Last week one of my girlfriends and I went to try out the newest restaurant in JKL - Classic American Diner.
I had heard wonderful things about the Tampere location and was eager to try this place out.
Well, if you can, make a reservation first...because we managed to grab a table after a 5-minutes wait and our waiter who cleaned off the previous table came to us and asked if we had ordered our food yet...so needless to say, it was pretty busy.
He kindly warned us that there was a 45-minutes long wait for food...not a problem, as we had a lot of catching up to do...and when you don't have children with you - you have ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD - or so it feels like.
We waited over 20 minutes for our drinks - pop....so that was a bit disappointing...a nearby table had received some bowls of chips to munch on while they waited...maybe because they ordered alcohol and we didn't? Not sure...
20 minutes later ...we got our wings. We ordered 25 wings to share and the sauce was only medium (next time I go I want to try something hotter)...the blue cheese dip was nice and the carrot and celery sticks were thick and chunky.
The oddest thing about our wing order - no plates. It was served in a big basket lined with paper, sauce and grease covering the wings (which were better than Food wings by the way)...but no little plates to put our bones...no wet wipes to wash our hands after...so we just used napkins to put our bones - instead of risking waiting another 10-20 minutes for any other service.
Another 20 minutes or longer wait for our burger platters and afterwards we were able to leave.
I had ordered a 200g (medium) burger platter but the wings and veggie sticks filled me up quite a bit so I didn't eat a lot of my meal unfortunately.
My friend had the Angus burger platter and I guess she liked it enough because she ate more than I did in comparison.
We DID get a free refill on our pops...not sure if that was an accident or not....most places don't offer free refills...
Overall? We were stuffed but not terribly thrilled by the service or the food....
Now, I told my husband about this place and when he heard they had an ALL-DAY breakfast - he just had to try it!
So we went there yesterday and it was easy enough to find a table....we had our kids with us and while there are only 4 stairs - there is also the option of placing and using ramps for the stroller wheels.
The only problem with these is that you have to gauge how far apart to put them so your wheels fit on and they're quite heavy...so we just toughed it out and lifted our double stroller up those 4 stairs.
We ordered a Kid's Chicken Finger meal, a couple sodas and water, the All-day breakfast for hubby and I opted for a smaller burger (bacon) meal.
We asked the waitress if it was possible to get our son's meal first because he was quite hungry and it was just past 2pm...and he normally has a snack then...she said yep no problem. Tim also asked for pancakes with his all-day breakfast and that was fine too.
We got our drinks fairly quickly (within 10 minutes) and meals came about 30 minutes or so after ordering...Tim and I took turns rushing V�in� in and out of the restaurant because he was so hungry and upset (and tired) that we didn't want to bother other customers by his yelling and attempts at running about.
Finally our food arrived and while V�in� refused the chicken fingers (even though I broke it in half and blew on it to make sure it was cool enough) - he pounded back the fries.
Tim's breakfast didn't have pancakes. Apparently it was an extra add-on that Tim was really looking forward to - but maybe she didn't hear...
Ah well - oh and you should probably specify how you like your eggs cooked...these were kind of sunny-side up and Tim's more of a yolk-broken (over-hard) kind of guy. Not that the waitress asked when taking our order....
My meal was fine and once our youngest woke up - I offered him the non-ripped up chicken finger which he happily ate, along with most of my fries.
When I handed him half of the other chicken finger (the meal comes with 2) I noticed that it looked a little odd in the center...
Did I complain about the pink chicken? Nope. Why? Because I don't know if the first piece was pink or not as it was devoured quickly...and all the fries were gone...
And no, this meal did not come out in 5 or 10 minutes...it came out with all the others...so why was it under cooked? Not sure.
I don't think I will be going there any time soon - except for maybe the wings.
I had heard wonderful things about the Tampere location and was eager to try this place out.
Well, if you can, make a reservation first...because we managed to grab a table after a 5-minutes wait and our waiter who cleaned off the previous table came to us and asked if we had ordered our food yet...so needless to say, it was pretty busy.
He kindly warned us that there was a 45-minutes long wait for food...not a problem, as we had a lot of catching up to do...and when you don't have children with you - you have ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD - or so it feels like.
We waited over 20 minutes for our drinks - pop....so that was a bit disappointing...a nearby table had received some bowls of chips to munch on while they waited...maybe because they ordered alcohol and we didn't? Not sure...
20 minutes later ...we got our wings. We ordered 25 wings to share and the sauce was only medium (next time I go I want to try something hotter)...the blue cheese dip was nice and the carrot and celery sticks were thick and chunky.
The oddest thing about our wing order - no plates. It was served in a big basket lined with paper, sauce and grease covering the wings (which were better than Food wings by the way)...but no little plates to put our bones...no wet wipes to wash our hands after...so we just used napkins to put our bones - instead of risking waiting another 10-20 minutes for any other service.
Another 20 minutes or longer wait for our burger platters and afterwards we were able to leave.
I had ordered a 200g (medium) burger platter but the wings and veggie sticks filled me up quite a bit so I didn't eat a lot of my meal unfortunately.
My friend had the Angus burger platter and I guess she liked it enough because she ate more than I did in comparison.
We DID get a free refill on our pops...not sure if that was an accident or not....most places don't offer free refills...
Overall? We were stuffed but not terribly thrilled by the service or the food....
Now, I told my husband about this place and when he heard they had an ALL-DAY breakfast - he just had to try it!
So we went there yesterday and it was easy enough to find a table....we had our kids with us and while there are only 4 stairs - there is also the option of placing and using ramps for the stroller wheels.
The only problem with these is that you have to gauge how far apart to put them so your wheels fit on and they're quite heavy...so we just toughed it out and lifted our double stroller up those 4 stairs.
We ordered a Kid's Chicken Finger meal, a couple sodas and water, the All-day breakfast for hubby and I opted for a smaller burger (bacon) meal.
We asked the waitress if it was possible to get our son's meal first because he was quite hungry and it was just past 2pm...and he normally has a snack then...she said yep no problem. Tim also asked for pancakes with his all-day breakfast and that was fine too.
We got our drinks fairly quickly (within 10 minutes) and meals came about 30 minutes or so after ordering...Tim and I took turns rushing V�in� in and out of the restaurant because he was so hungry and upset (and tired) that we didn't want to bother other customers by his yelling and attempts at running about.
Finally our food arrived and while V�in� refused the chicken fingers (even though I broke it in half and blew on it to make sure it was cool enough) - he pounded back the fries.
Tim's breakfast didn't have pancakes. Apparently it was an extra add-on that Tim was really looking forward to - but maybe she didn't hear...
Ah well - oh and you should probably specify how you like your eggs cooked...these were kind of sunny-side up and Tim's more of a yolk-broken (over-hard) kind of guy. Not that the waitress asked when taking our order....
My meal was fine and once our youngest woke up - I offered him the non-ripped up chicken finger which he happily ate, along with most of my fries.
When I handed him half of the other chicken finger (the meal comes with 2) I noticed that it looked a little odd in the center...
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| Chicken finger was a little pink in the center...it's a cell phone picture so it doesn't show the colour as well. |
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| But then there's these awesome cardboard cars that kids' meals come in...and yes, you can totally take them home with you. |
And no, this meal did not come out in 5 or 10 minutes...it came out with all the others...so why was it under cooked? Not sure.
I don't think I will be going there any time soon - except for maybe the wings.
