Starving Artist

I’m a total morning person and love the breakfast/​brunch focused menus. The menu is decently priced and is balanced between the sweet and savory dishes. Perfect for those people who need to satifsy their sweettooth in the early morns with items such as the caramel pecan waffle or fruity yogurt granola bowl. But I’m all about the savory. My «go-​to» item on the menu are their Benny Waffles, especially the Sammy Benny which contains Atlantic Salmon costs only $ 13. It comes with 2 sides a choice of fresh light green salad or assorted fruits and a side of beans or potatoe salad. I recommend trying their potatoe salad, it’s really good. You may even want to up your waffle to a potatoe waffle for a small extra charge. Sadly, Starving Artist will need to improve on their service. From the numerous times I’ve visited the St. Clair W location service was disappointing. It gets real busy and your caught waiting in line for about 10 – 15 minutes before someone actually notices you. You will need to get their attention if you want a spot.

Amazing food! I’ve been here 2 times and was not disappointed. I had the B-​benny and waffle bacon and oh boy is it good! They make waffles made out of mashed potatoes taste like heaven. I admit it can get crowded and busy… And unfortunately it has a big hipster vibe. But that doesn’t affect the taste of the food. I would definitely give this place a chance. The best time to go is during the weekdays when it first opens as it is empty. Way better than Boom Breakfast down the street.

This place has some of the best eggs bennies and what makes it unique is their potato waffles. Would definitely recommend this since waffles is their specialty. Service is not the best though, they always seem a bit disorganized when you’re waiting for a table and not the most efficient. Being said, this is still an excellent weekend brunch spot!

I came here for the benny on potato waffles. I was really excited about potato waffles, imagining something crispy-​crusty like a latke or rosti. So sad when it was actually mashed stodge instead. I don’t know if other people actually like that, or I just got a weirdly underdone batch or something. But it tasted like glue.

I’m going to write my review in point-​form because Starving Artist’s St. Clair location doesn’t deserve the time or effort a full review takes to write.
Here is a summary of my latest experience:
— arrived with a group (which included three young kids) at 12:30pm on New Years Eve day. We were told it would take 45 minutes for food to arrive
— seated 15 minutes later
— 30 minutes later we placed our order
— 10 minutes later we received our coffee
— after 1.5 hours, we inquired with our server how long it would take for our food. We were told «like, about forever.» Seriously
— food was finally brought to our table — oops, completely wrong orders. Sent back to the kitchen
— complimentary chocolate milks were brought to the table to thank us for our patience
— after nearly 2 hours, we complained to the «owner» that we still hadn’t received our food. He suggested, with attitude, that we get behind the counter to help (no, seriously!!!) and blamed everything on the servers (again, seriously!!!)
— colourful words were exchanged
— the manager told us to leave — in front of a full restaurant
— we left, baffled as to what just happened
Holy smokes. The absolute worst customer service in the game.

Super tasty food with very delicious coffee! The atmosphere is really interesting, they have a bunch of cool local art hung up with some fun music.
We came in for brunch/​lunch on a Tuesday around noon, thinking that it wouldn’t be too busy. It was pretty packed, but we got seated after twenty minutes or so. Our server forgot our order so we wound up waiting for a bit longer, but that can happen to any server, especially when it’s so busy.
Def recommend, it’s a really cute location with tasty food!

³⁄₅ not because of the food (which was GREAT) but the service was AWFUL.
A very busy place especially during brunch. We were first greeted by the cashier who told us to take a seat on the couches… but we waited a good 15 minutes and started noticing that 3 other larger groups (3 – 4 people) got seats before us. We then asked one of the servers and they clearly forgot about us and sent us back on the waiting couch.
You do wait another 20 minutes for food… It’s kind of funny how they actually make you STARVE for your waffles.
The potato-​waffles are a must-​try and the poached eggs were amazing! We truly enjoyed it.
They also only take cash. The cashier must have been a new employee, as we ended up paying more than we should have… but we just wanted to leave.
Hopefully service is better off at the Lansdowne location.

First impression:
Self seated, only there is no sign that indicates that so you’re standing there waiting only to be told you can seat yourself.
Cozy, Café interior, with great natural lighting except it was sunny as heck, leaving the front two dining tables blazing with sunshine so my party ended up sitting in the very back next to the washrooms.
Service: Service wasn’t horrible but wasn’t great; she was attentive, came by often but gave off a «i don’t care» vibe.
Food:
It’s good, I wasn’t wowed by it.
Waffles seemed soft/​soggy for my liking, not crunchy enough
Water is Lukewarm/​room temperature, and I’m not sure if ice is available but it wasn’t given
CASH ONLY — atm available with a $ 2 fee
I’d probably go again if it was last minute and I happened to be nearby, but I would not go out of the way to eat here

Very lazy service staff. 20 ppl waiting and 10 tables but not sitting anyone.
I’m by the food preparation station and after the bell rings, it takes 5 Mins for someone to grab it. The food is getting cold!
I see the staff just hanging around and talking.
Very frustrating experience.
Food was good though. If not I would have gave it 1 star.

Service wasn’t the best, but food was really tasty.
I don’t like to mess with classics, but I thought Starving Artist’s version of eggs benny on potato waffles were really delicious. Extremely rich, though. My order was the Hitchhiker — which was also great.
The service was a little lackluster. The food took a while to arrive, and when I ordered a coffee I was brought an Americano and told «this is our coffee». I didn’t really get a heads up on that, I might’ve asked for something different! Luckily I really enjoyed the Americano so I wasn’t too bothered. All in all: tasty food, OK service, will return but only if I’m in the area. We went out of our way to try this place because we loooove breakfast :)
Also, a lot of the dishes are waffle-​y. I’m not a waffle guy, more of a savory breakfast lover. So… if you’re into waffles… you might wanna give STarving ARtist a go

Oh I’m starving… for a better service model.
I don’t deny the relative goodness of Starving Artist’s waffle meals on top of waffles, stacked on waffled, cooked in a waffle maker and served with a side of waffles insanity. But the service here (at least at this original St Clair location; dunno about the other ones) is a waffle grid of a hot mess.
The aesthetical vibe I got of the place was as if the brunch sketches in various Portlandia episodes had a waffle-​making one night stand with an Ikea restaurant, and Starving Artist was the result. The tables sure enough were from Ikea, but were serviced by young hip staff, and the walls were mostly cladded with waffle-​themed pop art. Vintage gumball machines dispenses coffee beans. Washrooms are located on the main floor, with one accessible stall.
Service however needs a complete overhaul. How bout I give a gaming walkthrough of the experience:
LEVEL ONE: You enter the premises and now shall stand around waiting with others… for what? Press A now to leave. The barista does her own thing and ignores the stream of walk-​ins. There’s a living room-​like area for coffee suckers, but is mostly occupied by awaiting diners sitting on sofas with busted springs, as they flip through the menu and take selfies. Have a seat if you can, press B regularly to keep waiting until a passing waitress in between clearing tables a few minutes in acknowledges your existence.
LEVEL TWO: You have made it to a table of waffle doom! Surround yourself with a mix of dining hipsters and foodies, lunching families, and punks sipping on coffee like gentlemen. The server for your table turns to you, and – PRESS A QUICKLY NOW TO MAKE AN ORDER! – oh, sorry, ADHD distraction kicks in and she turns to an adjacent table for an inquiry. Uh, hello?
LEVEL THREE: Having slayed the evil waffle boss and saved your stomach from eternal hunger, you line up by the cash to pay, because you will learn they are too cool to give you a bill at the table like traditional restos do. Press B to use the ATM; this level is cash only. The cash girl flips through a stack of orders to find yours as she asked what you had.
Not impressed. This method of paying up front and nobody knows what you had and you have to tell them (for I know I could be paying for somebody else’s meal, or better yet not pay at all), is the apex of ridiculous inefficiencies of the ways this west end Toronto’s waffle house chain (at least this location) does things and conducts service, which may leave you literally #starving4waffles. I wouldn’t go back here unless they completely revamp the way things work.
{TTC (this location): 512 it to Northcliffe Blvd., or walk a couple short blocks east from Dufferin St. if you are using the 29 ‘Sufferin’}

Words of my husband: «Looks like everybody in here have kids or is pregnant…» My thoughts while reading the menu: Not a healthy diet place.
They are in love with waffles and everything in the menu has them. Either you choose regular, gluten free, vegan, potato, or whatever, you’ll see them in your plate. So don’t go here if you don’t like them.
We arrived while they still hadn’t a waiting line, but when we left there was plenty of people sitting in the receiver waiting.
The service was ok. The waitress seemed to be under happy-​active caffeine; kind of dancing while repeating the order. But even when she corrected my pronunciation of avocado, she ended asking me again what was what I wanted: tomato, tomatoe or avocado…
I liked the pictures of the washrooms because they are crossing legs like in an urgent situation to go…
The breakfast was meh. I ordered the B. Benny eggies with avocado instead of bacon, potato waffles, and potato salad.
Potatoes are my favourite veggie/​root, so I can say that the waffles and salad were lacking consistency, seasoning, and charm. Kind of mushy, too dry for the morning (good luck I wasn’t hang over). The eggs were ok. I just didn’t like the dish as a whole.

This was the worst dining experience I have had in recent memory. Here we go.
The Hubster and I come here for a late holiday Monday brunch. We go in and see a bunch of people sitting in the little coffee shop area up front. I get the attention of the server behind the counter and ask for a table of two. She asks for my name and writes it on a piece of paper. I say «Oh, is there a wait?» and she says no. The server goes to seat a family that came in before us and disappears for about 10 minutes, so we sit in the coffee shop area, not waiting, apparently. This is not a good start, as I am incredibly hungry.
Some big issues with the place:
— the servers don’t know their menu. For a place with gluten/​dairy free options and a small menu, they seem to be pretty unaware about whether items do or do not have dairy.
— No coffee, just (non-​refill) americanos. If there’s anything that might qualify as Canadian food, it’s breakfast. And breakfast = bottomless coffee.
— Small stuff, like dropping a bottle of water at the table without glasses, and coffee without a spoon. Am I being nitpicky? Yes. But that’s because…
— We waited about 45 minutes from when we walked in the door to getting our food. That’s way too long for waffles, eggs and bacon in a dining room that maybe seats 50. In fact, we waited a very long time to order or get anything else. That left ample time for us to look around at the half dozen tables not being bussed, the impatient people in the waiting area and all the other borderline upset looking diners and nitpick at every damn thing.
All these things I can actually forgive if the food is good. Well it wasn’t. I ordered the brunchwich with the vegan waffles. An overcooked egg, a slice and a half of skinny bacon between two palm-​sized waffles that could only be described as violently bland. It came with a side of potato salad that was obviously bought by the tub. I know this because my parents love Costco. The Hubster had the same thing but with all the dairy options (regular waffles, cheese, secret sauce). He was also disappointed with his meal.
Listen, if you have a place that has waffle paintings all over the walls and brags about how everything on the menu comes on, under or between waffles, the waffles have to be incredible. Even the vegan ones. Your bread and butter has to taste better than bread and butter. If you have a whole section of your menu devoted to eggs benedict, it behooves you to make your hollandaise from scratch. And if you have the audacity to serve potato salad at all, it better be from scratch because it is the cheapest, easiest thing to make from scratch. I know this because I go to a lot of pot lucks and potato salad is what I do when I’m being cheap and lazy.
The whole experience from start to end just smacked of poor effort. Starving Artist on St. Clair West, you have made my black list.

A regular at Starving Artist Lansdowne location… NEVER HAD A PROBLEM.
Today, I left this location hungry and beyond upset. Not only was the food not up to par. The salad had a grimy taste and the spicy chicken I ordered had a huge bone in it which you’ll see in the picture below.. disregard that it’s a choking hazard but we received no apology for anything today.
My friend’s Americano came on a cup with a large lip stick stain. Yes I understand that not everything is thoroughly washed. But the number of people that touched i (knowing the stain and ignored it)… Before it got to our table. and the fact that our server disregarded it– full on knowing — disgusts me.
When I asked for a new one for my friend, she simply said «ok, now what can I get you?» No apology nothing. She had attitude and did not do any sort of quality check. It was NOT that busy when we went, and I saw very many unsatisfied customers around the same time as me that were all served by the same waitress.
Management needs to step up their game in training. I will never return to this location.

My juice was expired. After apologies the server replaced it (and charged me for it!!) My eggs were left under the heat lamp so they were really dry. We had to remind the server like five times for things we were missing (napkins, sides we’d ordered…) Had to ask for the bill twice and then it wasn’t itemized so we could divide the bill. Also, cash only is a pain in the ass especially when you have more than 4ppl.
It was extremely busy, but we were first to be seated (I got there early and waited in line) and we were not the first served food.
We’d been to this location before and had a great meal. I won’t likely go back.

I went back to Starving Artist on a Sunday for brunch because I was so impressed with their potato waffles my last visit. Not quite a latka, the potato waffles are made in a waffle maker which creates a thin crispy crust and a fleshy interior. Ingenious! My last visit, I also had perfectly poached eggs with runny yolks and a devilishly good Hollandaise glaze.
So there was no mistake that I would order the B. Benny which marries both of those elements together!
Unfortunately this visit was horrendous in terms of service! Granted we were a large group of 10 and they usually are packed on the weekends, but it should not have taken an hour to get our food. At the very least, give us an update if you are running behind. There was no apology! As expected, my eggs were overcooked. Go on a weekday if you still want to try them and and remain unscathed from this review!

OMG love, love, LOVED this place!
this is my favour brunch place by far in Toronto. the service here was great and the food was so flavourful and delicious. I’m not one to usually finish my whole meal but this time it was done without fail!
I’ve already made plans to come back here! I would recommend the potato waffles as well– they are delicious!

Having been to the original location, I happy to finally get around to trying the newer downtown location. This place is much bigger and open than the older one. As others have mentioned, we also had to wait for a table. However from the open concept, one can clearly see the tables being full and not just a result of bad service. The staff were all fine and attentive, not sure why there are complaints about that as I was satisfied on that front. Too bad the food that was a such a big let down.
The poached eggs were overdone to the point the yolk was solid. The waffles from the grill cheese waffle were completely tasteless. The side salad was nothing special and fruit side was not fresh either. If I’m hungry and nearby the place in the future, it’s debatable if I would rather starve or consume their food… coin flip situation.

I have to say, I was apprehensive about stopping in given their pretty poor Unilocal grade, but I was really happy with my brunch!
My friend and I wandered in after Emma’s was closed unexpectedly for an electrical problem. The line was pretty long but moved fast; we were sitting at a cozy corner table with coffee in under 30 minutes. Score!
Everything on the menu at Starving Artist is either contained within, or on top of, a waffle (genius). I decided on the Breakfast Waffles: two mini potato waffles topped with caramelized bacon, poached eggs and (what else?) maple syrup. Each of the egg dishes is served with salad and your choice of fruit or potato salad (I went with the fruit). Everything was delicious. The bacon was crisp and the perfect mix of sweet and savory, the eggs were poached to perfection and the waffle melted in my mouth. We tried a mini S’Mores Waffle for dessert — nothing special — but a tasty bite to finish the meal.
We had great, speedy service and tasty dishes with lots of flavor. Give the St. Clair branch another go! I certainly will.

I’m not sure why there are such negative reviews for this St. Clair location but I certainly have a few things to say about the Lansdowne one.
At first we had arrived at the location on Lansdowne, but after being shafted outside to wait and since they «don’t take table unless the entire party is there» even though half of us were only across the street, we moved to the St. Clair location not too far away.
As soon as we walked in on Good Friday at 11, we knew we were in a bit of a wait. But the wonderful hostess and waiting area with fashionable black couches made that all okay. She was inviting and friendly to everyone who walked in, unlike the hostess at the Lansdowne. Despite the fact that the wait was more than half an hour, it sure didn’t seem like it .
The hostess also would check up if the upcoming people in line for a table was still here waiting, which made it seem like they cared about us!
When my group of four got our seat, our waitress wasn’t quite as friendly, but I suppose it was due to the traffic at the restaurant which was acceptable.
I was very impressed with the waffles, and if you get the option, GO FOR THE POTATO WAFFLE. I’ve never tried anything like it, and it’s an amazing and interesting staple for brunch.