As you may have read, Lauren and I have been striking out a lot lately with our restaurant choices. Nothing like a trip to a diner to rectify the situation! We went to Waterloo's local diner, the Highway 63 Diner, last Saturday for lunch and were not disappointed.
This restaurant embodies just about everything you can think of when imagining a quintessential American diner, from food to atmosphere to location. It took us awhile to fine it, which was an encouraging sign right off the bat. Even though this particular diner advertises on local television, every great diner should be an out-of-the-way place that's only well known amongst the locals. When we finally got there, we found the building to be very ordinary and unpretentious on the outside, with a unique flare on the inside - another good sign. Often times, Lauren and I find that restaurants that have a very flashy facade, or a busy interior design, are really just trying to disorient the customer and distract from a low-quality menu. With its tan aluminum siding, no windows on three sides, and booth accents that were clearly self-installed, this place was definitely unassuming. The third sign that this place was gonna be good before even looking at the menu, was that it took us over 5 minutes to get seated. Not because they were crowded - but because the hostess just didn't really care to seat us. Lauren will always tell you that a surly wait staff makes for an excellent diner. After finally getting seated in our comfortable booth, I surveyed the room and noticed two parties of 1. If you ever go to a restaurant and see someone sitting by themselves without a laptop, and there's no bar to watch TV at, that's a pretty good sign that the food is gonna be awesome.
My anticipation for the meal only grew as I thumbed throught the menu and saw all of the diner classics - pork chops, broasted chicken, burgers, steak, and fried fish sandwiches, just to name a few. I could tell from the smell and the sound of finger-licking that a (un)healthy amount of the patrons were going with the broasted chicken, but I decided to go with the reuben sandwich. A Reuben to me is like pizza - you can't really get it wrong, but few people know how to make a really delicious one - so I figured that I'd test this place right off the bat and see if they could make a decent reuben sandwich. I got it with a side of onion rings instead of fries. Lauren went with a pork fajita salad, served with a choice of four homemade dressings - italian, french, ranch, and I'm pretty sure I heard the fourth one as being "Franch," which I can only assume is a combination of French and Ranch. Whatever was in it, the dollop I tasted off my finger was really good. The food arrived not a moment too soon, as it was nearly 3pm and we were starving. I prefer my corned beef to be brined longer and cut thicker, but overall not a bad reuben sandwich. The marble rye and the clearly housemade Thousand Island were excellent, and the kraut was fresh and gave it a nice crisp. The onion rings were just out of this world and were some of the best I've ever had, well worth the extra $2 I paid for them. They gave me a warm feeling inside because the reminded me of the onion rings I grew up eating at Goldrush Chicken back home in Milwaukee. I can attest to Lauren's salad being good, too. I mean, the salad was just a salad (no brown leaves like at Otis & Henry's), but the pork tenderloin was cooked and seasoned perfectly.
This restaurant embodies just about everything you can think of when imagining a quintessential American diner, from food to atmosphere to location. It took us awhile to fine it, which was an encouraging sign right off the bat. Even though this particular diner advertises on local television, every great diner should be an out-of-the-way place that's only well known amongst the locals. When we finally got there, we found the building to be very ordinary and unpretentious on the outside, with a unique flare on the inside - another good sign. Often times, Lauren and I find that restaurants that have a very flashy facade, or a busy interior design, are really just trying to disorient the customer and distract from a low-quality menu. With its tan aluminum siding, no windows on three sides, and booth accents that were clearly self-installed, this place was definitely unassuming. The third sign that this place was gonna be good before even looking at the menu, was that it took us over 5 minutes to get seated. Not because they were crowded - but because the hostess just didn't really care to seat us. Lauren will always tell you that a surly wait staff makes for an excellent diner. After finally getting seated in our comfortable booth, I surveyed the room and noticed two parties of 1. If you ever go to a restaurant and see someone sitting by themselves without a laptop, and there's no bar to watch TV at, that's a pretty good sign that the food is gonna be awesome.
My anticipation for the meal only grew as I thumbed throught the menu and saw all of the diner classics - pork chops, broasted chicken, burgers, steak, and fried fish sandwiches, just to name a few. I could tell from the smell and the sound of finger-licking that a (un)healthy amount of the patrons were going with the broasted chicken, but I decided to go with the reuben sandwich. A Reuben to me is like pizza - you can't really get it wrong, but few people know how to make a really delicious one - so I figured that I'd test this place right off the bat and see if they could make a decent reuben sandwich. I got it with a side of onion rings instead of fries. Lauren went with a pork fajita salad, served with a choice of four homemade dressings - italian, french, ranch, and I'm pretty sure I heard the fourth one as being "Franch," which I can only assume is a combination of French and Ranch. Whatever was in it, the dollop I tasted off my finger was really good. The food arrived not a moment too soon, as it was nearly 3pm and we were starving. I prefer my corned beef to be brined longer and cut thicker, but overall not a bad reuben sandwich. The marble rye and the clearly housemade Thousand Island were excellent, and the kraut was fresh and gave it a nice crisp. The onion rings were just out of this world and were some of the best I've ever had, well worth the extra $2 I paid for them. They gave me a warm feeling inside because the reminded me of the onion rings I grew up eating at Goldrush Chicken back home in Milwaukee. I can attest to Lauren's salad being good, too. I mean, the salad was just a salad (no brown leaves like at Otis & Henry's), but the pork tenderloin was cooked and seasoned perfectly. The only bad part of the meal was that our waitress didn't give us a chance to order pie, as she already had brought the check. No problem - Culver's flavor of the day was Double Chocolate Oreo.
rankings and stats:
ambiance - 4 (mid-afternoon pretty slow)
beer & wine selection - 5
food variety - 7
service - 4
accessibility - 3 (hard to find)
design - 5 (inside was neat)
taste - 8
price - $
Would we recommend? Yes
Style - American diner
Dress - casual
Location - 3030 Marnie Rd, Waterloo IA
http://www.landaudiners.com/highway63.htm
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