In my last year+ of travelling with John, we've run into some really good
local (to the city/town) eateries. I know there are horrific ones out there
but we've had good luck with local diners and cafes.
We drove past a place called The Front Page Cafe a couple of times this past
weekend. No matter what time of day the parking lot was always packed. So
on Sunday we decided to try it for lunch.
At first blush, it looked okay. Not a huge lunch menu but your basic
diner-type food. Burgers, pot roast, meat loaf, fried catfish, assortment
of veggies... stuff like that. It appeared to be clean. No screaming
children LOL Noise level was acceptable.
Now I know some folks here don't want their server to do the whole, "Hi, I'm
so and so and I'll be your server today" routine. But I'd at least like the
server to say "hi". This woman approached our table, with something of a
scowl on her face and without uttering another word asked bluntly, "What do
you want to drink?" John and I both looked at her and said, "Hi!" She
didn't say hi, just repeated her question. She took off to get our drinks,
brought them and walked off. Okay.... we weren't ready to order yet.
John noticed something I've never seen on a menu before: "Please don't ask
for a doggy bag." What?! What if you can't finish the food they gave you?
You pay for it but can't take it home with you? I said, "John, that's just
weird."
We sat there about 15 minutes. She still hadn't come back. *Meanwhile*
there was another server running around with a stainless steel cookpot in
her hand, *yelling* something. With her heavy southern U.S. accent it took
us a minute to figure out she was yelling, "White beans with ham!" Yes, her
job for the day was to run around offering people white (great northern)
beans cooked with ham. It's apparently a freebie thing they do. Okay, why
not try some? But we don't have anything to put them in. She grabbed a
couple of small bowls from an empty table and ladeled some up for us then
continued wandering around yelling "White beans! White beans with ham!"
ODD!
A few minutes later another server came around carrying pans of hot rolls,
yelling, "Hot rolls!" She paused by our table. John said, "You aren't
going to throw those at us, are you?" She laughed and said, "No, I'm gonna
fling 'em at you!" Then she threw a roll at him. Luckily he was prepared
and caught it. She threw one at me, too, then resumed her wanderings and
yelling about hot rolls. We didn't have any plates to put the rolls on,
though; had to use our napkins. At least we had napkins. And the butter
was in a plain clear squeeze bottle on the table. Another oddity.
Okay, enough with the gimicks. Where's our server?!
We ate the white beans (they needed salt and he I don't like a lot of salt)
and our rolls. But where's our server?
Another server came by. She noticed we only had those tiny bowls of beans
and a roll apiece. "Hasn't anyone taken your order?", she asked. Not yet.
Oh man, I'm sorry, let me take care of it for you. And she was sincerely
sorry, and pleasant, not scowling like the first server was. She even took
the drinks off our order for us having to wait. Woo hoo! 50 cents off for
iced tea and a coffee! But she was nice to do it.
John ordered a burger and a baked potato. I ordered country fried steak
with turnip greens and green beans. She went off to turn in our order.
A few minutes after that, the original server came by, still looking
disgruntled. She asked, "Don't you have your food yet?" John told her
someone else took our order. She said, "You mean I didn't?" Well DUH! We
were nice about it but come on! Maybe she was having a bad day but she
should have known if she had (or didn't have) our check/ticket in her apron.
She asked who had taken our order; we pointed her out and she stomped over
there.
While we waited for our food, the 'white bean lady' underwent a change of
occupation! Now she was running around with a large stainless bowl yelling,
"Fried okra! Hot fried okra!" LOL
It wouldn't have been so bad if the food had been more than mediocre. His
burger was dry as the Sahara and he practically had to beg [the first
server, who launched a coup and took the table back] for condiments. My
country fried steak was okay; nothing to write home about but the veggies
were canned. We are used to places like this cooking up fresh veggies.
All in all, a sad and strange experience. I don't know why people were
flocking to the place at all hours. They are obviously used paying for
mediocre food, which shouldn't surprise me but somehow it always does.
Jill