Friday night, I met with a friend in Bridgewater for coffee. Somehow I felt quite hungry at my way home, so I stopped at the "Time To Eat" Diner in Bridgewater. I had driven by this place many times before and I actually found the name somewhat original, but I was never enticed to stop and actually eat there. It looked like a typical NJ Diner and I have eaten in too many of them. With a NJ Diner you are rarely disappointed. They are almost all pretty good and seemingly are trying to meet the same standard. But you also rarely find one that is innovative , interesting and gives you a reason to come back and explore more dishes.
Now tonight, it was literally time to eat at the "Time to Eat" diner. And I was not disappointed nor was I blown away. It is a very typical example of a NJ Diner. The building looks like recently remodeled, so it all looks pretty modern, fresh and clean. The interior is nice and the ambiance is comfortable for Diner standards. Service is fast, efficient and competent and reasonably friendly. The menu has everything you expect from a Diner menu and that is exactly what you get. There is virtually nothing on the menu that is unusual, interesting or innovative. Even the specials are the typical specials.
Still execution isn't bad. I had fettuccine carbonara which came with a soup. I selected the onion soup which was a bit bland and missing the grilled cheese on top. There was just one slice of baguette or some other bread swimming in the soup. The fettuccine were nicely al dente and the sauce was quite good. The flavor was very pointed and expressed the concept of a carbonara sauce quite well. Good texture and mouth feel. For $10.95 (including the soup) not a bad deal if you happen to be in the area and hungry at the time you drive by but nothing too special.
According to their web site, they have been voted "Central Jersey's Best Diner" since 1997 but it is not clear who does the voting. Anyhow, they may as well be right. However, in my experience it is just a slightly above average NJ diner.
Signing Off - The Westfield Blogger
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I ate dinner recently at this diner with my family. The roast turkey was not fresh, so my wife returned it to the kitchen and asked for a different entre. The manager billed us for both entres, despite the fact that she only had one bite of the turkey, and he didn't apologize. So I will not return to the Time To eat Diner and cannot recommend it to anyone.
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