Prestige Diner Serves Up Way More Than a 'Happy Waitress'

The first time I went to Prestige Diner was many years ago. I was pregnant with my twins and on modified bed rest. My daily outing consisted of bobbing down the pool at The Connection, followed by lunch at the Diner.  My craving, grilled cheese and french fries, was the highlight of my day. I'd sit in a booth, put my feet up and happily eat for three.  

Through the years, as the twins have grown up, I've eaten at the Diner many times.  I've always gone knowing what I'd order before I even walked in the door.  Diners are predictable and people tend to have their favorites on the menu.

So, this time, I went to Prestige Diner with an open mind and an open menu to decide what to have for lunch.  To say the menu is extensive is an understatement since there are more 500 items to choose from.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served all day, but it was lunch time so I focused on sandwiches and salads. This left me with about 200 items to choose from, phew!

Sandwiches ranged from triple decker, hot open varieties, wraps and paninis.  There are also classic and super sandwich categories and that doesn't even get into the charbroiled burger selection.  The salads, span the globe from Mexi-Cali to Tuscan to Greek with toppings and combinations as gourmet as marinated rib eye to tuna salad.  I couldn't even imagine how big the kitchen was to house all of that food.  

Ordering lunch was a lot harder than I thought.  So after server Michelle asked for the third time to take my order, I finally asked her what she liked.

"Everything on our menu is really, really good.  Since I'm here all the time, I'm addicted to the hot wing sauce," she said. "I love the Buffalo chicken wrap and salad."

It was settled.  I ordered the Buffalo chicken salad ($11.95).  Like everything on the menu, the description left nothing to the imagination: crispy chicken tossed in Buffalo sauce mixed with Romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes, scallions & bleu cheese crumbles, tossed in cool creamy ranch dressing.  

Lunch came quickly and I had to remind myself I was at a diner.  The salad was served in a large white art-deco bowl.  Cool.  It must have been an entire head of Romaine lettuce in there, chopped and piled to the top.  Tossed with the lettuce was ranch dressing, bits of crumbled bleu cheese, chopped scallions and tomatoes.  The piece-de-resistance were strips of chicken fingers doused in Buffalo wing sauce.  In my house, they're called "fancy" chicken fingers.  Strips of tender white meat, crispy fried and not greasy at all.  

I know why Michelle loves the sauce so much.  It has all of the flavor of buffalo wings, but not too spicy.  It's a very nice balance, especially with the bleu cheese, which is what makes the salad so authentic.  With all these ingredients, I was expecting a heavy dish, but it was light, crunchy, refreshing and very satisfying.

"Prestige diner has been a family business for about 32 years," Manager Jimmy said. "Owned by the Varvas family, they are committed to fresh ingredients.  We're in the process of getting our produce from a local farm and our eggs are delivered every day."

Jimmy went on to tell me the diner's equally busy for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so they are constantly getting fresh deliveries of all of their ingredients.  

With so many restaurant choices these days, it's easy to skip the Diner for something more contemporary.  But, you'd be hard pressed to find desserts displayed front and center like they are at Prestige Diner.  

The desserts, mostly homemade stacked layer cakes in chocolate, vanilla, lemon, red velvet, carrot and cheesecake make it hard to leave without a slice.  You can be sure I was thinking about dessert before I even placed my order for lunch and I suppose that's the point.  So, I asked Michelle to select one for me.  She brought a spectacular piece of seven layer cake.

"It's a little bit of everything," Michelle said. "Mocha and chocolate frosting with seven layers of vanilla cake.  Each server makes a design on the plate with caramel, chocolate or strawberry syrup.  I made caramel swirls."

The cake would fit right in at William and Kate's Royal wedding, it was that elegant. 

Prestige Diner is open Sunday through Thursday from 6 a.m. until midnight and Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m.  If your coming during peak breakfast, lunch or dinner hours, parking may be a challenge.  The lot is small and often full.  So, when your stomach's growling and your frustrated with parking, remember, a crowded diner is a good thing.  Prestige Diner does not disappoint.