White Horse Diner

The White Horse Diner is literally a stones throw from the Berlin Diner. It is located on the White Horse Pike making it an easy stop for Chi and I on our way out to the Jersey Shore. The place looked a little run down with a shabby exterior and dark windows. For a moment we thought it might have gone out of business. With one or two cars in the parking lot we decided to pull to see if they were open. We were excited to see they were open since we were both pretty hungry. The interior was a bit drab with fading greens, the backs of the booths were coming loose.

dark and drab

I've held off as long as I can, but I have to say it; this was the worst diner I have ever been to. I wanted to try something new, so I ordered a Reuben Burger. This is a simple enough item to prepare, the menu made it sound pretty simple. The burger consisted of the meat patty, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a bun. A Reuben Sandwich should be a diner classic with nice, tangy sauerkraut and rich cheese making for a flavor filled meal. The trouble for me started when I was asked four times if I was ready to order while I was clearly still looking the menu over. There are a total of seven other customers in the diner, therefore, there was no need to rush us. While that was plenty annoying, I almost couldn't believe what happened when my food came out. I was served a plate of fries with two hamburger buns both topped with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese. I was incredulous. They forgot the patty? Do I not know what a Reuben Burger is? Shouldn't the burger be part of the burger? The waitress came back about a minute later after I sat there dumbfounded digging through a pile of sauerkraut and cheese looking for the the rest of the meal. I said I think something is missing and she looked at my plate and quickly took it back to the kitchen. She brought me back the same meal about thirty seconds later with a dried hamburger sitting on one of the buns.

burger fail

There are three fundamental things that went horribly wrong at the White Horse Diner. Firstly, the cook did not realize that he had forgotten to put the hamburger on my hamburger. This means that he also saw the meal go out of his kitchen and did not realize the hamburger was still on his grill. The second incredible thing was that the waitress realized something was wrong when she picked up the plate, or didn't realize there was something wrong, and then served me an incomplete plate. I was angry and embarrassed for them. The third problem was that the food didn't taste good. The burger was over cooked, there was double the amount of sauerkraut and Swiss cheese than was necessary, and the french fries weren't hot. I feel like the slough they brought out to me was just sitting around all afternoon. The White Horse Diner has made my very short list of places I never want to visit ever again.

The menu was a decent size but had nothing for vegetarians so I decided to have breakfast for lunch. I ordered the chocolate chip pancakes because I was feeling nostalgic and had a bit of a sweet tooth. I ordered them with homefries (because as you know, I'm obsessed with potato-based foods). My pancakes were slightly warm with nothing special about them. The pancake itself was tough and chewy, only accented by the awful silverware that couldn't cut through butter. The chocolate chips were charred and bitter. My butter was average- not especially creamy or salty, or any of the superlative ways you could describe butter.

In fact, there is nothing superlative about anything that this diner produces. When my homefries didn't come out, I had to struggle to find the waitress to ask her for them. She apologized and said she'd get them. She then returned to say "Sorry, it'll be a while. We have to make fresh ones. I didn't want you to get the ones that had been sitting around all day getting gross." And then she smiled as if anything she had just said was okay to say to a someone who was patronizing your restaurant. What could she have possibly meant? Did she not understand that the overarching context of what she was saying was "We don't make our food fresh here"? Any decent diner can whip up an order of home fries in two minutes- why would you ever not make them to order?

Regardless, since I was hungry from not eating the rest of my pancakes, I said "fine". She comes back later to say, "So...do you want them or no? Do you want me to take it off the ticket?". No, I do not want you to take if off the ticket. If I ordered them (twice!), then of course I still want them. When they finally came out Chris and I picked at them both agreeing that after all we had been through, at least there was some decent home fries to help ease our anger. But a swallow does not a summer make.

Legacy Diner

The Legacy Diner rests on the White Horse Pike in Audubon, NJ. The building looks relatively modern for a diner, and from the outside everything looked like it would be neat and tidy. Eating here was a coin flip between the Legacy and Oaklyn diner, so hopefully we'll check out the latter very soon.

The inside of the building was warm and clean and it got my hopes up for a warm, comforting meal. After we were apathetically seated by the hostess, we were waited on by another woman who seemed to be in a hurry. Chi and I both felt rushed when we were asked "what will you have this morning?" less than a minute after we had picked up the menus. Granted, I'm sure there are locals that don't need the menu, but I'm here to be thorough. We told her we needed another few minutes two more times after the first time, and she finally gave us some peace and quiet to decide on our breakfasts.

Legacy Sampler

To be dramatic, my breakfast was tumultuous. I didn't suffer any injury or anything like that, but I was confused about what had just happened when I picked up the check. The eggs were very in between over medium and over easy. I ordered over medium and the whites came out to perfection; however, the yolks were extraordinarily runny and hardly warm. Despite the cool eggs, they tasted very fresh and had great flavor, so I don't want to complain too much there. The bacon was cheap and lean. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say a high fat content in bacon comes with the territory of being high quality. The lack of fat on the bacon left them a little bland difficult to cook. Impressively, though, they rendered what fat was there into chewy deliciousness that countered the crispy strips quite well. I chalk the bacon up as a success. The real let down of the breakfast was the sausage. The Legacy is an establishment that favors the fat links, and I've had some pretty good fat links. They Legacy's links were mushy, oily, had a thin casing, they were bland, and they were boring. I hate to be so harsh, but I struggled to eat them. The gold medal winner on my plate was the pancakes. I saved them for last and my first bite was full of bliss. They were both salty and sweet. They were light yet doughy, and they were cooked to a perfect golden, brown color. Some of the best pancakes I've ever eaten. If you go, get the pancakes.

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Readers of Two Spoons will know that I tend to be very skeptical of diners that have epic names that imply some sort of superiority. Obviously, diners can’t be named “The Mediocre Diner” or “The 32^nd best Diner in this County”. Sometimes, I feel as if they lose sight of what they were in their prime. Most diners are family opened/operated, but as reins are passed through generations, does the passion get diluted?

Le Bakery

For starters, the Legacy Diner is a little difficult to get to. It’s easily findable on Google Maps or a GPS, but once you get there parking is a little bit difficult (and dangerous) as the diner pours directly into/from the White Horse Pike. I imagine that this is good for business with the White Horse Pike being the important thoroughfare that it is, and I feel that the fast and furious customer is what the staff at the Legacy Diner have come to expect. The crew was decidedly angsty as we weren’t greeted immediately or enthusiastically when we entered and the lady who seated us just dropped our menus at the table instead of handing us our menus after we sat. The busser was still cleaning when we were seated, and the 6 dollar tip from the table before us still lay glaringly awkward back at us.

It seems to be a new diner, clean with modern appliances and a more open-dining feel.  Upon looking at their website, I’ve discovered that they’ve been open for a little over 20 years- which in my eyes, for a NJ Diner, is pretty young. (Side Note: They do seem to have a nice, functioning, and well-maintained website!) The bakery was small, but well stocked with the typical oversized pastries, cookies, and Sesame-themed cupcakes- a phenomenon that I still don’t understand. There were even long-stemmed chocolate-covered strawberries offered.

Mediterranean Omelette

Our waitress was rush-y, and I ended up settling the Mediterranean Omelette- just adventurous enough to see if I could taste the “fresh ingredients” that they so proudly tote. Immediately, I could taste that there was too much olive presence, which I feared, but didn’t realize to what extent it would be actualized. The amount of olives was generous, but it was more the overwhelming smell/flavor of olive that transferred through the whole omelette that took away from the experience of the spinach, tomato and onions that were actually well-cooked and did, in fact, taste fresh.  The home fries that came with it were well-cooked (with lots of butter?) but poorly seasoned with large chunks of burnt potato. When will diners realize that there is a standard of quality that should be expected with a potato, even if it’s just thrown on the grill and served as a side-dish? Overall, I would say that the best part of the meal was that it came out fast and hot-which I suppose means that their impression of ‘get them in, get them out’ stays intact. Also, it was relatively cheap.

What is the legacy of the Legacy Diner with this type of business model? Or, did we just catch them on an off day? 

Berlin Diner

So Inviting

Chris has been wanting to go to this diner for at least a month, but it's always been just a little too far away to justify after a long day of work. However, last Friday we decided to take an impromptu trip to Atlantic City to celebrate our both being 21-ness, and thus, the opportunity presented itself. At 117 S. White Horse Pike, is the Courier Post's [One of] The Best of South Jersey Berlin Diner.


The layout is strange with the door/host/cashier desk (one and the same) acting almost like an apex to two wings (a left and a right) where booths and tables are. The left side, where we were seated, also has a breakfast bar.

Where's the Veggie Patty?

This menu is full of specials (you get the sense that this is a local favorite) w/ an impressive Early Bird Special that includes a full page of 9.99 meals (entree, two sides, housecake, etc.) This is also why, I assume, that the place was packed at 5:30 PM.


I ordered a veggie burger with some swiss (I think) cheese and mushrooms. I tried to find it on the menu online to reference it, but it must be relatively new burger, because it's not on the menu. It was fine, but fell short of delicious. The bread was dense, and a little crusty, like it had been out for a while. My veggie patty was average, and tasted very similar to the type of veggie meat concoction that Subway uses in its veggie patty subs. My fries were yummy and crispy, so I ate the majority of them. Overall, I enjoyed the service and attention that the waitress paid us more than I really cared for the food. Chris, who tried my slaw for me, said that it was one of the wateriest slaws he ever tried. Wah-wah.

Some Creaminess Would Add Stability

I ended up getting a proper PM meal instead of greasy eggs and sausage and chose my first wrap of this adventure. I was torn between the chicken ceasar and the buffalo chicken, but after a few minutes of self reflection I decided on the latter. The wrap came with french fries, slaw, and a pickle. Sadly for the wrap it was very one dimensional. The actual buffalo sauce that they used was good that it had decent heat and flavor to it, but that's where the train stopped. The next step to making buffalo chicken delicious is adding a creamy element. The two best that I've experienced have been a melted blue cheese or ranch dressing. I've had both in wraps, on pizzas, and as sauces for dipping buffalo chicken wings into. Without the added dimension, the buffalo sauce isn't much of a sauce and instead just spicy, oily, water. So the obvious folly was that the sandwich was completely devoid of creamy goodness, but on a positive note, the fresh grilled chicken was accompanied with fresh tomato and lettuce. It made the wrap more watery, but it lent some acidity and crispiness.

Shiny

The sides fell on the boring side of the excite-o-meter. The french fries were actually cooked nicely with a crunchy exterior and light interior, but I gave them demerits when they also tasted like they had been under a heat lamp for the better part of the hour. The slaw was watered down and had almost no substance to it whatsoever. Sadly, the pickle was drabber than most pickles I've ever seen. I had such high hopes for this place since I pass it every single day. It's very appealing with its bright lights and shiny exterior, but just like the Berlin Diner's food the restaurant lacks substance.

Additional Notes: The Berlin Diner is very shiny and seems to be a popular spot for locals. The average age of everyone else was somewhere in the range of forty to fifty. They must be doing something right for what appears to be customer loyalty. Prices are definitely reasonable. This is not a 24/7 deal and is open until 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11pm Friday and Saturday.

Want

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!

Silver Coin Diner

The decision to stop in the Silver Coin Diner seemed to be a no-brainer. Its big, gaudy sign and excess chrome shone out like the bat-signal after a particularly rural stretch of the White Horse Pike. This was the first "silver" diner that we visited and I think that raised our expectations. The fact that it's located halfway between Philadelphia and Atlantic City on a main Jersey Shore road certainly can't hurt them either. By just going off location and external looks is enough to bring anyone into their restaurant on a hungry one hour drive. I put my foot on the break and made a right hand turn into their parking lot on that blistering summer day unaware of what would come next.

Eggs Benedict

Oh, the Hollandaise! So much Hollandaise Sauce, everywhere. But, let me focus on (as stuff Chef Spike would say) the "good stuff," first. My Eggs Benedict was (after some wiki research) pretty standard. Two English muffin halves topped with ham, poached eggs, and, yes, Hollandaise Sauce. I made this decision after about three minutes of reviewing their menu. I was curious, I was bold, and unfortunately I think I made a mistake. First of all the Hallandaise was rich; super rich, like a "suped-up" melted hard-boiled egg yolk. So, at least it had flavor, but that also means the entire plate, sans the potato, was that same yolk flavor (also the same yolk yellow). I was, however, impressed by the ham portion. Their ham slabs were cut thick, and now as I'm thinking about it, maybe their Eggs Benedict theory is to go big or go home. The poached eggs topping the ham where cooked as well as any other poached egg I've had, but the yolk inside added to the super yolkiness of everything else. I knew I was in over my head at that point. Finally we get to the sad English muffins on the very bottom. They kept soaking up my sauce throughout the meal and remained soggy and chewy at the same time. I'm glad I tried it, but I'm sure there are better versions elsewhere. My potatoes were undercooked. Sigh.

It really is a shame that my experience at what appears to be a landmark diner was disappointing. I'll go back at least once more with the hope that what I was served was the exception. Maybe a classic sandwich will redeem them, but it could prove that all the chrome in the world can't cover up their mediocre food.

Fried Eggplant

As for my part, I suppose I should preface it by saying it's not like you readers would ever go and order Mahi Mahi from a diner, but then again...in act of desperation like myself, you may have a lapse of judgement. My reasoning was that I wanted something that would 'fill me up not fill me out' because Chris and I were on our way to a Salsa event. I figured that the Mahi Mahi - a steaky fish - would probably be cooked thoroughly and that even if it was mediocre, there would be a side of delicious mango salsa and fresh veggies to go with me. The amount of veggies if you measured it would have been about half a cup and the mango tasted nothing like mango which leads me to the somewhat related question: Do they even make canned mango?! It came with a side of fried eggplant which I think I took one bite of and left it alone. All batter; no substance. If Chris's potatoes were underdone, then the clearly tried to compensate with my side.

Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa

The fish was incredibly, incredibly overcooked to the point that the ends of the cut had kind of created that hard seal that wouldn't let the rest of the meat and what little juice was in there come out when I pressed down with my fork and knife. Parts of it were fine, and other parts just seemed like a waste of using an imported (and generally un-eco-friendly) fish. But I will say that it never tasted muddy or smelled 'fishy' and it was only about 10 dollars. Overall, not a terrible choice for the dinner diner that wants something on the healthier side. I think ordering it with light-to-no mango sauce (generic, kind of sweet, kind of sour) and trying to customize how long you'd like it to cook would improve the dish. But then, of course, you run the risk of these instructions not being executed well since it's not a normal seafood restaurant.

If there was ever a peanut gallery at a diner that we've experienced so far, it was at this place. The waitresses here, while good at providing solid customer service to their tables, were so clique and chatty the moment they got away that at first it was endearing, but quickly turned annoying. One of them suddenly burst out into a cheer (from the waist up) that she used to do as a cheerleader in high school to amuse one the children that were running around.

Silver Coin Diner's interior

Considering that (a) the air conditioning was broken for the front half of the house where we sat, (b) we were kind of in a rush and (c) our terrible mis-adventures in food selection, maybe it was just circumstances that made us not enjoy this diner. (No, it's not you; it's me!) But, with about five more diners on this road and the bright and shiny Galloway diner just a few minutes away, I see no reason to come back.

StarView Diner

Located on the White Horse Pike in Somerdale, their dominating sign caught my eye one morning while I was heading out to Blackwood for a summer class. The big, bubbly, WordArt-esque lettering took me back to days of handing in middle school lab reports that had to have a cover sheet. The pink/fuchsia and turquoise lettering made it stand out more than any other sign on the short stretch of road. My first thought was that the establishment was wonderfully tacky. I was hoping it was more wonderful than tacky, and since the parking lot was usually filled every time I took that route at 9:30 on a weekend morning I figured they must be doing something right behind their doors. We arrived at the StarView a little after 7:00 on a humid evening and greeted by smiles of the hosts and waitresses. We were promptly seated at the first booth in the diner and given menus. As soon as we were seated we noticed how the place seemed to be filled with regulars. Everyone was on a first name basis with everyone else, and everyone was in high spirits.

After my Monte Cristo during my last diner escapade I needed to go back to my standard: two eggs over medium, sausage, home-fries well done, wheat toast, and coffee, black. Let's face it, it doesn't get much better than that. I'm going to take you through this review as if you were in my seat. Let's start with the home-fries. They listened to my request of having them come out "a little extra crispy" and they gave me a healthy amount, too. But then, I slid three of my sausages away from the potatoes and noticed there was a gaping hole on the back left corner. A cover-up had taken place right under my taste buds! It's OK though, I got over it quickly once I salted them up and dug in. They were nice and well done on one side which made up for what seemed to be slightly under-cooked potato throughout. On to the sausage. Let me just say that they weren't the all stars of this meal. They didn't possess any unique quality that would make them stand out from sausage links bought at your local grocery store. Maybe I'll go for bacon next time. Now it's time for the eggs, which from the outside looked like they were cooked perfectly. Unfortunately, appearances aren't everything since they were cooked more on the over easy side. I always hope that an egg cooked incorrectly at a diner is a fluke, but once it happens, it makes me weary to try their food a second time. On a positive note, the extra egg on my plate was great to soak up with my toast. Mmm. Their coffee was, in a word, bland, even though our waitress was quick with a refill.  For me, the service outshone the food, which after some terrible service at other places, was a nice breath of fresh air. I still want to try their bacon.

This, vs.

...This

Reflecting back, I thought this place was pretty weird. I too was intrigued by its 1980's, pastel, and generally gaudy sign that made me think, "Wow! If I was a character in Jem, I would be eating here!"

But then were seated and after a few minutes of looking around and admiring upholstery, the bakery, and the general air of friendliness, I realized that yeah, I would go here, if I was a character in Jem and a possible cultist. Above the booths line these pieces of ceiling art were stars...everywhere. But, not just normal stars as you can see below. All of a sudden the decor made no sense to me, and I wonder if I was the only person who upon first visit had questioned this choice of theme. It actually is quite arresting as you can see the picture below as once we saw these pentagrams, there was no unseeing them. FYI: Also, upon further research I've been informed that one can also call these pentacles. I kept wondering, "What do these mean"? But ultimately I was too chicken to find out, but I definitely will ask next time. But, really, maybe this just matters to me- since nobody on Yelp seems to mind the decor.

Scary

Readers of earlier posts will know that I, through this adventure thus far, have started to have realizations about how I like my breakfast (specifically my eggs) done. My most significant realization so far has been that I like my omelettes well done- I believe I called it a 'step before chewy'-and that fluffy, soft omelettes are unappetizing to me. I've started to realize that I'm also developing a preference for how the items IN my omelette are prepared, specifically how large they are in relation to the actual omelette. Picky, yes. However, I never considered it as an actual issue, until I had to eat through my very well-cooked broccoli omelette, only to realize that I never really was able to bite into a piece of broccoli. The vegetable was so well broken down into little florets (where were the stems?!) and folded into the egg that ultimately I felt that I was eating a broccoli-flavored plain omelette. If it doesn't sound like a big deal, I can say that it wasn't...until I got about half-way and started to lose the complexities in flavor. Note: For the polar opposite of this phenomenon, see the Maritsa's review that will be up next week!

Have you ever just eaten something and then after a while have it lose its taste? You can tell what temperature it is, or how salty or sweet it is, but you lose the ability to actually taste the ingredients that went into it? I ended up not finishing it. However, my home-fries were bountiful (unlike Chris's) and delicious. 

Ultimately, it's not a place I would go back to, but I did enjoy our waitress who was fast and courteous and seemed to be super friendly to everyone in the house. It was a multicultural-friendly diner and even though I know that I live in a world where racism is relatively subtle and de facto at worst, it's still nice to see black and white seniors smiling and shaking hands like old friends. I like to imagine that they come the same time, every week and have made this diner a part of the rest of their lives.


Additional info:
Our meals came with free juice; usually this juice is a "small" but should really be called a mini. When Chi declined hers, I was upgraded to a medium, which once again speaks of their stellar service. This diner, being our first on the White Horse Pike has opened up the door for exploring this stretch of road, potential reviews from the Jersey Shore could be soon to come.

Used to be 24 hours, now has standard early morning and late night hours. Moderately cheap; pay at the front.