Many of you may be waking up reaching for your eggs and bacon to get you started in the morning.

Or maybe you're heading out the door to stop and pick something up before your morning commute.

If you can't decide where to eat, listen up.

As the saying goes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And us morning people know a thing or two when it comes to a good breakfast.

So over the past few weeks, Erie News Now stopped by some of the most popular breakfast joints here in Erie, and in this Erie News Now special report, we found out who has Erie's best breakfast.

From pancakes, to tater tots, cheese and eggs.

Those are just some of the staples that go into making a good hearty breakfast to get you going.

But why do the people of Erie love their breakfast so much?

"Well, because people like to get out, they like to get their day started they need a little boost in the morning after they've been up late watching television, and that'll get them going," said Charles Bennett of Fairview.

"It gets us going, and that's why it's important. You gotta have it," said Rick Herbstritt of Erie.

So when it comes to the most important meal of the day, many "Erie-ites" agree, there's no messin' around. That's why we hit the town to find the most "eggs-cellent" meal.

First up, it's a crowd favorite. Downtown Erie's own Dominick's 24-hour eatery.

"Dominick's is a real staple in this town, there's not many people I've met who have never heard of Dominick's, and every time you mention the name they're like, 'Oh yeah I love the meatball omelet, it's very notorious.'"

Behold, the notorious meatball omelet.

Two homemade meatballs, 3 eggs, 3 pieces of provolone cheese and it's all topped with homemade pasta sauce.

If you're an Erie native, meatballs for breakfast might be the norm, and of course an Erie staple.

But the mission must continue. So we headed out to Millcreek to see what they're serving up at Butch's place.

"Strawberry cheesecake french toast, crab cake eggs benedict, homemade quiche, changes every week," said Jeffrey King, owner of Butch's Place.

Jeffrey King is the owner of Butch's Place family restaurant and he says breakfast is about more than just food, it's about bringing people together.

"People all over love breakfast, it's a warm meal to get you started. It gives you energy. It's heartwarming to meet people and when you walk in the door, there they are. They're always here, you can count on them always coming in," said King.

One of those people is Charles Bennett of Fairview.

He says he's one of Butch's loyal customers because he likes they way they do business.

"You get good service, the prices are reasonable and i think one of the important things as i said the owner is present here, he's not an absentee owner."

Jeff says that's all part of the job.

"It's fun to come in and see the same faces every day, you know everybody's name they know about you know about them," King finished.

So we know about the atmosphere. But how does the food taste?

We tried the signature dish here at Butch's Place. It's a crab cake eggs benedict... with eggs, hollandaise sauce, crab cake and an English muffin.

We loved the flavor at Butch's, but when it comes to most bang for your buck, The Breakfast Place is "egg-stra" special.

"Obviously our food is fantastic our price is good and our service is fantastic it's a combination of everything that makes a good restaurant," said Mary Marz.

Mary Marz is the head server at The Breakfast Place on Peach Street, she gave me the low down on some breakfast place favorites.

We wish we could try every breakfast Erie has to offer, but to decide who has the best meal, we've got to leave it up to the customers.

Head over to our Facebook page and fill out the poll!