(picture totally ripped off from Google Maps, street view)
Outside, this place has all the appeal a quirky diner should have. Inside, it has all the disappointment a foodie's heart can hold. Seriously, this place could use a Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmare makeover... so much potential being wasted.
This diner is in a very unique spot (there is zero competition for blocks and blocks and blocks), but is wasting that potential by being caught in a time warp. Or maybe time just stood still there. Its hard to take a place seriously when the booths are in an eggplant vinyl.
Now, before you think I have thrown this place under the #121 bus that goes by it, relax. I can say that the place is clean and the service is fast. This, however, may be due to the fact that there were only four other people in the place and they had already been served.
Ratings:
Appearance: Clean but timeworn.
Service: Fast and friendly.
Food: Dated. Disappointed, 4/10
Overall rating: Will not be back.
Daily Special: Chicken fingers with fries and salad (9.50 + tax):
To be honest, the chicken fingers were the same chicken fingers that you get in every restaurant, even the specialty Mexican restaurants that get pissed off that you will not eat a taco but still want your business so they have them on the menu. I have seen them served at Thai places too. For really. And to me, that is ten degrees of wrong but we can talk about that another time. You cannot polish a turd and you cannot do anything sexy with chicken fingers. That is legal. Or morally acceptable.
The surprising highlight were the fries that had been seasoned perfectly with Lawry's seasoning salt, which I like but my partner in crime that day behaved as though someone had shit on her plate.
The most disappointing thing of all was the salad. I opened the container up and was uber excited because, at first glance, it looked all fresh and full of yummy goodness. Sadly, it was dying. The meal was a take away and the cook had drowned the salad in dressing and only the parts that weren't drenched in ranch dressing survived. Also, when one makes and/or serves a salad, the pieces should be bite sized, not a third of the romaine leaf. Home Economics, eighth grade, just sayin'.
To be honest, it was a whole lot of meh and that makes me sad because this place has the potential to have lineups out the door and down the parking lot. Which, perhaps, in its day, it did.
Ironically, a co-worker commented, "The Lunchbox? Oh I haven't been there in fifteen years." Do not worry your heart out. Not a thing about the place has changed.
