I feel yelp led me astray with this one, so I have to post.
Dined here today during a trip to see the family. Found this place that I hadn't seen before and decided to give it a try. From the name and reviews, it sounded right up our alley.
So to start- when I visit PA, I want 2 things to eat: sticky buns and scrapple. Everything else is negotiable. Luckily, the Classic Diner had both so I figured we would be in good shape.
The good: Parking was ample, we were sat immediately and service by the very young staff was decent (though 'choppy' as many people waited on us through our meal). Water glasses were always filled, check came promptly and the staff generally seemed happy.
But the food, it was not great. Our sticky bun starter LOOKED impressive, but was really dry, with all the 'sticky' on top and none in the bun. And horror of horrors, it wasn't served with butter. Total sticky bun sacrilege. The plating was nice (nuts tossed in cinnamon on the side of the plate) but the quality of the food didn't match.
Entrees. Now, we had a hard time selecting entrees. I was overwhelmed at the make-your-own-omelet choices. Give me a couple combination recommendations, will ya? Maybe a couple house specialties? I ended up choosing an omelet with avocado and goat cheese. It arrived and no joke- it sat about 4 inches off the plate. It wasn't an omelet, it was an overcooked egg taco shell surrounding a giant mound of avocado & goat cheese. There must have been half a pound of goat cheese and at least one entire avocado. Guys- MORE 'STUFF' DOES NOT EQUAL BETTER FOOD. I would have been in a coma if I had eaten more than half of it. Potatoes on the side were unremarkable.
I had my scrapple on the side, and i've never been more disappointed by scrapple. It was anorexic-looking, completely thin and no mushy interior. I think their bacon was thicker. Major bummer.
My husband got eggs over easy with 'turkey hash.' What came out was...interesting. Eggs were over-cooked, the toast- while homemade- was burnt on the bottom. I can't stand when a place flips over the bread so you don't see the burnt part. And the hash was this giant slop of ground turkey, peppers, 2 kinds of onions, tons of mushrooms and what seemed to be french onion soup. We had been expecting turkey with potatoes. His response was that it wasn't BAD necessarily, but it didn't go with eggs and certainly didn't meet the expectation of 'hash.' Seemed more like something you'd serve over rice. Again, the portions were huge but it didn't make the food taste better.
We didn't eat much. Overall, we felt like this was a place that used high-quality ingredients- homemade breads, fresh veggies, good meats- but did them all wrong. No balance, no complementing flavors, cooking methods that dry everything out and far too many attempts at being trendy. We also found it pretty expensive for breakfast food. All this with the ironic name of 'Classic Diner.' read more