Hi Everyone! Before I get started, full disclosure on our “technical issues”… I lost the flash drive with all of the notes and photos. But it’s been located and we’ll be catching you up on our adventures! (Apparently I put it in a “safe place”. Big forehead slap on that one.)
The review comes with a mini story, so bear with me. This past weekend I accompanied the mister to Farmingdale, NY for a memorial card game for a fallen fellow writer. It was a new crowd for me so I imagined something of a cross between the 1985 movie “Clue” and a poker game episode of “Castle”. Complete with the big foreboding house and boisterous intellects.
I was both relieved and disappointed to pull up to a regular house in a regular neighborhood. The night was awesome and I met new people. We stayed overnight since it was a five hour drive (two and half hours, my foot Google!). Our hosts treated us to a homemade breakfast in the morning and then we were on our way.
It was a better trip back (even taking a side trip to Vito Corleone’s house!), and before we knew it, we were in Jersey and ready for lunch. We agreed to wait until we got to a point where we could turn off the GPS and figure out where to grub. Just about the point where we would have pulled over to snack on grass, the Red Lion Diner appeared like an oasis on the Route 206 circle in Southampton Township.
We went inside and were surprised about how small it seemed based on the outside. We figured we would grab a quick booth in the front but the hostess took us down a side hallway. We passed a dining room with a bar that was fairly empty, but we kept walking. We were coming upon another dining area, but then we made a left into another room and were surprised at how large it actually was…again, based on the outside.
Our server, Richard, greeted us quickly and warmly. We both ordered coffee. He brought them quickly and gave us another minute to look. Joe ordered the cream chipped beef with eggs (sunny side up) with rye toast. I ordered the turkey club on white bread. It came with French fries. I should note that I’m normally hesitant to order club sandwiches in diners because usually the toast is overdone and it scratches the roof of my mouth.
We set to fixing our coffee while waiting for our order. The coffee tasted good, but the mister and I prefer it much stronger. Our meals came quickly and everything looked great. My turkey club was perfection. The toast was obviously toasted, but not so hard it made it painful to eat. There was not a morsel left on the plate. The fries were very good as well. There was a healthy portion, but as I devoured my club sandwich, I was unable to finish them all.
Joe dove into his cream-chipped beef with relish. (Wait, there wasn’t relish on it, I just mean he really liked it.) The temperature was warm without the cream scalding his mouth and his eggs were prepared exactly as ordered! He had upgraded his hash browns smothered with onions and it was well worth it. It was hard not to take my fork and try them from across the table. They smelled delicious.
Richard was attentive but not intrusive, and our meal pace was steady. We weren’t rushed but we weren’t left wondering how much longer either. The Red Lion diner provided the perfect backdrop to seal a great weekend.
Check out their website at https://www.redlionnj.com/!
Until next time, happy eating!
Diner Nation 