Trolley House

Ate here for the second time ever. Bacon, cheddar, avocado, pineapple omelette hit the spot! Hash browns were just ok but did appreciate the quick service and the fact that toast is an option. I’d have breakfast here again!

The atmosphere is decent and the server are nice enough. The food lacks, the eggs are flavorless, and the syrup has a funny taste. The french toast are very good, by themselves. The best item I had so far has been the ½ pound burger.
We sat outiside and the amount of flies was disturbing, but that can be common in boise this time of year, altough many restaurants do something about it.

Upon walking up to this historical restaurant you are greeted with a painting of a 1920s scene where the hands of the people are larger than most modern day basketball players. The atmosphere was pleasant with ample shade outside and a slight cool breeze reminding you fall is near. The only minor annoyance were the bushes that always remind me of cat piss and the main road near by. The food was served faster then expected but was not hot. The temperature reminded me of food that was microwaved and forgotten for 5 minutes, it was still delicious. I had chicken fried steak, hash browns and sunny side up eggs with sourdough toast and strawberry jam while my girlfriend enjoyed eggs Florentine with salmon. Over all experience was enjoyable. I would come back to try something different. Solid 3 stars

Been here several times; about 3 times a year. Not bad, but not great. Worth a try but keep expectations low. Service is slow — there are usually quite a few employees (usually a bunch of high school girls) but apparently only the adults servers (2 at most) are qualified to take orders. Food is good though. You won’t be disappointed in the taste; just nothing overly impressive.

I had been here years ago and loved it. Not sure if management changes or what, but I will never go back. We were part of a group of 9, three separate tickets. The waitress threw attitude as she took our orders, and then when the food came she insisted we ordered things that we had not ordered… Clearly she had mixed up tickets with a different table, and she brought the food back TWICE. «Someone ordered x, I also have a y, and a z.» I simply replied (very politely) «No, I ordered a, she ordered b, and he ordered c.» She finally came back with the right food and no apology for her incredibly rude behavior just «I need to wake up». Yep. You do. And you need a new job.
They make their own syrup with artificial flavors and it’s not good. Had a «chemically» aftertaste. The giant pancake was good (before the syrup), as was the omelet and breakfast sandwich.
When we finally got our tickets, 2 of the three had extra items on them! Extra coffee, overcharging for items they did order… And one (strangely the one she had continued to insist we ordered things we hadn’t) was correct. Unbelievable.

This place is awful! It smelled of old crisco oil when we walked in. The quality of their food is horrible. We ordered biscuits and gravy, the gravy looks like it was out of a can for thanksgiving with chuncks of ham in it? Whatever happened to sausage milk gravy homemade? The biscuits were more like rolls. The clam chowder was the worst I had ever had. It tasted old and the packaged crackers it came with where stale. The service was completely unorganized. When we got there 4 other tables came in after us and all got their orders before us? Every 2 minutes we had a different person ask us if we were okay? This is a great location but needs new management, new recipes, menu and standards. This place needs help all around! Yuck!

This is a Boise, Eastside standard. Location is a bit of a dive. Food is good, the breakfast, which is admittedly hard to screw up. You can’t go wrong with their various pancakes and omelettes.

Good breakfast. Not sure if i can say it was the best I’ve ever had. I asked for a recommendation and was told that chicken fried steak and the benedicts were the favorites. I ordered the chicken fried steak. The chicken was nice and tasty, but lacked flavor. I should have gone with the other choice. I ordered a pancake because i heard they were huge, which it was! (be advised, i went for an hour hike before eating here lol).
Remember to bring cash.

This is a great breakfast place. It has history and super friendly staff. The food is Americana classic. It’s a locals place so don’t expect fancy. It’s just good!

Sausage egg benedict was tasty! My family was satisfied with all of their meals. French toast, omelet, chorizo burrito

The location was perfect for breakfast and then a hike up Tablerock. When we arrived we were asked to seat ourselves by a friendly sever. We needed a table for six and there was one open, so no arranging tables needed. The server promptly asked if we wanted coffee and we surely did. I asked for cream which our table didn’t have so our waiter pulled it from a nearby table. As I watched my spouse pour the cream in his coffee I asked if it appeared to be lumpy. Sure enough when we opened the lid the cream was curdled. I took the now ruined coffee and cream to the waiter and told him it was bad. He got us a new coffe and creamer, but never once checked an of the other creamers on the tables to make sure they too weren’t bad. Hopefully no one else had to experience curdled cream.
I ordered a meal that included two eggs (which I had scrambled), hashbrowns and toast. The eggs had zero flavor and the hashbrowns were just ok after I added a little salt and ketchup. I did enjoy the english muffin and jam. The table next to us raved about the pancakes, which the size of a large plate. Maybe I should have tried the pancakes.
This place had mixed reviews on Unilocal and after my experience I think I will try other establishment in the area.

I had been here several times in the past and Every time it was fantastic. Great food, friendly service. Until now. I decided to have brunch with my friend, it was quaint as usual, until our server blew our minds. She immediately showed a bad attitude, she got both if our orders wrong, not to mention a side salad (literally half a handful of iceberg lettuce, a quarter of a cherry tomato, and three canned sliced olives) costs $ 3.99! The most pathetic salad ever for an outrageous price! After getting our food, we did not see her for 25 mins. We had to seek her out to refill our ice teas, and when she did come back she asked «how is everything?» Both of our responses were «it’s ok.» Any other restaurant server would have asked what was wrong when given an answer like that. No, she just turned around and said «ok» then walks away. When we wanted to pay, we got up from the table to go inside to pay, she walked by and said «thank you»…we both looked at each other and walked inside. Asked for a manager, and explained what happened. Much to our surprise we find out our server was the owner! I told them to keep her behind a desk and not in direct public. I explained that we could have easily walked out without paying. No one seemed to care much. And to add while we were explaining this to the head server, seeing as how management was the problem :/​, all of the other servers (4 others) were staring at us with gaping mouths. Yeah, last time I go there. «Everyone has a bad experience once in a while» the head server said, my friend and I stared at her with gaping eyes, you don’t say that to a customer. You apologize for their bad experience. I’m not impressed. It may be a local Boise restaurant but unless you are an old couple or an investor in that business, get ready to be served by unfriendly people and eat mediocre food. This is going in my Top 5 worst restaurant experiences.

I got the breakfast burrito with bacon. It was incredibly salty and the tortilla was cracking and crispy. The service was slower than I’d like but extremely friendly. Kind of cool history but you can enjoy that from the outside.

I have eaten at the Trolley on and off for 10 years or so, mainly due to its proximity to where I live.
The food: They don’t do anything wrong. However they don’t do anything special either (making some homemade blueberry jelly doesn’t constitute special to me). The menu is basic and has everything you would expect to see on a breakfast/​lunch menu.
The customer service: This is tricky. I have been there and had awesome customer service but on my last visit I had probably one of the most annoying experiences I have ever had in Boise. On memorial day this year, I took my mom out for lunch, we decided on the Trolley, probably for nostalgic reasons. We get inside and it is empty, no music and the atmosphere was kind of eerie. Like eating in an asylum. Nobody is there to greet us, we find a table and sit down. A few minutes later an older woman greets us, gets our drinks. I am going over the menu when she asks what we would like and I politely said «I may need a few more minutes» and she responds by saying «well the cook is turning off the grill/​stove in 5 minutes and leaving so.» I looked at my watch and it was 2:50, just realizing they close at 3pm (then she made sure to let us know when they close). She then stands over me with her notepad waiting for me to decide. A very awesome and relaxing experience reading a menu and ordering food with what feels like a gun pointed at the back of my head! I just order some generic plate of food that I didn’t really want. Feeling rushed to eat and leave, we probably spent 15 – 20 minutes in the restaurant entirely, not able to sit back and just enjoy eating out.
We should have left when we realized they were 10 minutes from closing, which I usually try to avoid. But if you are open until 3pm, be OPEN until 3pm.
With all of the other breakfast options in Boise, I would not recommend this place at this point.
My recommendation to the owner is to go eat at The Griddle or Goldy’s, look at the menu, look at the customer service and look at the atmosphere. I get that the Trolley wants to convey some sort of historical feeling when you eat there, with all of its East end photos and what not but it is time for an update. Make it fresh.

This place is totally overrated. We went for breakfast. They are famous for their eggs Benedict. I ordered it and it came out slightly warmer than ice. The Béarnaise sauce tasted like it came from a can. Live right up the street and won’t be going back.

Food is bland, but plentiful. No cc or debit cards accepted ala 1954. Service was mediocre and coffee cups and left needing to be warmed and filled. Not a place to go out of your way to eat at. Amazed that it is still open after years of blah.

Best breakfast that I’ve found in Boise. Very comfortable atmosphere. Be careful of the portions, you’ll usually get far more than you can handle. Small parking lot, so this is a great location to ride your bike to on a morning ride. Only negative is the lack of credit acceptance… cash only here.

FYI-​CASH ONLY
June, 2013:
In April, I originally gave this place 5 stars, but changed it to three after going in for a second time and having a much less enjoyable meal. The delicious breakfast burrito I describe below, from an April 2013 visit, is now about half the size and not accompanied by fresh salsa. When we asked about the change, our waitress didn’t have a meaningful explanation for the difference. It seems like the quality of the food at this place is a little hit or miss. The service and the coffee have been consistently good.
April 2013:
My boyfriend and I think this place it great for a tasty weekend breakfast. Their breakfast burrito is one of the best I’ve ever had. It comes with fresh salsa that is made from scratch in the kitchen. In fact, the waitress explained that they make most (maybe all?) of their sauces and spreads in house. The coffee was really good too.
This is a simple, old-​fashioned diner style place. No frills. The food is flavorful, fresh, good portions, reasonably priced. They also have a nice outdoor patio that is quite small, but fenced in and shaded.
I do think it’s foolish that they don’t take credit cards. They are shooting themselves in the foot b/​c it creates all these negative customer service experiences where people have to go get cash and mess around with the ATM. Bad, bad idea. On the flip side, the prices aren’t that expensive either, so you don’t need a wallet full of cash to pay the bill. If you know that ahead of time, it’s no big deal.

At just two blocks away, The Trolley House would be a great place to wander to on a lazy weekend morning but it is not…
I can get over the fact that they don’t accept debit or credit cards. I can even get over the $ 2 fee at their on-​site ATM. What I find absolutely unacceptable is the poor customer service.
And sadly, the worst offender is the owner. You don’t ask «are you ready yet» while someone is clearly still reading over the available selections. You don’t allow your employees to discuss their wild Saturday night while patrons are enjoying their Sunday morning.
I like to give credit where credit is due and there is one server who does a great job but it doesn’t quite make up for the rest if the staff.

The food here is AMAZING! I’ve only been for breakfast, but I’ve tried many of their menu items. This is our GO-​TO breakfast place when out-​of-​town guests come to visit. Small inside, so it can get loud, and the service can lag, but the amazing food and HUGE portions more than make up for it. Beautiful patio for summer eating. Victoria (owner) is so sweet when we see her.
Seriously-​best «home-​cooked» breakfasts!
Cash or check only, but they do have an ATM.