Mel's Diner was a regular spot to eat in the late 90's while in University.  They had big tasty portions for decent price, and who could argue with an all-day breakfast?

A couple years ago the restaurant burned down (http://www.570news.com/news/local/article/47459--major-fire-at-waterloo-plaza) and only just recently re-opened at the corner of Ottawa and Westmount in Kitchener.  Remembering how good Mel's was when I was in school, I was eager to see if the new place lived up to the nostalgia.

It does not.

Last weekend, Chicky and I went to Mel's for lunch, and the visit was quite educational.  There was one lady ahead of us, waiting to be seated.  The hostess was paying her no attention, nor was she trying to attract the hostesses attention.  So I assumed she had already communicated her desire to be sat.  I went up to ask the hostess if we needed to put our names on a list.  Her answer, "We have tables available, but the kitchen is running a bit behind, so it'll be 30 minutes before you'll be able to order."

I said that was fine, and so waited for her to prompt us in some way.  She went back to fiddling around behind her podium and then asked the lady ahead of us if she wanted a table.  The lady wasn't sure since her friends hadn't arrived yet.  So the hostess went back to whatever she was doing and I became confused.  They have tables open.  She said so, and I could see them.  Why was she not seating us who actually do want to be sat?

Then some customer who had been sitting at the counter came over and asked the hostess for a table.  She took his name and marked the time.  So she WAS taking names!  I went back up to talk to her and confirmed, "So you do want our name?" to which she replied, "We have tables available, but the kitchen is running a bit behind, so it'll be 30 minutes before you'll be able to order."

"Uh, yeah, you already told me that five minutes ago.  We've been standing right here since."

"Oh, can I take your name?"  I give it.  She writes it down under counter-boy's and marks the current time.  Okay, so now we've been lined jumped due to the hostess's incompetence.  Oh well, she's just the hostess.  Once we get past her, we'll be okay.  At least, that's what I thought.

She asks the lady ahead of us again if she wants a seat, to which, after some more consideration, the lady finally agrees and is taken to a booth.  The hostess returns and calls counter-boy's name, and seats both him and his companion.  It's now ten minutes later, the line now consists of just us, and the hostess returns and calls my name.  Uh, nobody else is here!  We are led to another booth and reminded about the kitchen status.  No problem.  We both knew the milkshake machine was working, and that would hold us over till the meals could be prepared.

Our waitress comes over to tell us about the kitchen, which is now 40 minutes behind, and offers to take our drink orders.  I contemplated a coffee, but since it was $1.99 and a milkshake was only $3.99 and more filling, I followed Chicky's lead and ordered a chocolate shake.

Ten minutes later some serving boy starts wandering around the restaurant with two chocolate shakes, asking the staff where to go.  I was not surprised when he finally reached our waitress (there was an abundance of staff, none of which seemed very focused on serving) and was told to bring them to our booth.  We thanked him and began slurping away at chocolatey goodness.  The shakes came in tall retro glasses, with a chocolate syrup ringing the inside edge and topped with whipped cream.  It was gone in no time.  Not because we were hungry, but because the shake seemed to be mostly whipped cream.  Imagine an Aero chocolate bar, but as a milk shake.  Mostly air.

Soon our waitress came to take our order.  By this time I had pointed out to Chicky that two breakfast choices seemed identical, so she asked for clarification.  See if you can spot the difference:
Big Mel
3 French toast OR pancakes with your choice of bacon, sausage, ham, honey baked beans OR fried tomato.  Served with two eggs any style 8.99

Egg Combo
Two eggs, home fries and toast served with your choice of bacon, ham, sausage, honey baked beans OR fried tomato and pancakes OR french toast 8.99

Did you catch it?  Egg Combo is the Big Mel, but includes home fries and toast for $0 more.  I told the waitress I wanted the one with more stuff.    After choosing sausage, over easy eggs, brown toast, and pancakes, Chicky ordered the same thing but with bacon.

So then we waited, understanding the kitchen was really behind and not being bothered by it since we had accepted that caveat.  Eventually food started coming out.  I noticed counter-boy enjoying his meal a good ten minutes before us, but whatever.  Maybe he ordered while he was sitting at the counter.  He also had one of the staff over talking to him regularly.

Another waitress starts wandering around with three plates and is directed to our booth.  She asks us "Egg Combo?"

"We both ordered Egg Combos"

"Oh!" and she then looks confusedly at her three plates.  Two were identical except where one had bacon, the other had sausage.  Her third plate was pancakes.  I indicated Chicky had ordered the bacon, and I had asked for sausage.  She placed those plates appropriately and then put the pancakes next to me.

I asked Chicky, "Didn't you ask for pancakes?  Or was it french toast?"  I couldn't remember at that moment.  Chicky reiterated she was to get pancakes as well, and this waitress ran off.  While she braved the milling horde of unoccupied staff in front of the kitchen I tried my pancakes.

"How are they?" asked Chicky.

"Crunchy," I replied unhappily.  Crunchy pancakes!  "And really eggy, more like french toast."

When Chicky's pancakes arrived, she took one bite and had had enough of those.  We both sampled everything on our plates.  Eggs were over cooked and cold.  Toast was cold and tasteless.  Home fries, also cold.  My breakfast sausage had retained some of its heat and was slightly warm, but her bacon was cold and overcooked.  One thing was obvious.  These plates had been sitting for a while before they reached us.

Now look back to the menu items I quoted.  Notice something that was in both options but WASN'T on our plates?  There were no beans nor fried tomato.

At no point did someone come by to ask how our food was (to which Chicky intended to answer honestly).  I just wanted someone to come by because I was choking on the cold potato and needed water.  The airy remains of my shake did not help.

Finally, after we obviously were done (I had laid my napkin over the plate, as a clear indication I wanted no more of it) our waitress returned with the bill.  Not even asking us if we wanted something else.  We asked for the much desired water, which was brought by yet another staffer, while our waitress fetched the debit machine.

So we left, $30 poorer, and having eaten less than 1/2 of our food.  But as I said, it was educational.  We know now never to return.  In comparison, we later passed an A&W advertising Toast, Home Fries, Eggs, Bacon or Sausage, and unlimited coffee for $4.99.

http://www.melsdiner.ca/

The Good: Umm.... hmm....  uhhh.....  
The Bad: the cost for what you get
The Ugly: everything else

Wow.. Danmick and I have been there 3 times since they opened and while none of the experiences have been stellar, I don't think any came close to your experience.
Here is my take on our 3 visits:

Visit 1:
The order: burger and fries (me) & monte cristo (danmick)
The service: poorly executed (too few staff, a little slow on everything, but no where near as bad as the review above)
Overall: my memory of old Mel's was that the burgers were both bigger and much more flavourful.. I doubt I would order their burger ever again, Danmick liked the monte cristo enough to warrant a repeat order

Visit 2:
The order: both of us ordered the Big Mel (all three meats, toast, 2 eggs, hash browns and pancakes for me, french toast for Danmick)
The service: improved service, still nothing spectacular but better than the first time (this time there appeared to be too many staffers, whereas last time was too few)
Overall: eggs were exactly how I asked (runny but not sloppy) and my pancakes were pretty good (thick and relatively fluffy), but all three meats were not good (sausage was overcooked, bacon undercooked and the ham was sliced THINNER than the bacon!), my toast was so crunchy it half disintigrated when I bit into it... lastly my hash browns were tasty but as as Danmick pointed out, its hard to screw those kind of hash browns up (hard but not impossible).  I don't think either of us would go out of our way to suggest Mel's for breakfast unless there was a big craving and it was after the usual breakfast hour in any other nearby location.

Visit 3:
The order: we both ordered the monte cristo (having seen Danmick's last time I thought it looked good enough to try)
The service: the service seems to improve each time we go there... it is now at least at a level I think is not "bad", but certainly still has a ways to go to get where I would consider it "good" (FYI in my rating system, good is a the basic level of service a restaurant needs to maintain to ensure their clientele considers returning.. I can forgive a place when it first opens up (like the Smokehouse) while they get their staff up to speed... if they show continual improvement, I will continue to (consider) returning.. if the service is stagnant or gets worse, they've dug their grave trying to get me to spend more of my money at least
Overall: As I stated above, service seems to be slowly improving, but the food is nothing spectacular... because they are close by, I won't shun the place, but it won't be high on my list of suggestions unless "close" is one of the biggest deciding factors (like it was today).

Oh to sum up using the same good/bad/ugly system Diddly does:

The Good: service is improving
The Bad: nothing so far has lived up to my memory of the previous Mel's experience (price, service or food)
The Ugly: while it is improving, service is the biggest disappointment... maybe keep one senior server on at all times to ensure quality service?!