Simple Simon’s

Stopped in for lunch, but were too early.
Atmosphere: small family owned diner type restaurant. Open grill on the left as you walk in. We seek places like this wherever we go. They are also typically family friendly and we have 2 ½ year old twins.
Food: Disappointing. One of my daughters had a «strawberry» pancake. Pancake was a little rubbery and strawberries were from a jar or the freezer. Eggs were over easy as requested. Bacon was overcooked, potatoes were burnt. Just a poor food experience.
Service: The waitress was wonderful. At one point, one of our daughters drifted over to an adjacent vacant table. The fella from behind the grill came over to my table and asked us to «get a handle on that». I believe this was the owner.
Verdict: As one does with young kids, we were trying to eat as quickly as possible as you never know when a meltdown may occur. The only think that I will «get a handle on» is NEVER going there again and sharing our story with anyone who will listen.

This little spot is great. The name says it all. It is simple but it’s good. We went around 9:30 on Sunday & got a seat right away, which is amazing because it was pretty crowded & it’s very small. We got a seat in the back by the kitchen and almost melted it was so hot. Lesson learned, sit by the door! I enjoyed a couple poached eggs, bacon & wheat toast. Like I said, simple yet delicious. My date got scrambled, sausage, white toast which looks home made & home fries. I stole some home fries & they are creamy, crunchy & delicious. The waitstaff is pleasant and welcoming. All in all, it’s a great spot for Sunday breakfast without the long wait. Best part is, it’s 2 minutes from home!

Awesome place. Great price for the #3 combo *3 slices of french toast, two eggs anyway, and bacon/​ham/​or sausage*. I love this place, and will be coming back. Door couldn’t stay shut everyone was so friendly and loved the atmosphere. If you wan’t a great breakfast or brunch Simple Simon’s is the place for you!

This is a local, mom & pop type of restaurant. It was open seating with the grill and the counter in sight of all the tables. There was mostly a senior crowd late on the Friday morning we visited. We arrived and were told to seat ourselves.
After a few minutes the waitress came, we ordered coffee and began looking at the menu. Simple fare; eggs, pancakes, omelets, breakfast meats, and home fries. The omelettes looked interesting, plain eggs with toast and you add whatever you want for fillings at sixty cents per ingredient. My wife and I both decided on a number two: 2 eggs any style, home fries, toast, and breakfast meat. She ordered the bacon and I ordered the ham. I also ordered a side
of bacon which I shared with my wife, cause you can’t ever have enough bacon.
The breakfast arrived quickly. My over-​hard eggs were cooked in a pan that was a little too hot, so the bottoms and the tops had an undesirable crust. They don’t use a bacon press, so the bacon was curled, but it was crispy as we asked for. The ham was kind of thin and limp. I think they waved the toast at the butter, ’cause there wasn’t much butter there. Luckily, they had a nice assortment of jelly on the table, which made up for it. The home fries were very good. I noticed later that you could get home fries with onions as a side item. If I had noticed before I ordered, I’d have had them add onions to it. My wife’s over easy eggs were a bit well done. The yokes weren’t totally hard, but less than half of the yoke was runny, clearly overcooked. She had ordered the rye toast and instead of getting two pieces of toast, she received one piece cut in half. I thought it was poor form, especially when I received two pieces of the regular toast.
Simple Simons was okay. It just doesn’t stand out. There are many places in Scarborough and South Portland that serve breakfasts that are better, so we probably won’t be back.

This restaurant/​diner seems to be family owned, quite small but very welcoming, engaging you in conversation as well as providing you with a home cooked, delicious breakfast which is why I chose. The servers were quite warm and accommodating, the cook also took the time to include me in conversation as they closed up their Sunday traffic, closing at noon, as I was practically the only customer in the diner at that time, thinking I was too late for service. I can only imagine that is just one reason they have been there for 26 years continuously — not only the good food — but to provide a hospitable experience for someone who was alone, traveling the holiday weekend. Charming.

Breakfast was fresh, fast, tasty, and fairly priced. I ordered an omelette (scrambled) with cheddar, peppers and onions. Unlike every other diner-​style restaurant we’ve been to in SoPo that uses frozen vegees, Simple Simon’s vegees were fresh, flavorful and cooked just right (not mushy). The rye toast tasted bakery-​baked and fresh. The coffee was not strong, but it was good quality, tasty and fresh.
The service was also very good.
The décor was functional and clean, but unattractive.

I could cope with small portions of good food but small portions with soggy fries just won’t do. The restaurant is walking distance to the hotel but that’s all it’s got. Better off with a candy bar at 7 – 11.

A very nice, local spot! The breakfast was fresh and yummy! It was a little bit of a wait to get our food but worth it once we had it on the table. We would go back here again!

Great little out of the way place for breakfast or lunch super friendly staff and reasonably priced no crowds to deal with and lots of parking

Very poor experience… we arrived with 6 people at a bit after noon to have what it says on their sign, breakfast AND lunch… the owner greeted us at the door and coyly told us they closed in 20 minutes… after my reply of «perfect timing», he responded with «well that depends on who’s clock Ur looking at»…then, he rudely told us he wasn’t going to use the grill to make burgers even though the same grill was still being used for breakfast… I will never go there again.

Great breakfast spot for people who don’t want to linger. Fast service and good simple food is what you’ll find here.
Portions are good… most things were cooked as ordered, eggs were a little undercooked for my taste. Home fries were bland but the french toast was tasty with it’s dusting of sugar and cinnamon.

This place is OK — it’s great if you are in a hurry. Very quick service and quality food. Like the title suggests, everything is Simple — nothing fancy. A good go-​to for a decent lunch or a quick breakfast.

Simple, not a lot of choices, and small. I really want to like this place because I live down the street. However, every time I go I am disappointed– mainly by the staff. They are not rude– nor are they friendly. I would suggest going to Uncle Andy’s for laughs, great food, and a better breakfast experience!

Simple menu, simple food, awesome breakfast! Friendly staff and a steady flow of coffee… what else can you ask for?

Simple Simon’s is very simple. They serve breakfast and some sandwiches and burgers for lunch. They close at 2pm but what they do in that short time is make some great food!
I always like to find a good breakfast place and this is a really good one.
The eggs were cooked perfectly and all the ingredients were fresh and well prepared.
It’s not a large place but they can see quite a few people and the wait staff and chef were very efficient. You could easily leave for work a little early and get a good breakfast fast!
I will be coming back.

Cheap prices, large portions, good food. I had the blueberry pancakes and a single French toast. Go with the French toast! It’s by far the best thing on the menu. Fluffy light bread… very filling and delicious!
My friend had poached eggs with bacon and home fries. She wasn’t impressed and said it was average.
Attentive and friendly staff. No wait for Sunday brunch! I’d definitely get the French toast if you go.

Wonderful little place. Literally a walk across the parking lot from the super 8, which was a pleasant surprise when I found the place on Unilocal,read its address and looked out the window, sure enough, there it was!
I got a omelet with cheddar cheese, sausage and onions with toast and a side of home fries. It was yummy. The eggs were buttery and light, the cheese was melted so well, I’ve actually never seen cheddar melted in a way that it imitates the characteristics of mozzarella. The home fries were just amazing, the best I’ve ever had. Unilocal,you never lead me astray! Toast was good, not overly buttered or cooked. Delicous with some strawberry jam, now get some homemade jams/​jellies and oh boy, people will be falling out of their chairs in love!

My SO got french toast, which looked awesome, smelled amazing and he thought it was some of the best french toast he has ever had! He got sausage links and hash as sides and thought the links were good but the hash was meh, it was a little on the burnt side.
Also my chocolate milk was very tasty and cold!

Simple Simon’s is just that: simple! They were really busy but we were seated fairly quickly. Owners and wait staff were so friendly and accommodating. My chocolate milk was ice cold, which hardly ever happens. Food was very good… potatoes were buttery and their bagels were griddled: delicious. Affordable and fast. I and others at my table weren’t thrilled about the use of Styrofoam drinking cups… especially considering everything else was washable.

Popped into Portland this morning feeling puckish for some sustenance so brought the brood here based upon the Unilocal reviews. And it was exactly that — A-​OK. Good service, good food, end of story. The staff that bothered to show up on time were warm and attentive; there were some stragglers clearly tardy for their shifts. The food was a shade above adequate, being fresh and good portions, not nothing repulsive or knocking my socks off either.
OF NOTE: the bathroom is in the basement behind a non labeled door. Unusual for my standards.

Having been a Unilocal user for more than five years, its not insignificant to make a review. I thought that this was my first ever, but rechecking, see that I wrote two years ago. This might as well be my first…
First, I have been a personal, holistic home chef, so its not that food has to be healthy – no, I get my share – but I want two things:
I want to be welcome where I go (I can cook a storm, and want simple comfort, read: service. I have been a professional retailer, as in meet 300,00 persons after 100,000 cold calls, those are real numbers [1]) and:
I want taste at value (I make flavorful food, I use no canned anything. Most of what is called food in a supermarket I consider NOT to be food. Repeat, I am not that pure, but just want real food).
I am maybe relocating to Portland Maine, and oddly, not only got to eat here twice, but my motel room is looking straight at it. maybe 10 degrees to my left. I heard the breakfasts were really good, they were. The Motel 8 staff told me.
Now, having lived in NY then lived in Seattle for twenty years to the week, I can tell you that I searched far and wide for home fries like my old college days. Simple Simon’s had that, that alone gives it five stars. I would not eat here on a regular basis, only because I have to budget, but given opportunity, I would eat there more often.
They were friendly, the food that I had was delicious. The first time the owner expressed genuine concern to know HOW I wanted my eggs. She was a pro but still not sure what ‘over medium well’ was. They got it right. I asked for warm water, not water no ice, I usually get scowls when I ask in certain places, but when she asked how that was, I said, ‘warm, like a bath’, she did it with no attitude. Cold water is bad in Chinese medicine. I am not being sarcastic, again, I eat well, but when I go out, I want my cholesterol, fat, rich food (I try not to keep it around (cheese, pizza, burgers, bacon, sausage).
The second meal was an omlette, also very good. So many places have it cold by the time it lands on your plate, theirs was not. Toast properly buttered.
I didn’t see the lavatory, but overall place looked clean. Parking was easy. Location is excellent. From there you can visit Fort Willams or Two LIghts, maybe one of the best places in Portland outside Bar Harbor, for viewing the rocky coast. Go at high tide! Drama!
Not sure about lunch or weekend seating, but does not seem too full, and not empty, that is to say proof of demand… looked at lunch menu, seemed appealing and diverse. Owner is Greek, never a bad sign, if you ask me. The room layout was reasonable (some places are like Beirut or Caracas), the menu clear to read. They asked me how the food was, again, not a common event.
I don’t plan to write so gushy, and only about Portland, knowing Seattle very well, but there are two breakfast places, I found in three weeks, when none in Seattle for twenty years.
The owner was friendly but not overly familiar, and the moment I walked in, could tell it was filled with regulars, also a great sign. Why not five stars? Well, has to be truly great, this was very good, a great fundamental place for breakfast. Also, my ideal five star roadside breakfast is slightly less in cost but as down home, like the old truck stops so hard to find to non-​existent (drove across USA in last year, amazed, no longer exists…) but take this with a grain of salt amid job search strain. Others would call it reasonable. Probably is.
True. Great breakfast. Thank you. I do not know the staff.
PS @Amber T ⁸²⁹⁄₂₀₁₁ was right about the home fries, I read her comment before going over there. Easier said than done, too mushy or two much deep fry after par boiling, a real art. These were New York City home fries. Very important in breakfast on the road.
[1] That’s Lowes, six years, YIKES after Morgan Stanley, whom I call Migraine Stintly. Thats like customer service 501 or CS Bootcamp. ‘Get up, time to get up’, bang, bang, bang at five am! You sorry a_​s folks, get up, meet the customers!’