Dale's Diner was found thanks to my GPS. You can look for local stores and restaurants by either name or type. They even have a category for Cafe/Diners. So early last Sunday morning, after going to the Long Beach flea market, I needed a break from trudging up and down the aisles of junk and antiques and decided to get some breakfast.
I was a little hesitant walking in since this was so overwhelmingly a '50's style diner' and those can be kind of gut-punching or surprisingly good (see: Stevie Dees). It wasn't blaring 50s rock n' roll but it had the jukebox and some pretty sweet classic car trunk cushion booths (there's gotta be a shorter name for that).
I would have liked to have taken more pictures of the interior but the fact that all of the waitresses looked to be under 18 and wearing alarmingly short skirts, I felt pervy enough from taking the few pictures I did. Hitting this place solo also limited my organic taking pictures opportunities, since it's hard to pretend that you just got this this new camera and are just playing around with it and amusing your dining companion, when you have no #1DC with you.
#1DC Antoinette and I have a system down of my pretending to take a picture of her but really taking a picture of something else and vice versa.
I sat myself as directed by the white board at the entrance. All four of the waitresses checked in with me. I ordered a coffee and a water to start with. The coffee was phenomenal: super strong and super hot and super good.
Mmm...homemade chili and beans.
Thing's weren't cheap at Dale's. Most dishes hovered around 8 dollars. I was intrigued by the different flapjacks they listed--Oreo cookie for instance. It turned out their list of flapjacks was pretty close to their types of pies (apple, blue berry, bannana, no oreo, etc.) I was sorely tempted, but in the end I went with the biscuits and gravy for only $4.50. I also warned my food-order-taking waitress- who was different from my beverage waitress, who in turn was different from my second beverage waitress-that I would order pie later.
The biscuits and gravy were decent. The gravy was a bit too thick and the sausage bits were too small and few to really matter. The biscuits were quite good. This might not sound appealing to everyone, but I like to describe them as "powdery."
Now, as I mentioned earlier, I warned my waitress that I'd like pie later. I sat a long time waiting for her return. I also sat a long time waiting for a refill on my coffee. When my refill came, I asked my beverage waitress for my food waitress so I could order some pie. She eventually came over and I got a slice of apple pie. The pie was very cinnamon-y and, as you can tell from that picture, it was more reddish brown than golden.
I had to wait a bit longer for my check. By that time the place had filled up with people saying things like "Oh our regular table is open." and "Oh, let's try something different this week." and "Whoa, those skirts are REALLY short on those underage girls."
As super pervy as it might sound, I liked Dale's Diner more than I expected. It was fun without being obnoxious. The highlight was the coffee and the pie. I learned on my way out that they actually offer day old pie for $1.99, which would imply they get fresh pie every day, which is nice. I can't imagine the rest of the food is going to be bad or better than good. Seems like a decent place with a local following, if you are nearby it would be worth it for the coffee alone.
Food-Decent
Service-Meh, high school girls.
Price-A tiny bit high.
Pie-Good pie.
Dale's Diner
4339 East Carson Street
Long Beach, CA 90808
(562) 425-7285
1 comment:
No pictures of the waitresses? FAIL.
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