Tucker's in Hooksett needs improvement

If you like a good restaurant story then there is none better than the husband and wife team who have opened a new restaurant in Hooksett which is aptly called Tucker’s which coincidentally is their last name. They are the previous owners of Maddie's in Salem which we had visited on a number of occasions. We were excited to see if their new venture would be as successful as Maddie’s so we headed south to find out.

Tucker's is located near the entry point to a mall. It seems that all the dining establishments that have gone into this site prior haven’t had much luck – from Burger King to Veano’s to the last inhabitant, a diner. It makes me wonder why they opened here. My guess is that because there are no other decent breakfast places in Hooksett they decided to give it a go, ergo limited competition. And also since it was already a completed restaurant there wouldn’t need to be major construction to the inside.

We hadn’t frequented the diner so we had no idea what the place looked like before they took over but on entering it was welcoming. The walls have been painted lime green to give it a bright and cheery appearance. On the morning we visited they were very busy and we waited a long while for a booth.

The menu carries the standard New England breakfast fare, omelets, waffles, pancakes and scramblers. They also seem to be offering many healthy options such as fresh and natural ingredients which is the trend these days. You will find organic oatmeal, smoothies and black beans.

My bacon and eggs was okay, warm not hot and the potatoes were dry and lacking in flavor and it took much too long for our meals to arrive - at least 30 minutes.

My wife chose an omelet and thought the filling was good but was very disappointed in the home fries and toast.

Our waitress did the best she could but she seemed confused during the whole process and kept apologizing to all around her because of the long wait for food. This is a good time for me to suggest to all waiters and waitresses whether novice or experienced that if you believe there is a problem or a mistake was made ask your manager to help take care of the situation. There was an issue with the table directly behind us and in the end they got their entire meal for free. We had to wait a long time and nothing was done for our trouble and a less than pleasurable experience.

We understand that Tucker's has not been open that long and they are still working out the kinks. Given their past success we think they are going to do fine at this location but they first need to make some improvements including speeding up their kitchen production and retraining the wait staff.