Nicky’s Grant Street, located inside the Grant Building and in the heart of Downtown, is not dissimilar to a Waffle House diner. It has classic staples like French toast, pancakes, waffles, eggs and meat.
There are booths inside separated by glass and a TV in each room. The one in front of me was tuned to CNN. Its view was partially blocked by cleaner bottles and other items on the counter.
There’s no way you could go wrong with breakfast here. Except with human error. The waitress was very kind, but mistakenly overcharged $0.40 for the French Toast.
I initially excused being charged $7.15, thinking that it was to cover rising egg costs. Listed on the menu, French Toast costs $6.75.
When I visited Nicky’s last Thursday, it was a day after The Globe published. Had our news article that featured Nicky’s made them reconsider their stance on egg surcharges? Or was it simple human error? They weren’t advertising the surcharge. It had to be human error. Right?
While fussing over $0.40 is pretty petty, at the end of the day, I’m just a penny pinching college student.
It was my fault for not reviewing the receipt. Luckily for them, I’m not angry or bitter about it. The meal was already cheap. The restaurant also has subjectively good food and service.
A few minutes after I ordered, the Belgian Waffle was delivered to my table in a flash. The square edges were crispy and the inside layer was soft and warm. There it was in its large and fluffy glory. The edges were made up of unburnt and overflowed waffle mix. It crisped nicely.
(Photo by Cassandra Harris)
With the addition of thick, individually-packaged syrup, each bite was a sweet treat. On the side, the whipped butter added extra carbs.
As someone who typically skips waffles and pancakes due to the floury taste, the waffle mix created at Nicky’s is balanced. So I would order this again, especially for the sprinkling of powdered sugar and its crispy edges.
Next, the French toast (listed for $6.75, but costing $7.15) also hit its mark. Two thick slices of bread were cut into four triangles. The edge crust was chewy. The center was gooey. I could tell that eggs were inside, but I couldn’t taste the extra $0.40 worth.
This difference between this French toast and others was the choice of bread. It, like the waffle’s, was balanced, and created a great mixture of soft and chewy texture.
Last was the #2 special. It came with two eggs, home fries, toast and jelly.
With the first bite, the toast attempted to disintegrate in my mouth. I didn’t eat it further than that. Calling last week’s meat pie similar to sand was an over exaggeration. This bread was it.
The solution is to either not order toast, or ask them to lower the toaster setting on my next visit.
As for the two scrambled eggs, which I wasn’t charged extra for, they were good. Although I was surprised. Aside from the bread, none of Nicky’s dishes were browned. The eggs were yellow and on the perfect verge of under and overcooked.
As for the home fries, they too were on the verge. They were between cooked and undercooked. Each potato was firm, but plenty soft to enjoy. They were covered in oil and tasted fatty, but the quantity of them was filling.
For the price and the short walk, Nicky’s Grant Street breakfast is worth visiting. Especially when it slows around 11 p.m. It’s quiet inside and a nice place to accomplish work until the lunch rush begins.
Cassandra rated Nicky’s Grant Street 3.5 Globes out of 5.
