Food on a plate.
I was so excited to try Pump Cafe after all of the positive reviews and pictures. It was a tossup between Pump and Terese's Place which was quickly decided when I entered Terese's Place, was NOT seated and was instead asked "Do you need something hon? We close in 5 minutes..." buh-bye.
I packed my 1 year old across the street to the Pump Cafe. The exterior was nice enough. To be honest, I was skeptical about there being a building because it's mostly parking lot.
The building itself was very cute. It was much larger than it looked from the outside. The exterior had a wrap-around seating area partially obstructed from street view by trellises. It was very garden-y and would be lovely in warm weather. Upon entering the Pump Cafe, I could see a counter and part of the kitchen. I was greeted immediately by a lovely woman whom I assume to be the proprietor. I explained that it was my first time in, she welcomed me and showed me into the dining room. She said to sit anywhere, so I picked a table that looked roomy and close to the entrance.
Unfortunately my table with the chairs out cut off access to the tables behind me, which made it difficult to get around.
My dining companion was my 1 year old son, who was VERY excited to eat!
Our waitress came immediately after we sat to take our drink order and gave us a couple more minutes to take our food order.
Menu fare is typical American diner. Breakfast foods, sandwiches, soups, salads. Very comfortable menu. I ordered a french dip for myself and a tuna melt to go for my husband. I asked that the tuna melt be made just before we left so that it would still be warm when we picked him up from class.
Atmosphere was "Here be Nostalgia!" Everywhere I looked there was old timey "stuff." Some of it was newer, some of it looked forcibly aged.
Our order was done very quickly and delivered to our table I'd say within 7-10 minutes. It seemed very fast. Our waitress dropped it off unceremoniously, turned and left. No encouragements to "Enjoy!" or "Do you need anything?" she literally just turned and left. I saw her laughing and talking with the other waitresses. It's great to see people who enjoy their coworkers but I didn't feel as if my business was necessarily welcomed or appreciated. I noticed that other diners, regulars, were called by name and engaged in conversation. Dining out alone with a small child is a challenge, and yeah- kind of lonely. Maybe I was over-reaching hoping for jovial banter, but there it is.
The fries were good and hot. They weren't exactly steak fries, a bit thinner. I liked them- good and crispy. Boy enjoyed them, also. My sandwich was a disappointment, I have to say. It was a white hoagie roll, as advertised, but one that you might find in a package of 6- not anything special like a house-made roll. The bread was chewy and not very flavorful. Soaked up the au jus fine which was unfortunate since the au jus was mostly salt and tasted like it came out of a packet. The meat, 3-4 slices, also looked packaged. I felt like I got nuked food on a plate, not a lunch meal that was worth $10.
My husband's tuna melt arrived a short time after my sandwich with the waitress's apologies- she didn't know how to time it because she didn't know how long we'd be at lunch. It was cold by the time we got it to him. He said the tuna was fine, was tuna, mayo, celery, and garlic salt, which was odd but "fine." The sourdough was toasted and had a layer of cheese, which he enjoyed.
She left the check and didn't come back except to take payment. We were never checked on, water was never refilled. I half wondered if I was to bus my own table but didn't see any cans marked for that purpose. I cleaned the floor area, stacked our dishes, and left. The owner did say "Thanks for coming in!" on our way out.
All in all it was "fine." It was food, I was hungry, it filled us up. It was not the existential experience others have described or particularly enjoyable in any aspect- culinary, social or otherwise. read more