Walker’s Grille is in Franconia, about a mile from Franconia Metro. My friends who live in the area have tried it (seperately) for dinner and said that it is not terrible, but not good, and that they never returned after the first visit. We decided to try Walker’s Grill for brunch.

Ingredients: Good quality ingredients, including the the coffee, eggs (although they weren’t cooked correctly), and tea. The exception was the old, squishy grapes in a dish of fruit that came with one of the dishes.

Decor: Nice design and vibe. They have put money and thought into the design. Walker’s Grille has outdoor seating.

Service: The waitress was frendly, helpful, and had them redo my eggs the first time (before they got to me) because they were sitting to long. This of course, increased the wait time

Wait Time: This was bad, especially since we were very hungry 30 minutes later when the food arrived. That is a long wait for French toast and eggs, especially since when we arrived, all the tables we saw had already been served (so the kitchen could not have been that busy). The other tables arrived after us.

Execution: I’ve already mentioned that they had to remake the (over easy) egg platter prior to serving it to us. When it did arrive, one egg was broken, one overcooked, and one was good. The ham served with the eggs was paper thin, clumped together, and very dry, which was not appetizing. One slice of toast is not sufficient for a 3 egg platter; two slices would be the norm.

The Pain Perdue (French Toast) was very dry inside (and inedible), which means it was not soaked in the egg mixture long enough; the maple-vanilla creme anglaise was good, but “the fresh fruit” included with the dish included grapes that were not fresh. The syrup was served in a ramekin instead of something designed to pour, so pouring syrup was messy. The Pain Perdue dish was so bad that “S” did not eat it; the waitress replaced the dish with a waffle, which was very good but served at nearly room temperature.

Final Remarks: I want this place to do well, but because of poor execution in the kitchen, a lot of neighborhood people are going to the restaurant once, and not returning. Hopefully they can correct the execution and attention to detail so that this restaurant is a better overall.

-JAY

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