February 17, 2014
Westmont Diner (Westmont, NJ)
1. Decor: 8 (12%)
- It was a very small diner, about 20 tables total but you feel at home right away. You can tell it is family owned and operated. Damian (claiming he is the all-knowing of diner history, tehehe) said the decor was early twentieth century ("based on the wood paneling and lodgy look..." oh how I love him). After doing about two minutes of research on my end... I couldn't come up with anything. We'll have to learn more about US diner history as our journey continues. I will say though that the parking lot was small. I had some difficulties parking, but then again, on certain days I would have trouble parking a SmartCar.
2. Service: 9 (18%)
- The service was wonderful! Like I said, it has a very homey feeling and the service contributed to that. Our waitress was very friendly. I give her extra points for not looking at me like I was crazy when I asked for cinnamon for my coffee. Anyways, we were seated right away and the waitress gave us some menu suggestions (that we went with).
3. Food: 10 (65%)
- Okay, so let us not forget that this is the first diner we are rating so that is a bit bias. But with that being said, we are also no strangers to diners... how do you think we celebrated Valentine's Day? Overall, the food was amazing, it set a very high bar for the rest of our journey.
- I ordered a crab cake melt on rye bread with a side of mixed green salad and house vinaigrette dressing. Oh and let's not forget the coffee... I wanted to add "coffee" to the rating, but, well yeah. It was good, fresh and hot (just the way momma likes it). The melt was amazeballs. It had the perfect amount of cheese on it which didn't over power the crab meat and the rye bread made a perfect combination (yesss... thank you waitress!). The salad was fresh and bright green and the vinaigrette dressing was just right.
- Damian ordered a sausage, bacon and cheese omelet which came with home fries and wheat toast. I had a bite, and yes I agree, it was delicious. It was cooked to perfection, wasn't greasy at all, it was a good sized portion (not over the top like many diners). The potatoes were good, seasoned so well and honestly, just added to the omelet.
- Okay and then I must admit, it being past noon and us not having eaten anything for the day yet, we were very very hungry. In this state of hunger, our fatness overtook and we ordered "dessert." And oh gosh are we glad we did. We ordered "paradise french toast" which is french toast with bananas, coconut and caramel. I insisted on finishing my salad before I dug in but Damian couldn't wait a minute. I don't blame him, it looked amazing! And oh my, did it taste amazing! I'll admit, we were speechless for a few seconds. If I had balls, I would, as Damian ALWAYS says, dip them in it. They were crispy on the outside but oh so soft on the inside. The bananas were cooked, it had the perfect amount of coconut shavings on top (it didn't over power the taste of the meal) and the caramel only added an amazing sweet flavor. It was a great combination, so great that Damian commented "someone is using their brains back there."
TOTAL POINTS:
9.5/10