Lawrenceville Restaurant

We stopped in for breakfast on our way out of Niagara On The Lake. Service was very good. We ordered the breakfast special which was sausage and eggs-very disappointed....no home fries, and an extra for rye toast. This was a first in a special. Not impressed, and won't be back for those reasons.

This is a nice family restaurant in Virgil, about half way between St. Catharines and Niagara on the Lake. It is well laid out with a comfortable ambiance, and the carpeting throughout helps with sound damping, allowing for easy conversing. The servers are efficient and friendly, and quick with coffee top ups. The breakfast menu is varied, but doesn't stray from what you would expect. The food is good; portions are good; the prices are completely acceptable. It is definitely worth a visit, and compares favourably with the NOTL restaurants of the same genre, which are generally busier, more expensive, with less parking availability..

We have eaten here a few times, but find their prices higher than the local eateries. Selection is small but food is adequate. The few local places are a better value, but not as comfortable.

We stopped in here on our way to Niagara Falls after seeing their 'All Day Breakfast' sign. The waitress was very friendly and attentive. The decor was like stepping back in time to my grandmother's house and could use some updating - it felt like a restaurant attached to a motel. The patio was closed when we were there, but looked cozy - although it would likely be fairly noisy at times because of the proximity to the main road. We had the breakfast special, which was your typical bacon and eggs, then opted to share the add-on shredded potato hashbrown. The prices weren't too bad - $25 for two of us, including tax for 2 all day breakies, 2 coffees and a hashbrown.

On the way home from Buffalo, we dropped in to Silversmith Brewery in Virgil so I could fill up my growler with black lager. That done, we set out across the street to Lawrenceville Restaurant, as my wife found some very positive reviews online for their pizza. Inside Lawrenceville looks much like it might have in the early 1960s when it likely opened for business; it's dark and dated. The wooden table tops were sticky from the humidity. It was Thursday and the place was empty but for us and two other tables. When the menus arrived, we were at first surprised and then curious as to why there wasn't any mention of pizza on the menu; that's the only reason we chose the place. I settled on fish and chips (haddock and $14) while my wife settled for the rib special ($17). When we heard the table behind us talk excitedly about the imminent arrival of their pizza -- something they travelled far for -- my curiosity was piqued and I asked out waitress, "Do you offer pizza?". There was an awkward pause and half-smile as she collected herself. "Yes, we have pizza but our owner doesn't want people to know." was her answer. She appeared disappointed when we asked if we could see the pizza menu, but she said "Certainly" and went to fetch it. She returned about 5 minutes later, explaining that the cook was trying to find the pizza menu. About 3 minutes later she returned to say that the owner was revising the pizza menu, so there wasn't one to show us. But we could still order a pizza, if we wanted. The people at the table behind my wife jumped in and recommended the Mediterranean Pizza (with olives, chicken, pepperoni and more) so we went with that and ordered a 6-slice small pizza with a spinach salad and Bud Light, all to share. As for the Bud Light, I only wanted a sip as I was driving and I detest light beer. The salad was quite good, with grilled peach slices (canned or preserved) and purple onion. The pizza was good as well, nice and gooey with bits of chicken and greasy pepperoni and olives. The price of the pizza, revealed only on the cheque, was $19.95 or about $3.30 a slice. That's just a little more than what I paid for a small 6-slice pizza at the tourist trap Trattoria Mercatto at the Eaton Centre in Toronto just two weeks before. The table behind me were discussing how the owner didn't want week-end customers knowing that the restaurant's take-out pizza offering was also available inside the restaurant. Maybe all the secrecy is related to a profitability issue; perhaps the owner makes more money on the ribs and other complete dinners than on their pizza -- so keep the pizza a secret to those not "in the know". Or maybe the restaurant is trying to remain competitive with its local Domino's Pizza across the street, but doesn't want tourists to benefit as much as the locals from that competitive pressure (maybe the locals have a secret password to get the discount price). Whatever is going on at Lawrenceville Restaurant, we won't go back. The food was just fine, as was our waitress, but the feeling that we were being over-charged, or lied to, or simply taken advantage of, was just too irritating. Next time we'll go back to the Pie Plate Bakery and Cafe. And that's too bad because the pizza was pretty good. Why not just have a price for take-out pizza and one for eat-in pizza, and dispense with the secrecy?