David F.
Yelp
I hadn't been here since I was a kid. That was before the place was redone. 30 years later, and probably time for another redo, I stopped for lunch while in the city. The Broadway has been "Famous for over onehalf century" -quoted from, among other sources, their website. Holy cow!! It was still stuck in the 70s. The clientele was...um....older, I guess. The specials consisted of Salisbury Steak (!), Sausage Cacciatore, a Fish Sandwich! My first thought was "can I get a Sanka with that, or a Tab?" It was evident where the 'blue plates' go to die. When the waitress asked, from the counter (I was at a table), what I was drinking, I ordered a Coke. Little did I know that was the highlight of the meal.
It was a Friday, so I had to try the chowder, as I am a sucker for chowder. It was on the special board, so that was decided right away. As I perused the hokey, garish menu, the one with huge pictures of food from another planet, I noticed the chowder was priced higher than soup. I figured this was an indication that it was homemade. Wrong. It was a bowl of warm milk and dissolving "potatoes" from a can, with saltines on the side. It was, at best, below par.
Rather than get one of the "Specials" I opted for a "NY-style deli" sandwich I was in the mood for a Reuben and theirs was served with fries and pickle. How could I go wrong? Well, the sandwich was out in a flash, hot off the grill and pretty good. Not that I was expecting or even wanting it, but the pictured coleslaw was just a mirage, the pickle was from a jar; it was that weird, green, cooked dill like in the supermarket. The fries were underdone and mealy, but to their credit, they were underdone in fresh oil and they have good salt.
Service was good other than the initial drink request. I tried to keep things low maintenance as my server had enough to deal with from her other patrons who were a little curmudgeonly. Someones Cacciatore had too much spice and his spouse's Salisbury steak was not hot enough.