Rating: 3 silver spoons out of 5

Overview: A small, bustling local restaurant with solid diner fare, great brunch menu and really good, strong coffee.

Food: Located across from the Ardmore train station, above the Peace a Pizza, the Ardmore Station Café is clearly a neighborhood staple, attracting everyone from businesspeople to families with small children to college students. The menu is filled with typical diner fare; huge, customizable omelets, burgers and pancakes are just a few of the selections. Weekend brunch offers a whole new page of choices, including eggs benedict (and several varieties such as smoked salmon and crab benedicts), a variety of stuffed French toasts and specialty omelets. While my dining partner can’t get enough of the veggie omelet with a side of sausage, on the weekends I usually get eggs benedict, a Greek omelet, or pancakes. I would especially recommend the pancakes – they’ve been voted “Best pancakes on the Main Line” numerous times. Light and fluffy, with a delicate vanilla flavor, they are among the best I’ve had, and can either be ordered plain or with additions like bananas, strawberries or coconut.

While the food is generally good, I’ve experienced a number of missteps. On a few occasions, the poached eggs in the eggs benedict were overcooked and, once, I received eggs that were so undercooked that I had to send them back. During busy times (most notably weekend brunch), the wait staff will occasionally forget to bring out side dishes or honor special requests. However, any time this happens, the oversight is swiftly rectified.

Ambiance: Though small and sparsely decorated, everyone is made to feel welcome and, even during the busiest times, I’ve never felt rushed. Be warned: during peak times, the place can get very loud. However, I’ve never found the noise to be unbearable or to preclude conversation.

Service: Though they can be a bit overwhelmed during peak times, the wait staff is always friendly and helpful.

Value: Diner prices with large portions and more than decent food.  A solid value.

Details:
# of times we’ve eaten there: 5+
Reservations: No – wait times can be quite long during weekend brunch.
Hours: Monday – Friday: 7am – 3pm; Saturday and Sunday Brunch: 7am – 2pm
Payment: Cards

Rating: 2 silver spoons out of 5

Overview: The notion behind Plate is reasonably priced, comfort food — something that isn’t really available on the Main Line today. Unfortunately, this idea falls a bit flat due to uninspired food and inconsistent service.

Food: The menu at Plate looks to capitalize on the current comfort food craze, serving up hearty, homestyle fare. Organic chicken, skirt steak, pork tenderloin, and crab cakes all come with some type of potatoes and a sweet or spicy sauce. Although these dishes sound appealing enough, their execution is surprisingly bland and lifeless. Slow-cooked beef brisket had potential, but was far too dried out. Cedar-plank salmon lacked flavor, and the buerre blanc sauce it came with was a poor match for the herb crusted fish. The angus burger was large and eye-catching, but came overcooked, medium-well instead of medium rare. The organic chicken was the best of the three, but was far from exciting.
Ambiance: The big appeal of Plate is the great terrace available during nice weather. In addition, the large picture windows at the front of Plate, by the bar, open as well.

Service: Our first visit to Plate brought little issue with the service — on a busy night the waitress was helpful and prompt. A second visit, however, was a complete disaster. Several people in our party received their entrees a good five minutes before others — an unacceptable oversight by the kitchen. To make matters worse, the waitress failed to keep our table updated on the progress of the missing meals. When they finally arrived, one dish was not even cooked all the way through, basically raw in the middle. The manager did finally offer to take some money off the bill, but not until we went out of our way to complain. When service is this bad, the restaurant should be pre-emptive, not force the customer to make a stink.

(Another pet peeve: We were offered a free dessert as an apology, which really had no appeal after a poorly executed meal. Offering free dessert to make up for bad service and/or food is really worthless to a consumer who just wants to leave as quickly as possible. Want to make customers feel better? Comp something they’ve already ordered, and help them bring a swift and painless end to the evening. Dessert isn’t going to turn things around.)

Value: Most entrees range from $15-19, but too many sneak into the $20s, where price no longer corresponds to quality. Perhaps the biggest turn-on about Plate is the “20 under 30”, 20 bottles of wine priced at $30 or under — a trend that is very comforting indeed. Unfortunately, it is too little to late for Plate.

Details
# of times we’ve eaten there: 3
Reservations: Yes
Bar: Full
Cards: Yes
Website: www.platerestaurant.com