Village Squire, 1976-09, Page 22squire 's
Oval*
Another `ordinary'
small town
restaurant
While the past few years has seen the
advent of a few restaurants in this part of the
country specializing in first class fare, fit for
critical tastebuds, the majority of our
restaurants continue to be the classical
smalltown family restaurant, the kind that
may give gourmets heartburn just thinking
about them but which continue to serve an
apparent need in the community.
Diana Sweets on Listowel's main street is
just such a place. Trying to compare it with a
restaurant like The Church in Stratford or
Benmiller's Mill would be cruel. It and a
hundred other restaurants like it serve
thousands of customers a year who can't see
why they should pay first class restaurant
prices just to fill their stomach. The night we
visited it it was well filled, better than many
"higher class" restaurants on a Sunday
evening.
J udged by the standards of its competitors,
Diana Sweets stands up well enough. It's
decor is clean and bright and perfunctory:
The food plentiful and the service friendly.
We arrived late in the evening when we
visited so it was. hardly surprising that the
special for the evening, spareribs h,d
long -since run out. So the gentlem,n
switched his order to roast beef and the lady
had young roast turkey with dressing and
cranberry sauce.
The meal started with homemade
vegetable soup, a hearty thick mixture that
was perhaps the highlight of the evening. A
BARTLIFF'S
Bakery and Restaurant
You'II find Bartlitf's Bakery and
Restaurant...in Clinton - the town at
the Country Crossroads - Enjoy lunch,
a country dinner or just have a coffee
in the friendly atmosphere. Try our
fresh -from -the -oven breads and pas-
tries. Bartllft's bakers enjoy creating
masterpieces in wedding, birthday,
anniversary or special occasion cakes.
For baking that's been famous for
70 years, visit
BARTLIFF'S IN CLINTON!
1i ILIBBt ST. CLINTON 411-9727
20, VILLAGE SQUIRE/SEPTEMBER 1976
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salad followed, a simple tossed salad but as
good as we've found in most restaurants.
There was a bun too, warmed and fresh.
The main course came along next. The
lady's turkey and dressing were classed as
"ordinary". The accompanying french fried
potatoes were better than one often gets in
such a spot.
The roast beef was also ordinary, as in
over -cooked like most main street restaurants
serve. The tragedy of the evening was the
vegetables. Our most frequent criticism of
restaurants is the frozen or canned
vegetables served even at the height of the
summer gardening season. These weren't
even up to that, being so unpalatable looking
we didn't even touch them.
Dessert was better. The lady's blueberry
pie was tastey and so was the gentleman's
butterpecan pie, though both appeared to be
the usual bakery products, they seemed a cut
above the ordinary.
The decor, as we said earlier is your usual
store -front restaurant kind evoking no special
excitement or commentary. The service was
slow because the young waitress seemed
more interested in exchanging gossip with
other waitresses than remembering her
customers, though to be fair other waitresses
seemed to be paying closer attention to their
tables.
In all probably the lady's "ordinary" sums
up things best. You'II find better places to
dine, but you'll find a lot more that are worse.
CAPTAINS QUARTERS
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