Sage Diner

This outing started on Wednesday night when Chi and I decided it was too late to venture up to Hillsborough to practice and, we would therefore need to find a place closer to home to eat (our last meal was over nine hours ago by this point). A quick Google search for "diner + my zip code" brought up roughly thirty locations and we decided to pick one that was right around the corner from our favorite place to get Mexican food. Maybe we thought there would be some good vibes being sent over from El Azteca, who knows. We decided from their website that they looked diner-y enough for us so we hopped into the car and sped (drove the speed limit) on over.

First impressions for me were mixed. When we walked in there was a family of regulars blocking the doorway and talking very loudly to someone working the phone and standing behind the register. The man working the phone talked casually and loudly back to them all the while dealing with someone else on the other line. I expect this kind of laid-back unprofessionalism at a diner when dealing with locals. Chatting is OK. What wasn't OK was how he then ignored Chi and I for while we stood awkwardly in the waiting area. We were eventually noticed by the hostess and were politely taken to our seats. On a plus side, the waiting area was also their bakery section and their display of cakes, cookies, pastries and Sesame Street themed cupcakes was very impressive.

I ordered two eggs, over medium, with wheat toast and Italian sausage. I usually get my home-fries well done but this time I let Chi venture down that path and she'll give you the comparison between our home-fry orders. This is my usual order at a diner, and the only thing that changes is the type of meat when I'm feeling adventurous. My eggs were cooked correctly and my toast was buttered heavily, both things that make me happy. The home-fries were also surprisingly good. They could have used a little more time on the grill (that's how I like them) but for just regular cooked potatoes they had really good crispy sections and they were definitely cooked all the way through, which is proves difficult for some locations (there was one time in DC when a really fancy brunch I went to couldn't cook my potatoes completely). The last aspect of this meal was Italian sausage, which was awkward. It wasn't in link form and I didn't expect it to be since the menu also offered sausage links. But, I also did not expect the sausage to be one long trapezoid of sausage patty. It was hearty, there was a lot of it, and it had a nice black pepper and spice that probably put a little more hair on my chest. Did I mention it was awkward though?

I think I’ll remember this place more for its atmosphere than its food. Which I guess is better than being forgotten completely. The bakery and desert section was huge and the first thing you see when you come in-they’re clearly proud of it as it extends well into the dining area and breakfast bar. For a place with exposed stonework, the inside was rather well-lit and open and unlike the modern-castle vibe I got from the outside. There were real hanging plants in the booth section we sat in, and the window treatments (wooden and cloth Venetian blinds) were new and definitely livened the place up. The music was (unintentionally-?) hilarious. Smooth jazz and piano arrangements of popular Disney-affiliated songs such as “Somewhere Out There” from An American Tail. At the time I had incorrectly attributed it to The Rescuers which was a spin-off, I believe, of The Great Mouse Detective- my confusion just brings to light just how many mouse-related movies Disney put on in the 90s. Anyways, needless to say, when “I Believe I Can Fly” (Space Jam) came on, the booths around us – also filled with hungry, sassy, 20-somethings, started singing ironically along. 

Additionally, our waitress was very pushy and asked us ‘if we were ready’ about three times in less than 10 minutes. She was eager to get us to hurry our meal along, but once the food came out, virtually ignored us. Poor Chris had to deal with my drinking his coffee as well after mine never got refilled. 

The menu is extensive, however, breakfast is only about 1/7^th of the menu space, and it’s shared with the kids menu. It’s a shame that the more traditional food is more downplayed, because overall, the quality was pretty good despite a few quips: I got three eggs with my home-fries well-done with toast as a comparison to Chris’s. My eggs were of varying levels of done-ness. I asked for medium and my first was too runny, my second too done, and my third- almost there. Unlike Chris, even though I do love butter, I thought that the amount that was slabbed on there was too much and made me feel guilty for consuming my wheat toast. Also note that there was no discernible difference between my well-done home fries and Chris’s not well-done.

The dessert selection intrigues me- so we’ll be back to sample some, but besides that, probably not going to be on my short list of favorites.

Additional Info:

Their hours are from 6:00am to 1:00am Sunday through Thursday and until 2:00am weekends. The location is surrounded by hotels and it seems like a nice local diner to stop by if your stopping by and don't want to venture off of a main road. There is nothing on the menu for "two eggs + meat" which in my diner life has been a standard. All meat is a side and will cost you at least $2.99. Piling this on with my $4.99 for the eggs, home-fries, and toast made an eight dollar meal for me, kind of pricey for the type of food.