Tuesday, April 3, 2007

The Uptown Diner

It's been so long since I had this breakfast, I almost forgot about it! (March 25!)

The Uptown Diner
2548 Hennepin Ave.
Minneapolis, MN

Firstly, can I just mention that the only reason I put Minneapolis on here is because there is a chance that someday I will breakfast in St. Paul and I need to specify where the breakfast is located? After all, St. Paul is just a few miles away and probably has a plethora of delicious eats in the morning, too!

I did not take a picture of the outside of the "new" Uptown Diner (why is it new? I don't know!), and cannot find an image to steal, but let me describe it to you: renovated old Burger King.

Okay, now you should understand that the exterior is kind of fug. But, the interior is retro and a little crowded, but basically a pretty okay place.

Rowan was with me on this breakfast adventure, and we hiked the 12-15 blocks to the restaurant on a sunny hot March day in Minneapolis. When we got there, at around 9:50, there was a wait for tables, but we managed to get seated within about seven minutes and my sister came to join us a few minutes after that. The service was pretty quick and we got our food in an amazingly short time (probably 10-15) minutes after ordering it.

Things to note:
Coffee refills were abundant.
Service was good and pretty fast, considering that it was busy.
There IS a Sunday morning rush. I'd recommend going before 10:00am for an optimum experience.
Portion size is ENORMOUS.

Here is a snapshot of the menu.
Menu at the Uptown Diner

Rowan had a waffle (not on the kids menu, though, it is good to note that they do have a kids menu!), Bird had french toast, and I had the "Tex Mex". The Tex Mex consists of hash browns, sausage, and onions served over scrambled eggs, somewhat contained underneath a flour tortilla shell and topped with salsa and cheese (and sour cream, but I opted out of that). OMGZ: HUGE.

Waffles

Whoa.



As you can see, the Tex Mex kind of took the prize for the most impressive (in my opinion) choice of the three. I appear to be on the search for the perfect spicy breakfast. Though Al's is great, I have yet to find exactly what I am looking for. I did sample the waffle and the french toast and both were pretty good. My selection was good, but I was dissatisfied with the salsa as I think that it was Pace salsa which is fine for sitting in my living room snackin' on Doritos and salsa, but not so good when I go to a restaurant. I desire homemade spicy spicy spicy salsa, not Pace.

But, in all, it was pretty tasty and Bird liked hers enough that she went there again THAT DAY and again this past Sunday. So, there you go - Bird gives it the official tweet of approval, I guess. I deem it as pretty tasty, though I'm convinced that there are better breakfasts out there. I think we'll be at it again this weekend, and the review will be up faster than you can shake a stick.

Or something.