What is the best way to describe this place? I think if Denny's decided to have a kid with Twin Peaks, its name would be Hudson's Classic Grill. Or...to put it even more bluntly: a stoically plebeian diner with an "old school" feel to it which could otherwise be described as...easily forgettable.
Going in, I sort of knew what we were getting ourselves into for our venture in "family night". I just didn't imagine the quality of the food would be so dismally executed. Though, to be fair, it wasn't ALL bad. We'll start with the appetizer..
I am an avid fan of potato skins in nearly every form imaginable. That being said, the Sante Fe Skins were...pretty good, actually. Matter of fact, the only thing they really had going against them was the noticeably bland flavor to them. A dash of table salt easily corrected the problem. So I'm not even going to bother counting this against them. Because this place has much bigger issues to worry about. Like..
Why does this place serve curly fries when they taste almost exactly the same as their straight fries, only less cooked? Seriously, I have no idea what the deal is. But it seemed like my wife's side of regular fries with her buffalo wings tasted slightly better than my curly fries with near identical texture. Also..
My daughter ordered this burger that looked like it was pan seared at a grease spoon diner (possibly way beyond the credit of this restaurant's merit). I recall looking at it wishing there were some sort of charbroil on her meat. She ate about half and I don't blame her.
My wife got wings and fries as mentioned above. However, the first thing I noticed about them was how hilariously, microscopically tiny these wings were. I liked the flavor of them just fine. I just....wish they were bigger, ya know? It looked like Chicken Little screwed Tweety Bird out back and the chefs decided to serve the kids up for an appetizer. Lame.
I went on a limb by ordering the Philly roast beef sandwich. See, I never really understood this concept. Philly cheese steak (which I'm assuming this is attempting to represent) is made with thinly sliced rib eye, traditionally; not roast beef. Ergo, this style of execution for said sandwich never really worked for me. It changes the overall flavor entirely. And this sandwich just didn't work for me at all. I never made it past the second half of my sandwich. Plus, it's always a really bad sign when the sides out perform the main course.
The main saving grace for the evening, honestly...was the service. Our waitress was sublime. I mean, you could really tell she was trying. Of course, it helps that we never really complained because there was little we could complain about that she'd be able to correct anyway.
That's my biggest gripe with Hudson's really. It's like one of those places where you show up, try the food for what it is, and don't really say much if the food fails to meet your expectations (whatever they are) because you're mostly just grateful you didn't..
1.) Incidentally ingest food poisoning via Murphy's Law and/or..
2.) Suffer a fate greater than #1 in lieu of sending your food back in hopes of receiving something better.
Because ultimately in a place like this, if something isn't...terrible, yet still not that great, you don't bother complaining about it vocally [because it's not worth the energy at all]. You simply don't return. Which is what we'll be doing.
This restaurant is forgettable, not that terrible...yet less than average, and...dare I say...something that seems to celebrate its own mediocrity in self congratulatory fashion by apparently hiring a part time magician to inexplicably toss cards up to the ceiling for patrons to awkwardly gawk at. I just don't get it. And I'm not sure I want to. Though, to be fair, said magician wasn't present when we were dining here tonight. I just had to make mention of that since others were praising this aspect.
Like I said, I just don't get it. read more