Yesterday I was having a bad day. I had an ailment and I googled an urgent care close to me, and it told me to go to a nearby Rite-Aid. I paid for an Uber ride to get there only to walk in and be told they didn't have urgent care services. I was pretty annoyed.
There's a nearby Goodwill, so I went in and bought a few cheap things to try and cheer myself up. But see, I'm diabetic, and I realized in my haste to get the day going I hadn't eaten anything at all. So on top of all of this I started to feel sick.
I saw Chi Cafe a bit in the distance. It's in a kind of old school strip shopping center that I've never had occasion to visit. It's unassuming. From the outside, I have to admit - no offense - it doesn't look that special. I was a little wary about going in but I thought, meh, worst case, I just buy a dessert to get my blood sugar up and move on to elsewhere.
Then I walked in, and I was greeted with the cutest little retro diner decor. I know lots of diners try to "do 50's style decor", but this place really felt like I had done a time warp. Everything was really new looking and clean, too. I thought... well damn, this might work out after all.
I did notice that literally every other patron was 60 or over, but to me that's a good sign. Older folks don't suffer bad service or lousy food. I'm 39, but sit me down with some elders for a meal and I know I'm probably in for a good experience.
There were several waitresses at 11:20AM, and I didn't really have just one server taking care of me. It seemed like they all visited me at one point or another, and they were ALL. GREAT. Look - I'm kind of a crotchety old bitch. I don't ask for a lot, but I do like being taken care of while also not having someone at my table like 40 times in a half hour. And they got the balance JUST RIGHT.
But on top of that, they were so sweet and polite and it seemed really genuine. Like they seemed legit happy to help me out and have me there. That isn't easy for someone in a job where they are on their feet all day. I was really really happy.
I was also in the mood for some soup, and one of the SOTD was a shells and chicken jawn. I figured, for $3.99, give it a shot. I cannot tell you in adequate words how friggin' good this soup was. I dunno, it could've been straight out of a can, I don't care. I would go back for this soup alone and I'm dead serious.
Then I ordered a patty melt, and I had some changes: I asked for well done, with lettuce and tomato, and I asked them to remove the grilled onions and substitute raw. I added fries which is a $1.00 upcharge. It comes with Russian dressing as well, and the server who took my order did double check that I wanted that dressing after all my specifics and changes. I don't know, it just felt really cool that she asked. She didn't have to, but she did, you know?
So then this burger comes out, and it was damn perfect. You're probably reading this like "Big whoop, how hard is it to screw up a burger?" Let me tell you: it's easy. I order a lot of burgers, and the biggest issue I experience is well done either being ignored by the cook because they think they know better, or well done turning into a hockey puck.
This burger gave me LIFE. It was cooked PERFECTLY. The toast it was on was grilled CORRECTLY. The lettuce, tomato, onion were FRESH, not wilty garbage. There was just the right amount of dressing and cheese. The fries were perfect.
And then, you guys for serious, the total meal including unsweetened iced tea w/ refills was less than $15. $1.99 for the tea - and I know at this point I sound crazy but it was GOOD tea - and $3.99 for the soup, and ONLY $7.99 for the burger and fries. Total with tax was $14.81 and you better believe I dropped a $20 and left the change.
I have passed by this place so many times without giving it a second thought, and now I am for sure going to make an effort to come back here, on purpose, as often as I can. And you should too.