In counterpoint to the old saw, sometimes familiarity breeds respect. That is true for my husband and me for The Griddle. We have been in several times over the last year for a late breakfast or quick lunch. During that time the service continues to be the weak spot for consistency and professionalism, but the food is always good and the place has a locals "come one and all" feel..
MENU CHANGE & FOOD:
About a month ago they changed the breakfast and lunch menus. Instead of a huge, fold out, multipage menu they've pared it down to two oversized pages and eliminated some items and added some new ones.
We discovered this when we popped in for lunch last month to have one of our favorite things, the house made quinoa veggie burger, to find it had met its' end with the menu revamp. But we were happy to find a new house made lamb burger, using Idaho lamb, and with a tzatziki style sauce is on the menu and they graciously substituted dry rye toast for the croissant style or brioche style bun.
New menu sides also have some Middle Eastern flair, like a tabboleh style quinoa salad and an interesting salad using raw sweet potato.
The breakfast menu has been pared back too, but our favorites there remain. And they always, always get my poached eggs right, exactly how I order them "hard as golf balls" which is more difficult for a kitchen to do than one might imagine. That they have real rye bread for toast and they never, ever butter it when my hubby asks for it dry draws applause from him. Applause too that their jam is in a jam jar delivered to the table, on request, not out of a package.
But some things did get the ax in the menu redux. If your favs were among them, another door may open in the new adds to the menu.
HOURS:
Open for breakfast and lunch only, they close at 2:00, we have found the best way to avoid either a wait for tables or waiting on food from a too busy kitchen is to avoid weekends and peak breakfast time on every day of the week.
VIBE:
The space is a big one, light and bright with booths lining window walls and tables and chairs in the middle of the room. If I could waive a magic wand it would be to remove a table or two or reposition a table or two in the middle of the room because there are times when diners are so closely sat it is a tight gauntlet to get from the dining space to the restroom. (Let's face it. All that coffee at breakfast and away one goes.) Outdoor seating on a patio is possible, although we've never tried it.
THIS N THAT:
1) PARKING: Good amount in the associated lot.
2) ACCESSIBILITY: A couple of spots of accessible parking, too few to meet Federal law and State code, are in the parking lot. (This is the mall owners error, not the restaurant owners.) Level in the door and throughout. The loo is accessible too. Although I imagine a person using a wheelchair would find it between difficult and impossible to get from the dining to the loo given spacing of chairs at full house. Keeping those aisleways 36" clear (ADA rules) for path of travel is the owner's issue. Since she, like me, has MS I imagine she may think of that eventually. The equal access law that requires it is 25 years old this July. It is time to get this ADA stuff right. read more