AUNTIES AND UNCLES (74 Lippincott St.)
For my brunch adventure this week I, thankfully, wasn’t hung-over and decided that it was time to see what all the fuss was about at Aunties and Uncles. I had been hearing about this place since moving to Toronto, but living in Passy meant taking an hour-long transit ride downtown, followed by what I had heard was an extremely long wait prior to getting seated. Essentially, I would have had to eat breakfast before heading out to brunch, and I was not interested. However, when I set out this week I had very high hopes, as many have heralded Aunties and Uncles as “the best” brunch spot in Toronto. Unfortunately, my brunch bubble was burst when my experience did not live up to the hype. Let’s break it down:
Brunch Hours
Aunties and Uncles specializes in brunch/lunch and is open seven days a week from 9:00-3:00. Despite what I wrote above, even the most hung-over souls from Passy should be able to stumble their way downtown before it closes.
Wait Time/Service
I had heard that Aunties and Uncles gets insanely busy on the weekend, so I chose to go at 12:30 on a Friday afternoon. Though it wasn’t too busy, my breakfast companion (BC) and I had to wait a while for a table and I was honestly very confused about their wait system. When I tried to put my name on a list, I was given a judgmental look and told to sit in a line of chairs outside; clearly, I was not hip enough to dine here. Nothing pisses me off more than a lack of organization, and I imagine that on very busy days and in the wintertime this system just does not work very well, but maybe I’m wrong. Regardless, we were eventually called forward and taken to our table.
My biggest issue with Aunties and Uncles was the poor service. After seating us, our server wandered around the restaurant aimlessly while singing along to the music for ten minutes before he bothered to take our order. We then waited roughly twenty-five minutes for our food and were not given any drink refills in the meantime – but more on this below.
Atmosphere
Despite the poor service, I really like the atmosphere at Aunties and Uncles: located in an old house, it is decorated with old signs and kitschy wallpaper, and reminded me of the type of place you find in a beach community. While we were there, the speakers were pumping out music from The Beatles and The Boss (or “Brucey” as one of the servers exclaimed), but not too loudly to interfere with conversation. This is definitely a spot where you can talk freely about last night with your friends, but not necessarily a place I would take my parents (they aren’t aging hipsters, but if yours are, they might like it). Unfortunately, my BC and I were stuck at an awkwardly placed table next to the cash register, meaning we couldn’t privately discuss our server’s complacent attitude, as he was sipping his coffee a mere two feet away.
Coffee
The coffee wasn’t great, but wasn’t terrible. What WAS terrible was that we finished our first cups within five minutes of sitting down and our server didn’t come by to ask if we wanted more. To refresh your memory, I hardly function prior to getting at least three cups of coffee in me, so I grew increasingly irritable the longer we waited. Once we got our food, we still weren’t offered more coffee and it wasn’t until I called him over that our server finally refilled our mugs.
LLBO licensed
While I definitely could have used a drink to go with the shade I was being served, Aunties and Uncles doesn’t serve alcohol so I was shit out of luck.
The Food
The menu was more lunch than brunch, made up of a few traditional breakfast choices and a number of sandwiches. My BC was disappointed that, though Aunties and Uncles has a standard breakfast – eggs with your choice of any three of ten options including toast, bacon, fruit, and home fries – you can only get your eggs scrambled. Eventually, he settled on the Cinnamon French Toast, and I got the Omelette of the Day.
Despite all my other complaints, I thought the food was great. My omelette – comprised of zucchini, eggplant, roasted red peppers and provolone – was delicious. It came with challah bread and home fries, the latter of which were pretty decent. My BC was satisfied with his French Toast, but noted that the only thing that distinguished it from other places was that it came with real maple syrup.
Cost: Omelette ($8.75) and coffee ($2.25) = $11 plus tax.
Thankfully, Aunties and Uncles is a place where you can get brunch for under $10; however, if my review hasn’t deterred you, beware that this is a CASH ONLY establishment.
| SERVICE | 1/5 Dean Sossins |
| ATMOSPHERE | 3/5 Dean Sossins |
| FOOD | 4/5 Dean Sossins |
| OVERALL | 3/5 Dean Sossins |