I traveled to Lewistown on 3/24/15 for work. Devastatingly, I left my amazing lunch at home in the refrigerator. I made an outstanding shrimp salad sandwich with green leaf lettuce on a croissant. I was pissed when I realized that I forgot my lunch -- in fact, I am still really upset. That said, the upside was that it gave me the opportunity to try a new restaurant. After doing a little research, I wanted somewhere that I could walk to. Laskaris Restaurant fit-the-bill, and that is where I went.
Food: For lunch I had the fried fish sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and tartar sauce. It was a good sandwich. The bun was soft and pillowy, the vegetables were fresh (a serious shock to me given the state of the restaurant), and the fish was cooked perfectly -- nice and crispy, but not overcooked. They dressed the sandwich really well with the tartar, the cheese, and the vegetables. Honestly, it was a great sandwich.
My complaint is that I am not a fan of square breaded haddock patties. I like my haddock in its original filet form. Despite that, it was still a very good sandwich.
Food: 4 / 5
Service: The service was very basic. 'Hi, what can I get you', 'Here is your check', etc. There was no small talk, no pleasantries, and everyone seemed kind of depressed that their lives had amounted to working in a restaurant. This was a little disappointing. For a small-town, family-owned and run establishment, I firmly believe that they should take a little bit more pride in their service. Maybe smile? Either way, the service seemed borderline standoffish, and unwelcoming. For this reason alone, I would not return.
Service: 2 / 5
Atmosphere: Personally, Laskaris does not fall-into the 'restaurant' category. It is a diner, through-and-through. It is dingy, it is dirty (food splattered on the stainless steel doors from who-knows how long ago; floors that had been cleaned -- but not well; and overall feel of dirtiness), it also looks like it could use a real-deep cleaning. Here is the thing, I didn't feel comfortable eating here given how dirty the restaurant felt. My silverware was clean, the plates were clean; but given the general state of the rest of the restaurant, my imagination begins filling in some blanks.
Atmosphere: 2 / 5
Price: My sandwich came to about 6.81. It was a good sandwich, but it did not come with fries, or slaw, or chips. Just the sandwich. Would I pay 6.81 (8.00 after tip) for that sandwich again? No. The combination of the lackluster service, and the dingy atmosphere could not overcome the good quality sandwich. It was not worth the 8.00 that I paid.
Price: 2 / 5
Final Thoughts: Though this was marginally better than the Subway located across the street (which I hate), I will not return to Laskaris for the simple fact that the service and the atmosphere are questionable-at-best. Even if I got food to-go, I would still feel leery about where it was cooked, and the state of the kitchen. Now, I never saw the kitchen, but (like I said) given some of the other attention-to-detail things that were clearly overlooked, I can only imagine... read more