Walking in, I thought that I had mistakenly entered Dottie's, the previous inhabitants of this location. There was the same black and white checkerboard tile floor. The same counter. The same vestibule, just lacking the doughnuts that I had grown accustomed to seeing in that space. It was fairly busy, but seeing it was a Saturday just before lunch, I figured it was a combination of late breakfasters and early lunchers, like Bestie and I.
We were told to find a seat, and luckily, there was an open table - all the others were full - and it could have used a better wipe-down. Here's a problem - there are lots of booths and tables for four or more - a waste if you have a party of two. You could sit at the counter (which isn't suited for intimate conversation), or, like a few people, take the opposite side of a six-top where two people are already seated. There were a few tables that looked like the occupants came in hours ago and established residency. If it got any busier, then there would have been a long wait for seating.
Our server came to the table immediately to take our order. She seemed a bit miffed we needed a moment or two to figure out what we wanted (but, I'll overlook that for now), but we did order beverages. When she came back with our drinks (unsweetened iced tea!) we still weren't ready to order - there were two extensive menus, one for breakfast and one for lunch. She gave us a few more minutes and we placed our order - we both ordered gyros, which are a featured item for lunch. Based on comments some of my friends had made about waiting for food, I set my stopwatch and sat back.
It was eleven minutes and twenty-three seconds before our server (she never gave us her name, she wasn't wearing a name badge, and did not put her name on the check) returned with our meals - not bad. The Gyros had a generous amount of meat, although, it was very overdone - It obviously wasn't carved off a vertical rotisserie, and my bet was it was cold when sliced and tossed into the oven to heat; the edges of the pieces were very crisp and nearly burned, and the pieces themselves were dried out. Even with a good amount of tzatziki sauce, onions, and tomatoes, it was hard to chew. The pita it was served on was a bit crispy - like it had been left on the grill for a little too long. The gyros came with fries - and they were nice and crispy. However, they were also the seasoned fries, which I really don't like. Bestie's gyros was very much like mine, except she liked the fries.
We had barely started eating when the nameless server put my check on the table. I'm used to this at greasy spoon diners, but not at a little more upscale diner. Our server never told us there were specials (on a chalkboard on the wall behind me, which I didn't/couldn't see), never checked back on us once food was delivered, never tried to upsell desserts, and I had to wave my check and money in the air to get her attention when I was ready to leave.
The full name of the establishment is "Annoula's (Farm-to-Table)". There are several restaurants in town who make that claim. This is only the second I am sure of that is not making things up. They source from Percy Thomson Meadows in Bethlehem, and it looks like their eggs and some of their meats are coming from there right now (Mid-February). When growing season comes along, I will hope to see a wider range of products made with farm-fresh ingredients then. No, you're not going to get fresh local tomatoes/cucumbers/peppers, etc. in February unless they come from a hothouse. In fact, there's a disclaimer on the menu stating that they use locally grown produce WHEN IN SEASON! Shame on people who go there now just because they think they're getting all local products.
They also make their own corned beef hash. I'll have to come back to try that, but here's a question: why don't they have corned beef sandwiches on the lunch menu? Maybe they sell so much hash there's none left for sandwiches?
And, I was most disappointed in the fries: Why bill yourself as a farm-fresh establishment, and use frozen fries? A plate of hand-cut fries would make a huge difference over many of the other places in the area.
Anyway, if I saw meatloaf and chicken pot pie on the menu, I would have seen no difference between here and the old Dottie's. As is, there's nothing special about the place. The featured Greek menu item I tried was barely edible (I've had much better at the other Greek restaurant down the street). A person at the table next to us did not appear happy with her food. And, sadly, the level of service was just about the same as Dottie's - not great. I will give it another go soon and see if my experience is better, but I'm not optimistic. read more