Friday, January 4, 2008

The Small Cafe - Long Beach California

Decided to go somewhere besides Mel's last night, and that kind of rash decision making paid off. The Small Cafe in the heart of Naples Island in Long Beach proved somewhat of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the food at The Small Cafe is very flavorful. However the wait for the food, the overall atmosphere (very bright lights at eye level over each table), and the odd tasting grilled cheese sandwich left us wondering if we should give this diner a second chance.

The 20 minute wait for our food could be explained by the fact that there's only one cook in the tiny kitchen. Granted, he's a great short-order cook, but when there's only two other tables occupied in the restaurant and we had to wait that long, it makes us wonder how long of a wait there would be if the place was packed.

I had the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich which was one of the best I've ever tasted. It came with my choice of side dishes, and I chose a small salad. My wife had the vegetarian sandwich which consisted of a variety of grilled vegetables topped with a slice of mozzarella. This was also quite good. My oldest son had the tripple-decker club sandwich which was delicious. The sandwich had a couple of nice touches not usually found on clubs - thick bacon and good quality turkey. Those two ingredients may have bumped the price up by a buck or two, but certainly also made for a more memorable meal.

My daughter's grilled cheese was just plain off. I don't know if they used Velveta cheese instead of American, or if they ran out of both and used a dollup of Frito Lay nacho cheese, but it just tasted wrong. Not spoiled, mind you, just not right. The waitress happily offered another meal, but my daughter chose the blueberry muffin instead.

The muffin was so good that we decided to get four of them to go to have for breakfast this morning.

So yes, The Small Cafe does go the extra mile in selecting quality ingredients and even making something as mundane as a blueberry muffin memorable. This cafe serves up tasty food, and if you don't mind the possibility of having to wait a little while, this cafe may be worth putting on your regular lunch list.


1 comment:

Ema said...

I agree with everything except I don't think you talked enough about the atmosphere. That was a huge drawback for me. Not only was the lighting horrendous but it needed a paint job, some pictures/plants, etc. The tv over the counter area was a little on the tacky side too. I won't be going back unless you guys drag me. So there. :) Love you!
~E.