The only thing I take seriously is my Freedom. And Bacon.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls - HELL YEAH! The Metropolitan American Diner - Review

The Metropolitan American Diner - North Wales Pa - 700 Upper State Road, North Wales 215-361-1603

If you are wondering if you should give this place a try - Hell Yeah!
The thing that jumped off the menu at me was the creativity and the quirky food. I love places that take chances (which in the Burbs, it's hard to find anything other than a forking cheesesteak or ham hoagie). Off the top of my head (since the website isn't working AGAIN) - I remember: Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls, Create Your Own Mac N Cheese, and a souped up French Onion Soup. On the daily special menu - Snickerdoodle ice cream sandwiches and chocolate chip cookie dough eggrolls.
OH. I wish I had room left after my lunch  to try those desserts!
The interior is bright and clean. We did not sit at the bar, but I can't wait to go again and eat at the bar. The bar area looked warm, bright, though it seemed big, it had a cozy feel to it.
One thing I noticed upon arrival was that the Metropolitan proudly mentioned on a card at the table that they work with local food vendors as much as possible (wouldn't that be GREAT to have on their website too??? If it WORKED!). The get their bread from the Hearth Bakery in Lansdale (love that place) and I know they offer beer from Prism Brewery (a new local brewery that has bacon chocolate beer, yo!). Anyway.
The menu is chock full of items (which, Gordon Ramsey states is a NO NO - and usually I agree but it was nice to have such a large selection and hey, it works for the Cheesecake Factory!).
Mr. Stiffy and I shared the buffalo chicken egg rolls. Oh.My.God. Loved them! A tad bit dry, but I would order them again and again and again.
For lunch, I had the pierogies which came with an onion marmalade. They. Were. Fabulous!
Mr. Stiffy had the rotisserie chicken. Presented well, but was quite dry, unfortunately. Not a dish either of us would probably order again.
It came with mac n cheese.
Now, the mac n cheese is not the usual comfort food mac n cheese. It's a bit more greasy and has more tang - but in a good way. I'd definitely like to try it again, and create my own.
There were many awesome creative items, unfortunately, I just can't remember them all, but I do remember that when I opened the menu and scanned it quickly, I got those little tingly feelings along my nerves that said "YES!!! I LOVE CREATIVE CHEFS!!"
Oh, and our waitress, Justine, was very attentive, and sweet, and of course, she had no idea that I was a reviewing star (in my own mind, that is).
And I noticed the bus boy was always roaming and checking to see if he could clear plates. A really great sign that the owners are very conscious of customer service.
 I'm extremely excited about this place.
I love the creativity. I LOVE that they work so closely with local food sources and proudly promote them.
I love the atmosphere and the service.
I'm hoping to up this to 5 Stars after a few more visits (hopefully the food won't be as dry) and if they get their website fixed (having trouble in Firefox browser but works in Explorer browser). 
If I was giving this a rating simply based on suburb restaurants, I'd probably give it a 5. But I'm comparing it to fabulous joints down in the city, too, and it's not quite there YET, but close.
OH, one last thing, I know those who know me won't even believe this, but, I didn't drink any alcohol! They had a cool drink list, so I'm also very excited to try that next time I go!
I can't wait to go back again and try EVERYTHING.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Quirky Girl,

    As the owner of the Metropolitan, American Diner & Bar, I would like to thank you for your insightful and informative review.

    I love all types of feedback, It's the only way we improve our food and service.

    I couldn't agree more regarding the Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls. They are absolutely delicious but can lean towards the slightly dry side. We have reformulated not so much the recipe but the way we make them and I can't wait for you to try them again, I think we nailed it!

    The Mac & cheese is my absolute favorite item in the house and I'm really happy you enjoyed it.

    Regarding the website, you are correct in the sense that originally, we had a pretty bad web designer and host. Since January, I have given the job of web hosting and site maintenance to another company and it seems to have improved quite a bit. I'm sorry you have had problems with it, issues that I have looked into since reading your Yelp review. I personally check the site on a daily basis and have found a couple of broken links that have since been repaired but not the systemic issues you experienced. Nevertheless, we are checking all the code to make sure it works across all browser platforms.

    Once again, thank you for your incredible feedback and we look forward to your next visit.

    Best regards,

    John Gabriel

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  2. Hi John,
    Thanks so much for commenting! I can't wait to try EVERYTHING on the menu!
    We did visit again and had fried pickles (excellent!) and fried mac n cheese balls - again - yum!
    I just checked your website and was having the same problem. However! I think I figured it out. I was using Mozilla Firefox as my browser - when I opened your website using Explorer - it was fine. So...I'm going to remove that part of my review since you are aware of it - but you might want to check with your web person because your website should be functional in all browsers.
    Thanks again. Much much success!

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