The same restaurant can leave very different impressions from one day to the next, but I am happy that I was not disappointed as Frequent Diner has been of late.

I ordered the ham & brie sandwich with a side of pastina – my standard order. It was hot, melty, toasty, buttery and as delicious as I remembered it.

The add-ins in the pastina were skimpier than in times past, however. Less feta, less sun-dried tomato, less black olives. Still had a nice flavor, but a noticeable decline. I remember us discussing that perhaps there were too many add-ins on a previous visit.

Also, the offensive pickle was absent from my plate. None of us received a pickle. Some folks might consider this a disappointment. Not me! I don’t know if they happened to run out of pickles, but whatever the reason – thank you for not contaminating my toasty bread with that god-awful green juice. eeeeewwwww.

Another change: the price on my meal increased by $.95. I can’t really fault them on that one, though – the economy is putting the squeeze on us all. I still felt it was worth $5.95.

As for service, it was fast. Very fast in fact. Maybe it helped to let the server know we were on lunch hour? Geraniums thanks them…I went across the street to buy a piece of Brighton since I had a few extra minutes.

They must be doing something right. The place was packed. All the tables were full so we got the last 3 seats at the counter in front of the window. A steady stream of folks placing and picking up to-go orders flowed through the doors giving us a chill from the cool air outside.

I can’t change my recommendation based on my experience today.

And Demo, even if another pessimistic food curmudgeon surfaces on Fork You, you’ll always be my favorite. And Ron’s.

As comment readers on this website know, I am both a self-righteous asshole and a food snob. If the quality was going downhill, I would be quick to pile on and rip this place a new one. I have noticed no decline in either food or service.

Frequent Diner sounds like a spoiled kid who didn’t get his way on Saturday and is mad about it. Dropping “Rich” and “Ann” like he is their best buddy, then ripping on their restaurant…. dropping elitist shit about lawyers and judges- like that makes his opinion of the meat loaf more valid. We are all sorry you had a bad time there on Saturday, but get over it. The whole place hasn’t gone downhill just because you had PMS.

Oh, and one more thing: this blog’s grumpy troll quota is already filled, thank you, and I’m not giving up my spot.

Let me tell you what I have observed since our initial two reviews. Less than stellar service at lunch, especially from the hostess who doesn’t try to acknowledge the customer and was rude when I paid my bill. The food quality has been fine. I have had two people relate the same comments about service to me. One who has a $50 gift certificate and now refuses to use it. (yes I realize that is his loss and SHMC gain). We will review lunch in the near future. We can only do so many $100 dinners.