Stratford Diner

Finding ourselves with a free Saturday morning (less a product of our eased schedules and more of our internal clocks not letting us sleep in on the weekends), Chris and I decided to head to see if the Stratford Diner could settle our rumbling tummies. It’s located in Stratford on the White Horse Pike (Route 30).

I bought a paper and sat down as I listened to other patrons chat lively about some cat with two faces that was in the Courier Post (a local Cherry Hill-based publication). Our warm waitress soon greeted us and our dining experience begun!

"Two Eggs" Special

As far as straightforward breakfast experiences go, I think this was pretty much a standard to which others could be judged. I remember thinking, like Goldilocks, this coffee is not too hot, and it’s not too cold! Besides being just a smidge pricey compared to other Philadelphia suburb diners (except for maybe Ponzios), their options were pretty standard. I opted to go big or go home, ordering their “Two Eggs” special: 2 eggs (over medium), toast, hash browns (well-done) and then a short stack of their advertised pumpkin hotcakes. Tis the season, you know. My eggs weren’t done enough, which is a common problem. I suppose each cook in the back must have some personal perception of when an egg is truly at its different stages…I want to take a survey with pictures, a la “Classify these eggs! Easy, Medium, or Hard?”

Pumpkin Hot Cakes

My pieces of toast were well buttered and not too toasted, as I find can be a problem when you request wheat. My hash browns were decent, but not quite texturally satisfying or buttery enough to write home about. And lastly, I tackled my pumpkin hotcakes. I’m not a fan of pancakes, but I am of pumpkin, so I went into it really wanting some pumpkin flavor to shine through. It didn’t strike me as especially flavorful, until I tried Chris’s regular buttermilk pancakes for comparison. I definitely preferred mine, even if it didn’t initially strike me as tasty.

While I could say I had a good meal, I can’t quite say it was particularly memorable or enjoyable. Just that it was very satisfactory, and that I would go back. Perhaps my meal was dampened by a family sitting directly behind me that were awing and ga-ga goo-goo-ing over a baby boy dressed in all Phillies gear and being bounced around to various waitresses, including ours.

"Hungry Man" Special

Chi's meal might have been satisfactory, but mine was just below satisfactory. The real highlight of the experience (for me) was our waitress who (yes, she did get distracted by a baby) took the initiative to save me a couple of bucks. I went with my standard as well (it was the morning) and ordered two eggs over medium, home fries (no with onion, green pepper, and American cheese), and sausage. Go big or go home was apparently the mantra of the morning so I ordered a short stack of hot cakes as well. What can I say? I was craving them. What I didn't notice was that there was a "Hungry Man" breakfast entree, which was everything I ordered, plus coffee, and sans coffee. She walked back to the table after recalling the menu and let me know of the price difference. I took her suggestion and she ended up keeping two dollars in my pocket.

Buttermilk Hot Cakes

Let me start with the hot cakes. Unfortunately these three (beautiful) hot cakes were a bit on the overcooked, chewy side. They ended up being too dense with no fluffiness to support them. Needless to say they were a letdown and after taking a bite of Chi's pumpkin hot cakes I realized how much better hers were. In comparison, mine were bland. My eggs seemed to come out a little more well done than Chi's even though I also ordered mine medium. The second letdown of the meal was my sausages and bacon. It's hard to really describe the taste of the sausage, sausage-y I suppose, but it had a sour background that was just out of place. I ended up only taking one bite of the second link and decided I couldn't finish. The bacon definitely tasted better but it was in between being crispy and chewy and ended up with a hard rubber texture. The home fries were good, but like stated above, there seemed to be a textural issue. They came out extra crispy in some places making them a little hard to eat. However, I still recommend throwing the onion, pepper, and cheese into your home fries from now on.

Interior

Someone remind us to come back here sooner rather than later, otherwise it may call into that awkward, likeable but not desirable realm of restaurants a.k.a. the friend-zone of diners.

In other news, GO PHILLIES!