D.wight L.
Yelp
So, I've been updating my reviews for this place since 2007. But I've been coming here since the 90's, since I've became a young adult and basically had my own money to eat wherever I wanted. This was one of the core old school diners this town had, and depending on where you lived you supported one of these 5 diners or so.
I originally gave them 3 stars but that was when I thought basic diner fare did not deserve more stars than say an upscale restaurant. Now that I've churned out over 1500 reviews, I now rate and perceive things differently. I now look at places at how they can best serve me, and at what level do they strive to make said experience valuable.
Sure the food is still not mind blowing or really worthy of any IG posts, but this place has got me revisiting almost at regular status. Breakfast and brunch hours are still their bread and butter here, and you better be down to either be in a packed house or a queue in a line if you want that. I instead come around the early dinner hours when I don't really want or have anything to cook at home. It is always super mellow, zero lines and you can practically get anything from that menu, from breakfast to lunch to dinner things.
Pork Chop n Eggs ($15ish/4*) This is usually on a specials sheet and is a very satisfying alternative to steak n eggs. 2 thickish boneless pork loin chops are grilled and seasoned nice. It is always juicy and never dry which even upscale places seem to mess up for pork chops. Eggs always done as requested and their potatoes are unique that they precook sliced potatoes and slightly crisp them up on a griddle with a bit of seasoned salt. I think it is better to request it a bit more crisp as when not, it is kinda mash potato-y. But this place is notorious for dishing out an obscene amount of potato. I've never been into wasting food, so I wasn't one to rave about the huge portion sizes.
Sirloin Steak smothered in Mushrooms ($22/4*) Actual decent sized steak, like at least 10 oz totally smothered in a thickish gravy that I'm sure goes in other dishes. But they add a good handful of sliced mushrooms into this gravy to make every meaty bite juicy and savory. The veggies are total meh, frozen veggies warmed up, but sometimes they are better at some times than others. I don't mind them and when eating a hearty beef dish, I love any kind of veggies to go with, can't do just meat and potatoes anymore.
Roast Beef Dinner ($24ish/4.5*) I didn't think I was going to like this as much as 1) you can't get the slices medium rare, it's all pretty much medium well; and 2) I prefer a thinner au jus to a thick gravy, and this gets the latter. BUT I was really surprised on how much I liked this, totally reminded me of an old school Hofbrau plate. Even though the beef was mostly well done, it was really tender and juicy. And even though their gravy has that industrial diner thickness that I often make fun of, it is actually quite tasty as it adds enough saltiness and savoriness to all that mound of meaty roast beef. And hot roast beef with mashed potatoes smothered in gravy is a heartstring dish for me, growing up in blue collar America, even as a second generation immigrant.
So the rest of the fiver will lie in the service as this place manages to keep their servers for a long time, thus they end up owning their craft. The placing and receiving of food is always quick and efficient. I'm actually so surprised these days on how the basics are no longer basics. Like I'll receive my food without utensils, I gotta flag people down for a refill on a drink or the check. None of that will happen here because they know what their job entails and they do it. That is much props, even more so as we go on and service starts to disappear right before our eyes. This is also the kind of place that has set my standards for diner fare, so any diner I go into in any town or state, I'll always refer to a couple of diners in my area that I can compare to. And Country Way is one of my reference spots. And let my updated rating reflect that.
