Elsie’s Restaurant in Hegins was the site of our most recent breakfast stop this morning. Our crew consisted of Bryan, Matt, Mike and special guest, Kevin. We’ve had this place on our list for a long time so we were eager to try it out.
The breakfast menu at Elsie’s isn’t the most extensive. They have your usual breakfast staples and not much more. Bryan and Kevin both ordered the bacon and cheese omelette, the former also ordering a side of homefries. Matt and Tonto both went with the two-egg meal; Matt going with scrambled and a side of fresh sausage while Tonto chose over-easy eggs with smoked sausage and scrapple. Mike ended up ordering the “Dried Beef” over toast and homefries meal with a side of bacon. We thought it was odd that this meal was under the “side orders” section of the menu.
Establishment: 3/5 – When we first walked in we noticed that the interior was very small with only a few booths and seats at the counter. We decided to sit at the counter until we noticed the larger dining room in the back. This room had a couple of bigger tables that seats 5+ so we decided to move there. The restaurant wasn’t the cleanest, but it wasn’t necessarily dirty either. It was a little damp inside and the lighting in the back dining room wasn’t the best. There isn’t much parking out front.
Service: 4/5 – Our waitress did refill our coffees after only a minimal wait. When we ordered our food, she noted that the homefries would be deep fried because it is quicker to make. If we had chosen the grilled homefries, we would’ve had to wait 20-minutes for them to cook. Our meals themselves took 20-minutes to be served while Matt’s and Tonto’s came out five minutes later.
Appearance: 3/5 – Nothing too special here. It looks like food.
Taste: 3/5 – Another average breakfast. Bryan wasn’t too impressed with his omelette and homefries that were more like thickly-cut french fries. He thought the coffee tasted burnt. The others thought their meals tasted about average. Mike thought his “dried beef”, which was more like creamed chipped beef, tasted okay. Matt gave the fresh sausage a 3/5 rating since it was a little dry; Tonto rated the smoked sausage a 4/5. Tonto also gave the scrapple a 3.5 rating.
Price: 4/5 – Not the cheapest place we’ve been to but the price wasn’t too bad at all. It’s what you would expect from a small dive restaurant like Elsie’s.
All in all, Elsie’s was just as we expected it would be. Nothing too fancy or great, yet not terrible either. The Hegins area doesn’t have many breakfast spots, but if you live near the area, we’d recommend driving to Traci’s Place or the Pine Creek Cafe in Klingerstown before coming here.
Have a breakfast spot for us to visit? Email us your comments or suggestions at schuylkillbreakfast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter: @SkookBreakfast.
Breakfast in the Skook 