How are they on their dinners? That's what I am now wondering. I do want to try them for dinner, even though breakfast was sorta a bust.
My husband and I are frequent restaurant diners, who especially enjoy trying new places. We are making our way around Fredericksburg, hoping to find and rate the best breakfast in the area. This weekend, we tried the Paradise Diner.
Sitting off of Route 17 in the Falmouth area, this restaurant was a bit of a drive for us, but we were hungry and looking forward to a delicious breakfast. Reviews were read, photos were viewed and tummies were ready. We pulled in on a late Sunday morning to a full lot. Some people were coming for breakfast; some for lunch.
Coming from Route 1, Jefferson Davis Highway, we pulled in to the right of the building. We saw diners on the front patio, and took an available spot towards the back end of the lot. We saw some Greek statues and a set of double doors. We tried the doors, but they wouldn't open. I thought that they were jammed, so I kept pulling. A waitress unlocks them and opens them. There was no sign that said, "Please use front entrance". But on the inside of the door, it does read, "Emergency Exit Only". A sign on the exterior of the door would be helpful to those of us who've never been there.
The hostess stated that it would be a minute for a booth, as an older gentleman was midway through clearing a table. However, he stopped, walked over to us and sat us at a different booth, that was already available and cleaned. Soon after, a waitress came for our drink orders. We both ordered a cup of coffee and an ice water.
When she returned with our coffee, she asked if we were ready to order. Umm...we hadn't even been given menus; let alone had a chance to review them! Plus, it's our first time here...we don't know what you serve (well not exactly).
So she brings us a couple of menus and gives us a couple of minutes, then returns and says, "Ready now?"...as if we had taken sooo much time to order. I disregarded her and we noted that we were in fact ready.
We were splitting the #10 "Alex Special", which includes 3 eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, home fries and toast or biscuit for $10.50 (there was a 50 cent up charge to get the biscuit instead of toast, so it came to $11.00). We also ordered a cup of sausage gravy and a hotcake a la carte. Our meal with tax came to almost $18.
Now, the food.
Coffee: Nasty. We skipped refills.
Eggs scrambled: Good. Fluffy.
Ham: Delicious. Made perfectly.
Sausage: Thumbs down on flavor. Small rounds. Tasted more like mini hamburgers.
Bacon: Thumbs way way down. Flimsy and funky flavor.
Sausage gravy: Perhaps the worst I have ever tasted. Bland...only tasted flour.
Biscuit: Huge. Fluffy. One of the best biscuits I've ever had. If only the gravy was decent.
Hotcake: Brought out cold, otherwise it might have been good. There was nothing "hot" about this hotcake.
Home fries: Decent. Soft potatoes made differently than I'm used to, but not bad. Just different.
I am truly curious about dinner. But there will be no other breakfasts here. Sorry, they missed the mark. read more