My Tummy Talks About: Diner

I've been meaning to start writing restaurant/food reviews for a really long time, since we go out to eat about 3 times a week, and have been trying a fair amount of "new" places, in addition to the old favorites... but I'm lazy. This past weekend, however, my friend was in town, and it got me thinking about what places are good to take visitors to and which are not.... so I'm starting the food reviews. Now.

Up first is Diner, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Let me preface by saying that we've been here a million times, but this past Friday was the first time we'd been there in months. We have our reasons.

For me, restaurants are predominantly about food. As long as I'm semi-comfortable, if the food is good, I'll leave happy. There are only a few deal-breakers for me, and I have to say that Diner has in the past, and seems to still teeter on the edge of the "deal-breakers" for me.

I just turned thirty. I've been listening to blaringly loud music my entire life. If I had only ONE thing I could say about Diner this past Friday night: the music was so fucking loud that I could not hear the 3 people I was with. I had to read their lips. Literally. And those front end booths are teeny, so you know how close I was to them!!!!

But that's really one step ahead of myself.

The first thing that strikes me about Diner when I walk in Friday, is that they have one of the most annoying policies on the planet earth about not seating anyone until the "entire party" is present. Now, I get it. The place is tiny, always crowded, and people often lie-- they pad their numbers. They say, "there's going to be 8 of us." Then only 5 show up and they've sucked up your entire back end for 2 hours. Or maybe not whole parties sit around too long waiting for drinks and that missing friend, when you could have immediately seated someone who was going to eat right away and max out the turnover even more!! But I doubt it. Anyway, sure, I understand your policy. But I don't really like it. It's like all of a sudden YOU, the hostess are the customer, and I have to fulfill a bunch of criteria before you'll let me have a booth. Which, by the way, is what's most annoying. My fiance, bless his soul, when told that we three would have to wait for "the late one," said to the dear hostess, "but, there's 3 of us here already-- we'll take up the same amount of space." And he's right!! Whether there are 3 of us or 4, we'd still need the same amount of space!

The hostess mumbled something about "that's how we do it," and also something inexplicable about how they "announce the specials." Enough about this. Cause really, it was quite pleasant to sit outside on that wet stoop and have a drink and wait the 4.5 minutes for Phyllis to show. I'm being serious, it was! Anyway, MINOR annoyance only. Totally to be expected.

Now for the good stuff. Our waiter was very nice, and very attentive. Also, he was wearing what appeared to be flesh colored short shorts, which, in that lighting, was a real shocker.

I'm just going to tell you what I had, because I can't even remember what everyone else had. This food critiquing is a work in progress, and if I'm going to do this, I'm obviously going to have to start taking notes.

Cause like, I can't remember what bottle of wine we had. It was red, fairly priced, and very good.

First up, I had one of the specials-- a Tomato soup. It had some other ingredients, but I can't remember what they were. It was super good.

Then, I had the Goat Cheese Salad, which is mixed greens, Croutons, a little onion, a massive glob of Goat Cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing. Sounds totally standard, I know, but it's not: it's REALLY great-- consistently, so that I order it every time I'm there. It's fair to say I sometimes crave this salad, and anyone who is into cheese and going there for the first time should definitely check it out.

See, I didn't order an entree, because i was saving room for dessert-- but I ran out of room even still!!!!

This ends my first restaurant review.

Highlight: Goat Cheese Salad, Seemingly Pantsless Waiter. Oh, also, they always have tons of specials. I like that.
Lowlight: THE MUSIC VOLUME!!! :)

Food= Great
Surroundings= Good
Other Diners (ones not at my table)= Douchey to the Max
Wine= Good
Price= Totally decent
Company (people eating with me)= Priceless

Diner is at 85 Broadway in Brooklyn, NY 11211 Their phone number is (718) 486-3077, but I doubt they take reservations. They're way too cool for that.