A waitress, from Niagara Brewery, suggested this spot to us and it was great. Feels like family is cooking for you. I really like the quality of the ingredients and how that turned out a fantastic product. Food was great and so was the coffee. Staff was super friendly as well. read more

The Lancer - Counter area. - Diners Near Me - St. Catharines, Ontario

This restaurant is fairly small, definitely old-school but had the absolute best bacon I've ever eaten in my life. The waitress was on her game from the start. She answered our questions and gave us enough time to check the menu out. I went with a basic breakfast and my husband ordered a skillet. I asked for a Coke, and was surprised it was a can for $2.50. That seemed excessive. Our orders came out quickly, though we passed the short wait by reading the Coffee News at the table. Refills on decaf weren't hard to come by. I don't even care about the rest of my breakfast, because I was all over that bacon. It was sweet, salty, cooked perfectly... I'll be dreaming of it for years to come. Jacob enjoyed his hollandaise skillet, but wish he'd gotten bacon instead of peameal pork because mine was so much better. They have unisex bathrooms. Accept credit card. They also have an outdoor patio area, but it was much too cold for us to enjoy in February. I'd visit this charming diner in the future! read more

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Stopped by here rather randomly while passing through town for breakfast. Simply a classic, no-nonsense local diner. The owner was super gracious to accommodate our need to sit outside on the patio, even though the weather wasn't great. The food is pure enjoyment. Loved my French toast and home fries. (Everyone serves home fries. Most are tolerable at best. The Lancer seasons theirs to perfection.) This is not the place for folks who need to take pictures of their food. There is nothing fancy or particularly creative here, just a reasonably priced delicious breakfast in a welcoming place. read more

been coming to the Lancer for over 22 years... Never had a bad experience... Fair prices... Clean... Good service... I always have the bacon and eggs and home fries to die for .... check it out !! read more

JUNE 24 2020 today the gang from Midas on Hartzel Road ordered lunch from the Lancer - right from the beginning of the phone call Pam was very professional and very friendly - I told her exactly what everyone wanted and she even let us add extras to our burgers no problem - picked up in a great time of 15 minutes - entered restaurant to find proper PPE and social distance in place - paid and tipped our wonderful waitress Pam and headed back to the shop where we thoroughly enjoyed our food - delish - no a crumb was left - Thanks to The Lancer for The Best Lunch Ever !!!! read more

Went on a recommendation that this place has real hollandaise and not the stuff from a package. Most places can't be bothered. Ordered the "Benny Bowl". Server said what a great choice we made. She was friendly and attentive. Coffee was hot and plentiful, no waiting for a refill. Why two stars? Food came and it was lukewarm. Not a hot part in the dish. Potatoes, eggs, peameal bacon, and the itty bit of sauce, all as it had sat in the kitchen for awhile before it was brought to the table. It was also too salty. Both bowls. The bottom was watery, which diluted the small amount of hollandaise. We did not want to return the dishes, so we said it was okay as you never know what happens . We both said we won't return based on our initial visit. $12.99 for a lackluster dish. Bacon we ordered as an extra was great and good size portion. Please do not bring the bill to the table before we have finished eating. Feels like you want us out in a hurry, there was no lineup waiting. They are busy enough, times are getting tougher, better places to eat. read more

What: Stop 1 of 4 on Niagara mini crawl - Sarah L's 5 star faves Who: sarah l, Kat F, Dale M, Carleen L (who trekked all the way from Welland to join us!) Why: To determine hash brown[1] superiority This place is awesome. It's a no-nonsense diner that serves unpretentious, stick-to-your-ribs type of food at prices that'd make even penny-pinching parents say, "F*ck cooking at home. Let's go to The Lancer." FOOD The default breakfast is three! (not two) eggs, choice of bacon/sausage/ham, and toast for $3.45; add home fries for $1.45. I did a double take when I saw the menu prices and thought sarah l. drove us through a time warp back to 1982. Since sarah l. is a regular here, I copy-catted her order: 3 eggs sunny side up, extra crispy bacon, and home fries with extra spice. Everything was cooked perfectly but the home fries were the star attraction. I've never had home fries done this way but they were damn tasty. The taters were diced, parboiled, then deep-fried to yield crispy sides, and sprinkled with some mystery "spice." They were more like little nuggets of fat fries than the mushy skillet-fried potato chunks I'm used to. There's been much debate as to what this mystery spice is on the home fries but I think I figured it out; it's the leftover powder at the bottom of a can of Planters Cheez Curls with some extra dried herb mix thrown in. I'm not sure if sarah l. knew this about me but I friggin' LOVE orange "cheez" snacks so by extension, I LOVED these home fries. SERVICE Friendly diner servers--not the surly kind full of back-sass VIBE Think Lanford Lunchbox from "Roseanne" run by a sweet Greek émigré; the kitsch of the medieval knight theme is unintentional MISCELLANEOUS I like the sign outside written in what sarah l. calls a "Flintstones font." Peruse the menu for hidden Easter eggs while you wait for you food: - Pancakes...........................................$6.75 - Half Order (you do the math).............$5.25 - Plain ol' Omelette - just the 3 eggs, and no imagination - Mediterranean Liver Dinner: Fresh mushrooms, green peppers, blue diamonds, yellow moons, green clovers...just kidding! If you're within a 20-mile radius of this place, f*ck cooking at home. Get breakfast at The Lancer. ============================================== [1] sarah l. calls them "hash browns" but hash browns to me are the kind of taters you get with McDonald's breakfasts so I'll heretofore call them "home fries." read more

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I've driven past this place for years thinking it was a complete dive. My dad used to always say how popular it was "back in the day" but it looked like there hadn't been too much changing there since the 70's. I finally went for the first time recently and have a new breakfast favourite. I had the Lancer Special which I believe was two eggs, homefries, gyro meat(surprisingly good) and tzatziki sauce. The entire meal was great and was cheap. There are options that will fill you up for as little as $3.75 so you can't go wrong! read more

The Lancer - The Lancer Special (eggs, homefries, sliced gyro meat, tzatziki sauce, 2 slices of toast) - Diners Near Me - St. Catharines, Ontario

This greasy spoon diner looks like something you'd find in the middle of nowhere rest stop. It's got this weird yet awesome vibe, like the staff might kill you before you walk in or a fight might break out with someone being thrown through the glass(Please note that NONE of those things actually will happen to you if you go in) but when you walk in and meet the staff, they're your typical diner staff. Fast efficient and friendly. They've got all your breakfast and grease needs. I usually come here for the breakfast but also tried the gyros which aren't bad at all. Try the breakfast, get the bacon...actually always get the bacon and enjoy a cup of coffee. They'll look after you here. read more

So, from the outside, this place looks like a dump. But, you know, the parking lot is completely packed, so that is always a good sign. Inside, it is pretty shabby, too. Don't let the shabbiness of the place turn you away, though, because this place is awesome. The owner was also our waiter, and served us with humor and attentiveness. This is definitely a place that is a local favorite, there are plenty of people who sat down and didn't even need menus. Granted, it's not a huge menu in general, just your basic breakfast things, and some lunch stuff too. I got Eggs Benedict, and Lee was in a lunch mood, so he got a hot turkey sandwich. Both were excellent. The Hollandaise was freshly made, with a nice tart tang that can be hard to find. There is some magic dust on the home fries, that is a little sweet and spicy, similar to Old Bay but not the same. Lee's sandwich was also delicious. I stole a couple of fries and fished a little bit of gravy off of his plate, both were great. We both resisted licking our plates, but that is only because we pretend we are adults. I'll definitely be back! And you should go too, if you're in town! read more

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My wife and I order from here a lot. Eggs benny is our go to, how ever today was just crapy food. We ordered from skip the dishes. When we opened our try's the eggs where over cooked and the bread was not toasted like it should be! I called she said the toast was toasted I said I don't think I so. Then proceed to say well maybe you should just order from us. I said so the food would be better if I did not use skip? She said no we could give you a refund then. Which I thought was bad customer service . They offered nothing to us was rude and no respect what so ever. Won't be going back or ordering from there again. Get your s$@t to read more

The Lancer - Diners Near Me - St. Catharines, Ontario

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This place feels like an old time diner and not one of those retro hipster like diners I'm talking an authentic old style breakfast diner. I love sitting down and ready my horoscope, jokes and trivia questions on the coffee news they have. Service is great, the servers have been there for a long time they're super nice and deliver quickly. The food comes out at a reasonable time, I've never noticed myself waiting too long for food. Of course the eggs are going to be fresh but my only complaint would be the bacon, it's always over cooked and cold. But besides that this place has great home fires, would recommend getting them! read more

THE Lancer. I remember when they finally got debit. Like a year ago. :) I have been going to the lancer for 10 years and it has been open and run by the same people for probably 50 years. They have the BEST hashbrowns ever; period, the end. The potatoes are cut into fairly symmetrical cubes, boiled so they are fluffy on the inside and then deep fried so they are crispy on the outside. Then they are covered in mystery spice, which is top notch. More on this later. The bacon and eggs special is what you should get; I have tried substituting sausage and ham but the bacon is where it's at. I always get chocolate milk to drink, and Suela is the best waitress/owner ever. Even if it's busy on the weekend, the turnover is fast so you won't be waiting long. Two funny Lancer stories: 1. I used to live next door to a man named Bernie in St. Catharines Ontario. He was so freaking cool - he has a huge 1990's satellite dish that takes up almost his entire back yard, and 10 computers. He has wired his house to be voice activated and he has a voltmeter in the basement so he can see when a brown out is coming and he can turn on his generator. I was a neglectful home owner; I never cut the grass or shoveled the snow and I let things get really run down and I didn't even care. Bernie's place is immaculate and he STILL liked being my neighbour because I was quiet and didn't bother him, even though it must have driven him nuts to see the quality of the neioghbourhood deteriorating in front of his eyes. Anyways, once we were out chatting about the neighbourhood and he said that he used to go to the Lander for breakfast every single Saturday until it was invaded by hungover college kids, and we discussed the secret hashbrown spice at length. He has tried to duplicate it at home on several occasions, and he swears SWEARS that it has chicken soup powder in it. Dunno dude. 2. My Dad is in Drum Corps and he does something called the Gauntlet every year with his buddies - they meet at his place in Niagara Falls and drive to a show in upstate New York stopping at every bar along the way. They stop at the same bars every year and the waitstaff knows them - once they showed up at one of their favourites and it was closed but there was a house next to it - so they banged on the door at 10am amd the guy totally got up and opened the bar for them. Anyways, this was the 'morning after the gauntlet' and my Dad, Dave and Paul were super hung over so I took them to the Lancer for breakfast. The Lancer was made in the 60s and not made for large men - the booths are tiny, and Dave Paul and Bruce are not. Dave and Paul managed to shove themselves into one side of the booth and Bruce & I sat on the other side... I looked up and Paul was sweating buckets. The waitress came by and Paul ordered a pitched of water; she came back with it and 4 glasses, and Paul said 'oh you better bring them another pitcher, this one is only for me!' He got up to use the restroom and he came back looking kind of guilty, like the cat who swallowed the canary. He sat down and looked around, and pulled a big sheet of brown paper towel out of his SLEEVE, and I was like 'dude, WTF...' and he said 'I didn't want the waitress to think I was stealing paper towels' Lancer. 5 stars. Best breakfast, best people. read more

This little diner seems to be THE greasy spoon breakfast joint in St. Catherine's Ontario. What I liked the best about this place was the "free cookies on Monday" deal and the strange decor. I felt like I was in the real-life version of the board game Hero Quest from the 80s. The seats looked like lava had exploded all over them and there was a strange castle and dungeon theme going on along the walls... As for the food, our server unfortunately got our order wrong. We were in a rush to drive back home so we didn't complain. What we wanted to order was the Lancer Special, which is your typical eggs and homefries served with your atypical gyro meat and tzatziki sauce (sounded sooo yummy). Instead, we got three eggs, some bacon/sausage and homefries. They were good but nothing special. However, I want to go back and try the gyro breakfast! read more

I have been eating at the Lancer since I was a kid. Now that I'm grown and have a kid of my own, it's amazing that a good place like The Lancer is still there for me to share the same experience. Breakfast at The Lancer is spot on every time, and the girls that work there are always. Friendly and accommodating, even when the place is jam packed. Peter, the owner, it always helping out and making sure your meal is as you expected. This is my #1 breakfast stop in Niagara. read more

Had a great breakfast! The secret blend on the 'taters was really tasty, but the outstanding part of breakfast was the service; friendly, funny, and quick! Will be returning soon! read more

I have been enjoying the Lancer for breakfast and lunch for years. It can't be beat! The mystery potato spice is to die for. It is old school with excellent service and quality food. Be expected to wait on a weekend morning. The staff tries their best to turnaround the customers with fast service but everyone knows how good it is and will wait for a table. Nice in the summer to sit on the outdoor patio. Owner (Peter) will serve tables himself if needed and is very friendly and eager to satisfy your visit. If you are there for lunch the hot beef sandwich is my fav! Love the gravy and fries. Gotta love this gem of a diner. read more

When it comes to local diners/greasy spoons the Lancer deserves a solid 4. I go every weekend and I've never been dissapointed. They never mess up an order, the staff is courteous, the prices are good...etc The breakfast special is my usual but sometimes I get a Western Sandwhich. I love their Westerns. Yummy. read more

Honestly, I do not understand what the hype is all about. The breakfast was decent; way too much salt. The wait was unforgivable. It was busy when we arrived and the table cleaning was mediocre. It took nearly 10 minutes for us to place our drink order and the waitress messed that up; twice! How do you get a chocolate milk from orange juice? The coffee was surprisingly good! The hash browns were NOT homemade and they had seasoning salt on them which I did not like. At least give me the option! Overall, I ate what I ordered due to my hunger level but I will NOT be making a return. Sorry Lancer, but you are overrated. read more

The Lancer - The following photo indicates the time of us walking through the door and getting our food. - Diners Near Me - St. Catharines, Ontario

In town, from Florida, to see the Falls....stopped in based solely on positive Yelp reviews...and, I have to be honest, I'm really close to uninstalling Yelp from my phone. We ordered a hot turkey sandwich and breakfast. My toast had mold all over it. Her sandwich also had mold on the bread. I'm talking about...big moldy chunks. Also her turkey was advertised as fresh...and was clearly made about a week ago....reheated turkey. Disgusting. Paid $32.00 and am still hungry. Maybe the locals receive the good bread. When u told the lady about it, she said " it gets hot back there in the kitchen." read more

All 5 star reviews?! WTH? This place is hilariously bad. We arrived as a group of 5 for a greasy breakfast to help kick those hangovers (somehow I always end up feeling worse rather than better after these greasy breakfasts). Let's start with the positives. They have a great patio with benches in both the shade and the sun. You've got the option of the picnic style tables or 80's McDonald tables. Awesome. The menu isn't overly extensive, which on a hungover morning, is not a bad thing. All their food is cheap too. As for the service, let's just say this girl's last serving job was not the keg. It's a greasy spoon so you don't go in expecting much but 50+ minutes and all the other tables around you (some of which arrived up to 30 minutes after you) having their food arrive first isn't good. At about the half hour mark our server came back and reconfirmed half our orders (we're pretty sure she forgot to put our orders into the kitchen). The food then came out wrong and half of our group got their food 10 minutes before the other half. Crusty cutlery was just sort of dumped on the table as was the slimy ketchup bottle, grungy salt and pepper shaker and dirty cups with the pitcher of water. I think the highlight for me was when the server plopped her quite dirty server tray onto our table with our drinks on it (along with some other table's drinks, and some used cups) and walked away for a couple minutes with the instructions 'take your drinks'. To be fair to her, she was in a great mood. ***Disclaimer***Take this review with a grain of salt, this place is clearly a university favourite since it was packed with university kids but the service was laughably horrific. read more

What I love about this resturant is the consistency for the food and service. The home fry spice is delicious, the servers are always friendly and my coffee is always full. I like the upgrades to the building and property. Lancer is the answer read more

My boyfriend and I were at St Catherine's for a car show and decided to go to The Lancer for breakfast after reading the reviews on this site. The restaurant was a little bit of a dump and is in desperate need of a renovation. The service was incredibly slow. We sat by the counter thinking it would be faster but it took 15min to get served and another 45min to get our food. I was on the verge of just paying for our coffee and leaving because it took so long. They didn't even clean off the mess from the people before us. I just pushed it to the side so it wasn't directly in front of me. Finally when our food arrived my toast was cold because it had been sitting there waiting for one of the servers to pick it up....by that point I was too hungry to care and didn't want to wait another 30min for warm toast. The home fries was delicious as was the eggs and sausage but I was a grossed out by one of the staff who had what looked like a severe case of eczema on her hands and arms. All I could think about was one of the sores on her hands/arms touching the food....I had to look away every time she came by because I didn't want to lose my appetite. The meals were reasonably priced.... typical of what you'd expect to pay for breakfast. Around $20 for two people. Overall the food was good minus the cold toast but the service was bad and for this reason I will not go back to The Lancer nor recommend this restaurant to others. I understand that there's many people on here that have had a good experience at this place so before anyone decides to attack my review I just want to say that I set out to write an honest review of my experience and feelings while I was there since I find other peoples reviews helpful when deciding where to eat. read more

I ordered the Hot Roast Beef Diner.........if your thinking of that dish, dont order it UGH. When it arrived my wife said it looks plastic, and that it did. the gravy was so thick it looked like it was a piece of plastic melted on top of the sandwich, the gravy didn't move. It was the worst food I had ever eaten in my life. Fries were from frozen, the sucatash was a few days old (or maybe just from the freezer). The only good thing about the whole meal was the can of ginger ale, they can't screw that up. Probably should have ordered the all day breakfast, at least it would have been from scratch..........I think. read more

Friendly service and reasonably priced food cooked as requested. This is a good spot if you're looking for a greasy spoon. Gluten free options also a bonus. read more

I've gone to the Lancer a number of times and the food has always been great-- up until about 3 months ago. I have no idea what has changed but it's like half of my plate is always cold. Today I visited after being away for some time (wanted to give them another try) and I ordered eggs over medium, bacon, and a half order of home fries. The service was great and the food came out fairly quickly, but again, half of my order was ice cold. The eggs were not cooked properly and I had about 6 home fries that looked burned but that had clearly been sitting without the eggs and bacon for a while! To top it off, the home fries didn't even have any of the "mystery" seasoning on them that I love. I basically ate only the bacon. I don't think I'll be revisiting anymore. read more

Awesome food, at incredible prices. I hear others rave about the spices on the breakfast potates - I prefer them plain myself, but the spices certainly don't ruin anything, it's just not my cup of tea. However, the coffee is great, the food is plentiful, and the wait staff are friendly. read more

Super little diner. Great for breakfast. Can't go wrong with the price and the standard THREE egg breakfast selections. The staff was very attentive and when they found out we were from the States, they were even friendlier. read more

Great breakfast place! My sister and I go there often when we want to go for a drive. Awesome home fries. Sometimes, early in the morning, there's even free cookies. read more

Great place to grab a cheap breakfast! 3 eggs, ham sausage or bacon and toast plus home fries (hashbrowns).

Dissapointed!!! As a child my dad use to bring my brother and I here every weekend.. I decided to bring my husband and 1 year old and had a terrible meal. We usually go to eggsmart every Sunday but thought we'd go to the lancer to switch it up. Peameal was so greasy!! My Greek omlette was very dry. The pancakes for my son had no flavor and my husband ordered the gyro breakfast and they did not cook the eggs properly. Also the price!!! 40$ for breakfast! At eggsmart we spend 30 with a tip..maximum!! The only thing I can say is that the server was really nice and she really knew how to treat the customers. Not to mention my husband and I both got sick within 30 mins of eating there... Needed a bathroom asap. I really hope they improve because this is the first time I've ever had a problem. read more

Prices can't be beat,the service can't be beat, I go here all the time with my gf and we love it. The food is always amazing, it comes quickly and the staff is just amazing! If you have the chance to stop in I recommend you do so. read more

The Lancer is a great breakfast spot... well-priced, good food, and great service. My boyfriend and I went in for breakfast this morning. The server came by and brought us the menu and coffee. We said we needed a few minutes to decide on food so he let us know to close the menu when we decided and he would come back. The server took a bit longer than usual to come back and get our order (but not long at all). Another server ended up grabbing his attention and when he did come back to get our order, apologized profusely. At the end of the meal, the server let us know that our breakfast was covered. He took care of our meal because the service took a bit longer than usual. This was probably the best customer service I have experienced in so long. Our server was friendly, kind, and most importantly, seemed to really care about our experience. Thank you so much to Peter for making our dining experience awesome! We will definitely back soon. read more

I ate at The Lancer while I was waiting for my car at the tire place next door. This place has never been my favourite for many reasons, but I gave it another shot since it was close and I didn't want to walk far in the cold. I walked in, server greeted me, I picked a table and waited for him to come over. As I sat there two other customers arrived and sat down at two different tables, the server went over to them first and brought them coffee and took their order, even though I had been seated first. So I finally got my coffee and I chose what I wanted to eat from their limited breakfast menu. Who charges extra for rye bread??? And homefries?? And they don't allow you to order a side of pancakes or french toast, if you want it with your eggs you need to order two separate meals lol. Anyway I ate my breakfast, and it was good, but I couldn't help but notice how cold it felt in the restaurant? Halfway through my meal I hear the waitress telling another customer that their furnace was being replaced so the heat was off. Umm, maybe don't repair your furnace during business hours? Or in November? They are only open till 3pm, they couldn't do it after? lol I seen other customers chuckle when they were told about the furnace after they sat down (I however was not told). Ironically, I would have just been better off walking two blocks to the other breakfast place down the street where there was heat, and where they don't charge extra for rye bread lol. My previous visit before this one a few months ago was interesting as well. I ordered sausage with my breakfast, and she brought me bacon. So I told the waitress and she said ok and brought the sausage and told me to just keep the bacon. I ate my eggs and a piece of sausage and couldn't eat anymore. When she came back and seen that I didn't eat all of my sausage she actually said in an irritated tone, "I brought you sausage and you didn't even eat it!". Seriously? Who cares what I do with the sausage, I ordered it and am paying for it, don't give me sh*t about it! You messed up the order, don't act like you did me a favor! lol This place is something else! read more

My boyfriend and I used to go here all the time but after the last time we went we have decided to never go back!! While the food was never amazing it was good enough to keep us coming back but the last time all of our food was lukewarm instead of hot and my boyfriends eggs were ice cold. We didn't say anything because our server already seemed annoyed when I asked for one small change to my order so I didn't want to tick her off even more. When we went to pay the owner was cashing us out and asked us how our meal us. We told him that a lot of it was cold and instead of apologizing he says that he doesn't know how that could happen because our server picked them up right away and brought them to us when they were ready. Didn't anyone tell him that the customer is always right? read more

Found this place via Yelp on our travels back to Toronto from Niagara. Old school diner, no frills. Staff were very friendly and accommodating. Food was typical diner, we both had steak and eggs, and felt it was great value. We'd go back again if we were in the area and wanted some straight forward diner food. read more

Great place. Was in the area visiting Niagara Falls and saw this on Yelp. It did not disappoint. A very good breakfast place.

This is the best breakfast/lunch restaurant in the Niagara area. I have had breakfast here many times and have never left disappointed! The eggs Benedict are awesome and it is great to know that the hollandaise sauce is REALLY made from scratch! read more

Well i have been going to The Lancer for over 20 years. From old ownership to new ownership. I have enjoyed watching the new ownership spruce up the place what i don't like is the FREE unqualified parental advice given out by the new owner. My 5 year old was given a toonie found under our table. The owner came over to ask if our meal was ok knowing two of our orders where messed up, i said "no everything is ok( removing a tomato & relish is no big deal)" he then says to my son "oh i see you found the toonie under the table. After i paid our bill($25+a $5 tip)the owner says to me" i should think about how i'm raising my son"...i said "why?" He says " well just so you know i kicked that loonie under the table & you should have made your son return it to me".. I reminded him that he until that moment had not claimed ownership of the toonie...there was a bit more to the conversation but i have to say i was terribly insulted & embarressed. I will never set foot in that place again & will share my story with everyone i know. read more

The best breakfast diner by far in Niagara! Great food, affordable prices, awesome staff!! If you haven't tried The Lancer yet, then what are you waiting for people?? read more