Uptown Cafe, Warren, RI

It’s  been quite awhile since we’ve gone to Warren for breakfast. Today we headed that way to visit a restaurant we visited about four years ago but has since changed hands. What was once The Restaurant and Cafe is currently Uptown Food and Spirits at 437 Main St. Uptown doesn’t open until 8am and we arrived about 8:03 and were the first ones there. Being the first customers as the restaurant opened we were awaiting, anxiously, the first cup of, what had to be, the freshest pot of coffee we’ve ever had. Downeast coffee, too, a brand we’ve come across frequently. The first cup came and…was just ok. Rats! Honestly, we were so disappointed! The Uptown presents itself as a step or two above the typical breakfast diner. Check out the plates. Nice presentation, but…it’s about the food and we were expecting, I guess, better. And that’s what was frustrating. The Uptown wanted to be one thing and ended up being somewhere in the middle of ordinary and upscale. The plating was nice but my eggs in the eggs benedict were overcooked. Rats!!! No liquid gold! On the other hand, the homefries were outstanding! Very buttery with very subtle spices. Nice! The sausages I had ordered on the benny instead of ham were sliced and overcooked, which means dry. Rats! But a side of homemade hash was very, very good! Nice! And  Ray may talk about this but we couldn’t figure out why a place that would make a tasty homemade hash would use deli style ham in its omelet instead of preparing a ham and cutting meat off the bone. Again, it’s like there are two different experiences here. So? A mixed review. The coffee was meh. That’s reviewer talk for a 5.5, maybe. The homefries get an 8.5 but the benny was just a 5. This gives the breakfast a 6.7 – but I’ll take the hash into consideration and bump it up to a 7.

Corned Beef Hash

Mike’s choice this week was the former “Restaurant” in downtown Warren, Uptown Food and Spirits. Short ride this morning with my prediction of the Red Sox being at .500 and probably failing in the long run with a mediocre at best, bull pen. “It’s a long season” Mike added, and I concurred…but. warren is a nice town, and the main street has some terrific shops for browsing and more than one breakfast places, and that maybe why the Uptown Cafe was empty when we arrived and no other customers had entered when we left. The decor is very clean and pleasant and the menu has quite few options, both traditional and vegan. Although it is a breakfast/lunch restaurant the lunch menu seemed limited. I saw no soup offerings or basic sandwiches. Granted this is an unconventional type restaurant, but you would think they might want to have some options that were basic, like a club sandwich. However, lets get to the breakfast and coffee first. Another taste of Downeast coffee. It was basic, nothing special, worth another half cup for me. I ordered a western with home fries and MIke and I shared a side of home made hash. Now these were really good home fries. Very buttery and very tasty, they would be considered the second best I have had this year. Just needed a touch of table salt to kick it up a notch. I am very glad that they did not salt it before it came to the table, as I prefer to add condiments rather than have them added for me. Hash was excellent and really homemade. Great combination of perfect corned beef and potato. The omelet was good. I am not a fan of deli ham and that is what they had. The one other issue was that all of the cheese was on one half of the omelet so when I reached the second half all it tasted was cheese. Coffee, 5; home fries 8.5; meal 7; overall, 6.5.

The Village Griddle, Plainville

The weather is turning mild and comfortable, and mild is probably the way I would describe my meal at The Village Griddle in Plainville, actually a short 25 minute ride from our home base. The Village Griddle was fairly crowded but the restaurant had very comfortable seating area with lots of small areas where groups could sit. I guess some can talk about the fact that Mike and I are a little picky about our meals and the coffee, but it is what it is and if nothing we are consistent. I tried the hash omelet with pulled pork and Swiss. But let me start with the coffee, Boston’s Best…not. Just average coffee, but the worst part was that even though the mug was a great size, we were never offered any refills. Very unusual for a breakfast place. The home fries were just plain mild, no flavor and nothing to make it worthy of mentioning. The omelet was also mild, and the pork was very dry. Have to say I was not too impressed. Mild and dry are two adjectives I would not want to use to describe MY meals but they fit here. Coffee, 4; home fries, 4; meal, 5; overall 4.5.

What a nice, easy ride all the way out to Plainville today. Usually, we end up stuck in Providence bound traffic as we head to the Warwick/Cranston area in search of new places to review. The ride to Plainville was such a nice change. Hadn’t been out that way since we went to A&J Diner about a year ago. So. The Village Griddle is not your typical greasy spoon…not in the least. Clean lines, bright, spacious – the Griddle actually seemed like a franchise with all the “proper” decor inviting us in to this cool, upscale breakfast space. And it’s about the food, too, right? The menu reflected the atmosphere. It included (and this for the second week running) bananas foster and other atypical diner fare. Brie cheese is offered in one selection. There are four types of hash! So many interesting choices! I decided to get something other than my usual and went with the #10 which included apple chicken sausage and sweet potato hash and eggs. First, coffee! Another place with large mugs! Nice! Boston’s Best coffee. We were psyched but the coffee was just average. Again, it could be any number of things but this was just ok. We did notice large, insulated serving carafes and wondered if  large amounts of coffee had been brewed earlier and then kept hot in the carafes. It might explain the taste but we didn’t ask. Our breakfasts looked amazing but, again, like the coffee, was just average. The sausages had an interesting flavor but were bland and disappointing. And, remind me, never get sweet potato anything for breakfast, ever, again. What was I thinking? This type of hash was chunks of sweet potato served on a bed of caramelized onions and steamed spinach. It was, again, bland. It sounded and looked so good, too! Lastly, to really drive our disappointment home, no one offered us refills on the coffee. The coffee being “meh” we may not have accepted a refill but we expect to be asked. So, nice trip and conversation but the coffee was only about a 6 and my breakfast rated only a 5 which is a 5.5 average for the meal. Maybe we’ll brave the traffic in Providence next week.