Americana Diner (Shrewsbury)

June 22, 2019 By Hollie in Diners Tags: breakfast, coffee, diners, food, new jersey shore, review 1 Comment

After running the Red Bank 5k last week, I decided to stop at the Americana Diner. This is not to be confused by one of the first diners went too, the Americana Diner in West Windsor. It’s also not to be confused with the Americana Diner in West Orange. The Americana Diner has been on my to do list for a few years, but I haven’t made it out there yet.

Atmosphere: A

The Americana Diner is everything you picture in a diner. It’s a big, metallic exterior, and the interior has plenty of booths, table, and a bar. I arrived on Saturday around brunch time, so it was packed although we quickly got a seat.

Coffee: B

The coffee was brewed hot and fresh, but I definitely could have used more refills.

Food: A

The Americana Diner serves everything all day long. They have everything you might want from omelets and pancakes to lunch specials and dinner options like seafood and steak.

The Hellenic Sampler looked good, and I decided to order that as an appetizer. The sampler came with grape leaves, feta cheese, olives, tomato, cucumber, and pita bread. It reminded me of a salad but big enough for two people.

For my entree, I decided to order something I haven’t before: a Breakfast Pitza, which is a pita topped with eggs, cheese, and bacon. Basically a pizza but using a pita as a base. It was unique, and I enjoyed it.

It also came with home fries, which were good too. I would order it again.

Service: A
Our waitress was friendly, and our food came quickly. Even though she was busy, she made conversation with each table and gave us a lot of attention. I couldn’t ask for a better waitress.

Cost: $
For my Pitza and coffee, the cost was $12.

Overall Thoughts/Summary:
I liked the Americana Diner, and if I’m back in the area, I will go back. It’s a great stereotypical diner.

Atmosphere: A
Coffee: B
Food: A
Service: A
Cost: $8-15
Overall: A

You Can See All 248 Diner Reviews Here.

Questions for you:
Have you tried a Pitza?
What is your favorite breakfast food?
I’m typically an omelet person.

Rt 70 Diner (Lakewood)

April 13, 2019 By Hollie in Diners Tags: breakfast, brunch, Diner, eggs, food, menu, new jersey, new jersey shore, review, steak

Recently I went to the Rt. 70 Diner in Lakewood, NJ. As the name indicates, it’s located right off of Route 70. The Route 70 Diner is actually a fairly new diner and opened earlier in January. To my knowledge, there wasn’t a different diner in the shopping center location previously.

We needed a new diner and it’s becoming harder and harder to find a diner both NJ Isn’t Boring and I haven’t been too. She’s actually been to about 20-30 more than I have and we’ve been to somewhere around 50 diners together.

Atmosphere: B
The Rt 70 Diner is located in a small shopping center next to a few other restaurants. The outside blends in with the shopping center, while the inside is decorated like a stereotypical diner. There are a few booths, tables, and a bar up front. There isn’t more than about 20 seats in the Route 70 Diner, so it’s not huge.

Coffee: A
The coffee at the Rt. 70 Diner was brewed hot and fresh. The waitress brought plenty of refills.

Food: A
The Route 70 Diner is open until 3 pm and has plenty of breakfast and lunch options. They have plenty of specials as well. I was in the mood for breakfast, so I ordered the ribeye and eggs. It also came with home fries and toast.

I asked for the steak medium. It was cooked as requested. The eggs were excellent and the toast had plenty of butter. In all, the meal was good, and I would order it again.

Service: A
The waitress was friendly, and our food came out quickly. I have no complaints. I enjoyed her humor as well.

Cost: $
For my meal and coffee; the cost was $14.

Overall Thoughts/Would I come back?
I liked the Route 70 Diner in Lakewood and it was a good stop. I would go back. Its a cute, easy, quick stop to the shore. The small shopping center parking might be an issue on a busy day but it’s worth the stop.

Atmosphere: B
Coffee: A
Food: A
Service: A
Price: $6-12
Overall: A

You can see all diner reviews here.

Questions for you:

How do you like your steak cooked?

What is your favorite breakfast food?

Hiking Shark River Park

August 24, 2018 By Hollie in hiking Tags: cross country, freehold, hiking, new jersey, new jersey shore, summer 2 Comments

Last week I decided to stop at Shark River Park in Neptune, NJ. Shark River Park was established in 1960. It’s actually the oldest Monmouth County Park. It’s just under 1000 acres and located between Neptune and Wall. There is plenty to do at Shark River Park including, fishing, hiking, and it even hosts cross country races.

It has about 9 miles of trails. I had planned to just check it out and walk about a mile or 20 minutes. Even though I brought both a hard copy of a map and a trail app, I ended up getting lost and walking around 5 miles. Since it was my day off and I had nowhere to be, it wasn’t a big deal, but I was glad I brought water out of my car as well.

Here are a few of the trails I covered. I didn’t use a Garmin, so I can’t tell you how much of each trail I covered. I do know I know I covered the entire Pine Hill trail since it was a loop.

Ceder Loop Starts at the center of the loop.

There is a “Fitness trail” which is flat and would be great for running. It has 20 stations with strength workouts. You know…workouts I always say I’ll do with running and don’t.

The Hidden Creek trail is about 2 miles long and connects to the Pine Hills Trail. I only now I was on this one because I did cover Pine Hills!

Finally, the Pine Hills Trail is close to the Garden State Parkway and goes up a few small inclines. It’s nothing unmanageable.

In all, despite getting lost, I enjoyed the hike. I will say it was “comforting” to hear a few sounds of the Garden State Parkway because I knew I wasn’t “lost forever.”

The take away is…don’t follow your gut…follow the trail map. Maybe not eat mushrooms on the trail either…

I am definitely going to come back and run, and I bet it’s such a fun cross country course.

Here are other hikes I’ve done this Spring and Summer:

Hiking Turkey Swamp in Freehold
Exploring Cattus Island in Toms River
Exploring Hartshorne Park in the Highlands
Hiking to the Cape May Lighthouse
Hiking Bear Mountain in a Downpour
Hiking through Belleplain State Forest
Hiking High Mountain with a View of NYC

You can see all hikes here.

Questions for you:

When was the last time you got lost?

Are there any good hikes near you?

Mays Landing Diner

December 23, 2017 By Hollie in Diners Tags: diners, food, new jersey, new jersey shore, philly cheesesteak, restaurant

Recently I went to the Mays Landing Diner. I’ve found it more fun to ask Twitter to choose a diner based on a name. I have to go to all 500+ sometime right? Anyway, after an appointment down that way, I ended up at the Mays Landing Diner.

I arrived for dinner, and it was dark. When looking, I had thought I had already been to the Mays Landing Diner. It looked so familiar. Then I realized it shared a lot of characteristics of the Galloway Diner.

Atmosphere: B
The exterior is big, clean, and shiny. It was well lit up for the holidays. The inside had plenty of booths, tables, and a full-length bar. It was everything you picture in a diner.

Coffee: A
The coffee was brewed fresh and hot every time. The waitress brought out plenty of refills, and she added a lot of whipped cream.

Food: B
The menu at Mays Landing Diner is extensive. They have everything you want and need in a diner. Like many diners down the shore, it’s heavier on seafood. I ordered the Philly cheesesteak and seafood bisque soup.

The soup was interesting. I don’t know if I’ve ever had seafood bisque, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was a mix of Mariana and white sauce. There was imitation crab (I actually like that…as well as usual crab meat of course) and had a kick. In all, it was good.

The Philly cheesesteak was decent. It wasn’t the best, or the worst. It was one of the biggest cheesesteaks I’ve had and was probably about a foot long.

Service: A
The waitress was one of the best I’ve had in a while. She refilled beverages often, came over to check on us, and my food came out within 10 minutes.

Cost: $$
For my coffee, cheesesteak, and soup the cost was $16.

Summary/Would I come back?
I liked the Mays Landing Diner and had a pleasant experience.

Atmosphere: B
Coffee: A
Food: B
Service: A
Cost: $10-15

Nearby Diners I’ve Been: Harley Dawn, Galloway
See All Diners Here:

Questions for you:
What is your favorite soup?
Do you like cheesesteak?

Windjammer

April 23, 2016 By Hollie in Diners Tags: burger, diners, food, hummus, new jersey, new jersey shore, restaurant, review 7 Comments

I’ve wanted to go to the Windjammer for a while. My original plan was to go after the Atlantic City half. However, I had to work so there wasn’t enough time. I only had to wait two extra weeks and went after the Totally Awesome 80s Run.

We arrived around 11 on a Saturday. I anticipated the Windjammer to be crowded. However, it wasn’t. I was pleasantly surprised because after any race I typically want to eat immediately.

Picture via website

Atmosphere: B
The Windjammer is a typical large restaurant building. However, there is nothing “diner” about it. It’s clean and open, but it is more of a restaurant than a diner. It’s open and well lit, but it’s a regular restaurant. It isn’t a classic metallic NJ, but it’s clean and well organized. The tables and booths are spread out, so you don’t feel as if you’re sitting on top of anyone.

Coffee: A
The coffee was delicious, and the waitress brought us plenty of refills. It was locally brewed Lacas brand which is one of my favorite roasts.

Service: A
The waitress was one of the most friendly and attentive I’ve had. She refilled the coffee, brought us everything we needed and was just an overall nice and friendly person. You can tell the Windjammer has a lot of regulars, and she made everyone feel good. I overheard her say “Wow you look great today” and “See you tomorrow.” It almost felt like we were the only nonregulars!

Food: A
The Windjammer is open all day and breakfast, lunch and dinner. It has a much smaller menu than most traditional diners. Since the Windjammer is on the shore, they specialize in seafood and burgers. They have a lot of different crab options too.

I was hungry, so we ordered the hummus appetizer. It came with roasted carrots, zucchini and squash as well as hummus and pita. Pita bread is one of my favorite types and this was one of my favorite appetizers to date. I could have ordered 2 for my meal and been perfectly fine.

For my entree, I was craving a burger. I ordered their burger which came with French fries. It was topped with onion rings. It was juicy and cooked just how I like it, medium. The burger was cooked just as I asked and the bun was toasted. It appeared to be a homemade roll too, and you can never go wrong with that. The French fries were toasted and crunchy.

Cost: $$
For my coffee, the appetizer, and burger the cost was $18. The quality of food made that worth it.

Summary/Would I come back?
The quality of food, as well as quantity, made the Windjammer one of my favorite diners. The service was excellent, and I have no complaints.

Atmosphere: B
Coffee: A
Food: A
Service: A
Price: $10-15
Overall: A

Questions for you:
Do you like pita bread?
What do you crave after a hard workout?

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Running and Laughing through the Garden State

Tag Archives: new jersey shore

Americana Diner (Shrewsbury)

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