First off, I think this diner will do very, very well in its present location. West side of the city, near the airport? Barely any competition? Smart place to be.
Now that Niko's Express as our default breakfast diner on the east side of Kalamazoo is closed, we've been scouting other possibilities. We checked out Long Island Cafe one early Sunday morning.
Service: A sign instructing us to seat ourselves greeted us as we walked through the front door. There were a mix of tables with standard and bar stool chairs. There were no booths. There was a counter that could technically seat 4 customers, but the counter had other stuff on it (like a cash register) so I was uncertain how practical it was. No one sat there while we were in the diner. The service was adequate. We were attended to quickly, got our drinks, made our order, and the food came out quickly & hot. But after that, another server arrived for her shift, and our table and several others seemed to have been handed off to her. And this second server seemed less attentive.
I ordered wheat toast and the first server brought sourdough. (Okay, not earth shaking. I ate it.) On my second refill of coffee the second server did not realize she was giving me a room temperature refill because the carafe warmers in the kitchen had evidently switched off. I was handed, by the second server, a replacement cup of coffee that had been microwaved and was now bitter (rather than brewing up new coffee and letting me know a replacement would be taking a few minutes). And, lastly, after she gave us our bill, it took forever for her to notice we were waiting to pay.
Food: The first two cups of coffee were very good but the only creamer on the table was Coffeemate. My girl ordered the 'Island Vegelicious' - an omelette filled with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, banana peppers, mushrooms, & spinach, accompanied by toast & American fries. The egg portion of the omelette was tender with no evidence of browning or burning. But the vegetables inside had been precooked approaching the point of mush. My girl suspected the vegetables had been reused from the day before, and had been twice precooked. The American fries were potatoes that are cut into cubes and then deep fried. Again, because the potatoes looked like they were heading towards being burnt, my girl figured they were reused from the day before. Plus the potatoes had absorbed cooking oil. And they were unseasoned. My girl was displeased with her breakfast.
The server said my first preference ('Corned Beef & Hash') used a canned corn beef hash, so I chose my backup pick: the 'Gulf Coast.' This dish was a mixture of chorizo sausage & scrambled eggs, with four flour tortillas, salsa, & sour cream. It came with toast and a fruit cup, this latter containing slices of apple, strawberries, bananas, and blueberries, covered by some sort of sweet whipped topping. I liked my breakfast because the egg & chorizo mixture was made well and was properly spicy. I'd have preferred corn tortillas but the flour ones were warm & pliable. What was described as a salsa was a disappointment of mostly crushed tomatoes rather than a proper salsa. I'm not terribly fussy about toast since it only serves to convey jelly into my mouth.
So, it was an okay experience. We might return and give this diner a second chance. read more