by Alanna H » Sat Sep 19, 2015 1:48 am
My son and I hit up AtD after his high school football game tonight. It was late, so I expected the place to be packed but it wasn't. We seated ourselves per the sign, and the bartender greeted us- friendly and sincere. We order iced tea to start. Sweet for him and half-sweet for me.
It took a while to decide what we wanted to eat. There are a lot of options on the menu, so it was tough choosing. I'm not ashamed to say that the pricing steered me away from some things. I really really wanted an omelet with bacon, tomato, spinach, and avocado- but couldn't bring myself to pay $10 or it. I guess I'm really cheap when it comes to eggs. Who knew?! Instead I ordered the chicken fried steak ($12).
My son ordered off the a la carte breakfast menu- 2 fried eggs ($2), hash ($2), and waffles. When we placed our drink order and were asked if we had any questions about the menu, my son asked how many waffles came with the a la carte order, and about how big they were. Our server told us it was 2 for $3. She said the $4 price on the menu was wrong. So he went ahead and got those. I didn't notice until later that the regular non-ala carte waffles were priced at $7. I thought that was really strange. Why would ala carte waffles be priced so much cheaper than the regular order? Per the menu, nothing additional came with the regular order, like bacon or anything.
I also asked for an order of Nutella Monkey Bread to go.
Our tea came out and we both thought it was terrible. My son said his wasn't sweet at all, and I couldn't taste any in mine, either. I'm not sure if they were just at the bottom of the tea container and needed to brew more, or if it's supposed to taste that way.
The servers were doing some shifting so we got a new server when we placed our order. After a few minutes he came back and told me they were out of the Monkey Bread. Dammit. I really wanted that!!!
The food came out in a very reasonable amount of time. My steak was floured and very nicely browned. I hate battered CFS like you get at some cheap places. This had a nice crust of seasoned flour, but nowhere near as heavy and greasy as batter. It was very good. The mashed potatoes that came with it were bland and easily forgettable. Even if they just added some salt, pepper, and butter it would have made them better. You have your choice of white or brown gravy, and naturally I got white because, hello, it's chicken fried steak! I was disappointed, however, that it wasn't milk gravy as I expected, but rather a sausage gravy. While this gravy would be delicious on biscuits or scrambled eggs, I didn't think it was a good fit for the CFS.
My son devoured his eggs and hash browns (ah, the joys of trying to feed and fill up a growing teenage football player. I might need to get a second job). His two waffles were large and fluffy, just regular waffle-iron waffles. They were served with butter and syrup, as expected. I think it's probably pretty hard to screw up waffles. I would love to see restaurants serve real maple syrup, rather than the overly sweetened Aunt Jemimah or Log Cabin type syrups but the masses would probably die of shock if they were served the real thing.
All in all, it wasn't a bad meal. It definitely is NOT what I would ever consider a diner- not in fare or pricing. It was a regular restaurant, in my opinion. The prices were really high in some places, and totally acceptable in others. The $12 seemed high for mine when I considered the fact that you only got mashed potatoes and CFS. Not even a vegetable or side salad. But at the same time, it was a large portion and I certainly couldn't have eaten another side even if it did come with one.
Our service was wonderful. From the bartender who greeted us, to our initial server, to the young man we ended up with- all were pleasant, friendly, polite, and attentive. No complaints there whatsoever.
I'm still thinking about that Nutella Monkey Bread, though. Dammit.