actually found the sausages more tasty than the bacon (which says a lot coming from a bacon addict such as myself). The salads were pretty ordinary as well, and nothing too memorable. They also ran out of the dessert I had wanted before I could get a piece - the Skor and Baileys cheesecake. =(
However, the omelettes (so I am told by my Hubbs) were delicious, and so was the fresh shrimp cocktail. They also served my favourite type of potatoes, the cubed hash brown kind. The waffle station boasted quite a selection of toppings, and the seafood station was pretty extensive as well (although there was no sushi offered!). The desserts included soft cookies and an assortment of squares (not pieces of cake cut into squares), and a very appealing assortment of caked desserts, including tiramisu and oreo cheesecake. Their fruit selection was also ample, which I appreciate given that many other places tend to only offer one platter of fruit, rather than platters and bowlfuls of different kinds of fruits.
Overall, this is a good extensive brunch to take your family to. It has enough variety to cater to every type of food lover, and although the quality isn't consistently first-rate, there are definitely some very delicious dishes mixed in with the more standard fare. Although the brunch is a tad on the pricy side, it is a nice treat to have once every so often.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
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