8224 104 Street NW, Edmonton

Dinner Review

A little while ago, I had brunch at The Next Act for the first time. I’ve been here a number of times for dinners, you can check out my dinner review here, and it never really disappoints, so it’s sad for me to say that my brunch experience was less than that.

I went with my brother and my sister on the weekend, and I’ve had brunch at MEAT a number of times and enjoyed it, so I thought I’d give The Next Act a try since they share the same owner. We ordered the Huevos Rancheros, Eggs benedict, Perogie dinner, and the class act.

The presentation on my Eggs benedict was disappointing, and this was the theme of the brunch in its entirety. The best part of my meal was the hashbrowns, and it’s pretty hard to get hashbrowns wrong. There was just something wrong with the hollandaise. It was sour, and tasted as though it had gone bad. The English muffins were stale and hard, and overall, it was just a bad meal. I’ve read some good reviews about brunch here, but it was really just awful, and I am usually on the optimistic side of things. Recently, I’ve also read some pretty poor brunch reviews, so it seems very variable.

My sister got the Huevos Rancheros. This comes with 2 corn tortillas, refried beans, sunnyside-up eggs, feta cheese, housemade salsa and guacamole, with hashbrowns. Again, the best part of her meal was the hashbrowns. They must have been having an off day in the kitchen. Everything was sour and did not taste right. Both me and my sister love food, and tend to eat things anyway despite not really enjoying it but we could not put this back. It was not right, and probably one of the worst meals we’ve had in a long time. It scarred both me and my sister from coming back here for brunch.

On the plus side though, so my post isn’t all bad, my brother’s dishes that we shared were a lot better. (But they were fare from their lunch/dinner).

The perogie Dinner comes with 8 local cheddar potato perogies, topped with caramelized onions and green onions, with a side of sour cream and garlic kielbasa. This was overall, not too bad. I do think that the portion size is a bit small compared to how much food you can get for the same price here. You get part of a full sausage, sliced up to make it seem like you get more. To be honest, you’re better off ordering one of their burgers. Additionally, I don’t think any of that is actually house made, so the fact that it was bearable doesn’t really credit them.

 

And lastly, The Class Act. This was my brother’s meal, and I’m glad to say that it was actually pretty good. This is what The Next Act is good at, burgers. This comes with a nice a thick beef patty, bacon, cheddar cheese, with an over easy egg. This was easily the best dish of the day. Also the most expensive (by 1-2 dollars), but geez, I would have gladly paid 5 dollars more to have not subject myself to the other two brunch dishes.

From the other reviews I read, I must have come on a bad day, but to be honest, I’m pretty understanding with it comes to food, and there was just no excuse for what happened. I’d say, if you’re in the area for brunch, try MEAT. Though they share the same owner, the brunch at The Next Act was an embarrassment. The brunch at MEAT is way better executed than the one at The Next Act. If you’re in the area for dinner, either of them is fine, but for brunch, just hope you come on a good day.