Upon actually going in after admiring the scenery, I had this very distinct "I've been here before" feeling. Oh, right, every diner feels the same in a way, if they do it right at least. Sweet, first test passed. Our waitress promptly comes over and pours us some blazing hot coffee... into those standard diner coffee cups emblazoned with ads for local construction companies and taxidermists all around. (Do these companies actually get business from coffee cups?) I love it. The paper place mats have even more ads nobody is interested in... the ambiance score is increasing quickly.
Of course I can't eat the place mats or the funny vinyl seats, so lets talk about the food for a bit. First rule: I always aim at breakfast when I go to a diner, so I ordered the Country Fried Steak and Eggs. Lets set some backstory here first... Country Fried Steak is no king's food, and it usually sucks at best. At its worst it's non-toxic (probably), but basically seems like someone breaded and fried a shoe. And not a fancy feel-good shoe like Tom's either... more like those 90's Doc Martins. And let's not even go into how yucky the gravy can be. It's actually not super hard to make a good fried steak, but it still seems to be elusive to plenty of restaurants. This version was GREAT. Nice piece of beef (probably sirloin) pounded to death, breaded and lightly fried. It was even medium well! On top was a nice standard country gravy (white creamy gravy that sometimes has sausage in it too. Not a whole lot different than cream chipped beef). Served along side it was 3(!) eggs, home fries and toast for all of $9. I think the coffee was another $1 (I didn't pay, so I didn't get a very good look at the check). More tasty food than I can eat for ten bucks is great. I noticed that the 2 eggs, breakfast meat, homefries and toast thingy was $6... more than fair.
Overall, I loved it. The price was right, and the food was better than I expected. The service left nothing to be desired, and the atmosphere was exactly what a diner should be, whether or not that's your thing is a different matter. It is in Rosedale, which sucks, but if you find yourself in the area or feel like taking a drive... call me, cause I'll probably want to join you.
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