Chris E.
Yelp
For as long as we had been coming to Ridgewood's town, Raymond's red awning on the corner of E Ridgewood and Oak always stood out, but with all of the restaurants in the area, it was always "next time" ...... and "next time" FINALLY came to be.
We dropped in on a warm, early Friday evening at around 5:45 and the restaurant was pretty much empty, except for 2 other occupied tables. In the times that we thought we'd come here for dinner, we looked at the menu, but everything always seemed a bit pricier than we'd like, especially because of the fact that it seemed to have less to choose from. They had a "diner-ish" menu, but didn't have the full variety offering of a diner. HOWEVER, one nice surprise was that they had a kids menu, which they don't advertise on their website.
We didn't start with any appetizer and went straight to entrees. My better half ordered the Autumn Salad with Shrimp, I had the Black Bean Veggie Burger (with Fries) and the kids shared a small order of Mac and Cheese and a Kids Junior Burger.
My wife thought her salad was subpar. The salad was mostly chopped romaine and didn't have much flavor, according to her, but the shrimp was decent (there were 5 in it). As for my Black Bean Veggie Burger, it was HUGE. The veggie burger's flavor was good, but it fell apart within the first bite. It was like eating a giant, soft falafel that just crumbled. It was a bit dry too, so ketchup was a must for it. The fries that came with it were very good though - could have come out hotter, but still decent.
As for the Kids Junior Burger, it was cooked perfectly for us as we had asked, which was medium well. I didn't get a chance to try it, but it looked pretty juicy. Our kids also loved the Mac and Cheese. I had a few bites and thought was OK. It was on the gooey side, which I'm a fan of.
By 6:30 PM, the restaurant was pretty busy. Turnover was high, so there was always a few tables free, but the waiters were definitely working their tails off at that point. Service with the food was good and the waiters kept providing us with extra ketchup every time we requested for it. Overall, the food was decent. We'd definitely prefer more variety. I do know that they are a popular brunch spot, so maybe we'd give it another go around for brunch.