Fired Up Breakfast and Burgers - Golden

I read some other people's reviews before heading here, and it seemed like the worst of the details focused on by people offering single star reviews focused around the service, and a sign by the front door asking parents to keep their children behaving appropriately. There is such a sign at the front door. I see no problem with either the sign, or the policy. I’m in my 30s and I plan to have kids one day, and I know children are difficult to keep from making a scene from time to time, but as a restaurant-goer, it does get old when parents let their kids do whatever they want, screaming their heads off, and throwing little creamers around. That’s got nothing to do with this restaurant though, other than that they have a sign which asks people to try to keep their kids from ruining others’ experiences. That’s not rude, it’s polite. So, you can ignore those posts – unless, I guess, you’re a self-entitled parent who wishes that there was a Denny’s in Radium, so that your little hellions could ruin dozens of others’ breakfast experiences. Back to Fired Up, though. The service. Others have complained that service was brisk. I didn’t find that. My SO and I had a lovely server who was brief, but attentive, pleasant, and quick to respond to our requests. They kept our water cups full, and we had a steady stream of coffee, which was most appreciated. There was a somewhat brisk male working that day, who may be the male that others have described, but frankly all I expect from a restaurant is that servers seat me quickly if they can, respond to my requests, come around to see if things are OK, and make sure my glass is full. I don’t need them to be sickly-sweet. They’re not. They’re perfect. If you are the sort of person who wants to feel like you’re a billionaire movie star going to a spa where you’ll drop $10,000 to have Koala Bear stem cells with echinacea paste rubbed into your eye-lids above where they Botoxed you, you’ll be underwhelmed by the service. Most normal people will find it amply satisfactory. Now, the food. It was OK. I’m spoiled by a plethora of absolutely top-notch, gourmet breakfast niches in my home town of a million plus, though, so it’s not maybe a fair comparison. Frankly again, there aren’t many options for breakfast in Radium. It’s a town of 800 people or something like that. There are no serious breakfast competitors. The food is OK. I got a pulled pork omelet, and it was as good, but not better, than I might have been able to make at home. I enjoyed eating it, it felt nutritious, and I would eat it again, but it wasn’t so good that I was astonished, but again, I think there’s some checking of expectations that needs to happen in our modern society of me, me, me, consumer garbage – what is breakfast for? What is a restaurant for? It’s a place to get a decent meal, with quick, attentive service that doesn’t go over the top to be sickly-sweet, to provide food that you didn’t have to cook or clean up after, so that you can enjoy your day and not have to find a place to cook food in a resort town. Fired Up does all this proficiently. It’s not a five star, gourmet, we-brought-in-a-celebrity-chef-to-make-you-strange-and-world-class-concoctions, it’s a mom-and-pop looking breakfast place in a small town with few competitors. Their hollandaise sauce likely comes out of a jar. They use no-name-brand ketchup. The decorations look a bit confused, if I take a snooty Big City kind of attitude – for example, there’s a reproduction antique clock that says Paris on it, as well as a number of faux-antique cow milking buckets, and some ‘modern art’ thrown in, alongside historical photos of Radium, for good measure. The place has been renovated recently, but not by some San Francisco interior designer. It’s clean, spacious, and perfectly fine. It’s a breakfast place. They serve decent food, the prices are comparable to basically every other restaurant in the country if not a bit on the less expensive side, and the service is perfectly fine. It’s not high-luxury, couture, chic, or snooty. It also isn’t located in Banff, where you might find more places that fit that bill. I’d go again. I’d also remind myself that I’m not a movie star, that the world doesn’t revolve around me, and that I don’t need the chef to have used the world’s rarest ingredients to custom-make me a $50 omelet. But if I was that kind of person, I’d likely not be going to Radium in the first place – I’d be yelling at some poor server and making a scene in the Banff Springs because my eggs were a quarter degree Celsius too cold. There was one stupid review where the person complained that something like five people cost $100 to eat. Yeah, welcome to North America. That’s $20 a person. Pretty standard, unless you’re used to McDonalds or Denny’s serving you GMO-who-knows-what. So yeah, overall, I think some people wish that Fired Up was a Denny’s, and I think other people wish it was some high culture breakfast spa. It’s neither. It’s Fired Up. Pretty decent. Serves hot breakfast, hot coffee, gets you your food and checks up on you after, and asks that your stupid uncontrolled kids be respectful in public. Also, few options for Breakfast in Radium. This place is a breakfast place. That’s all I want.

We stopped here twice for breakfast and once for an evening meal. That in itself speaks volumes for the place. It is not fancy but the food was very good. The bison burger was one of the best burgers I have ever had. For breakfast the omelettes are very good with a fried potato hash on the side with rye. Very very tasty and filling. The inside is clean and there is an outside seating area. The staff/service are friendly but not super quick but that does not detract from the good honest food.

We stopped here for breakfast and the service and food was very good. Had good size portions and price was reasonable for this area.

We walked in and were seated immediately. Surprisingly there were more than a few tables empty. Usually it's tough to get into a sitdown restaurant in Radium during the Summer but this year the whole town seemed slow compared to last year.Our server was a pleasant young woman who was both cheerful and helpful.The dining room was a good size and appeared clean and orderly. It was nice and cool which was a relief from the 31C temperature outside.I had a small chicken caesar salad because I wasn't really hungry and it's usually a safe bet. My wife had a chicken burger and our always ravenous daughter had a burger the size of a football.Our food came fairly quickly and each of us enjoyed our meal. I would like to go back and try a few other items before I rate the overall menu. One thing I do recall that was different was the chicken on my salad was cut up in small pieces, like you would get in a Chinese restaurant, as opposed to strips or cubes. I recall thinking that although unusual for this kind of salad I enjoyed that presentation. We will likely try this restaurant again when we go back to Radium next year.

Limited menu, but tasty. Burgers on brioche bun and their special house sauce on burgers appears to be 1000 Island dressing. No soup, but sandwiches come with fries or salad. Dressing is ranch, balsamic, or raspberry.