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| - Central Diner is the kind of concept that you find frequently in places like New Jersey, but that is sorely missing from the Pittsburgh area. It has a HUGE menu with all kinds of variants on Italian, Greek, and American dishes. The place itself is quite large, and the vibe is terrific. However, things can go wrong with this format and we had a not-so-great experience during a recent visit.
It was a Saturday night and we expected a bit of a wait. The waiting area was pretty crowded and we could see that every table was full, so when we were told 15-20 minute wait, we eagerly accepted. It was just about that long before the table was ready for us and in the meantime we were entertained by people watching and seeing how the diminutive hostess handled the crush of people.
Out table was towards the back of the restaurant and along the way we had to dodge several waitstaff scurrying about with full or empty plates. When we sat down, we noticed that there were not enough sets of flatware. Unfortunately, the hostess ran off as soon as she showed us the table, so we could not ask her to fix this issue. We waited, and a few minutes later, a tiny waitress (not everyone there was small, just these two people who happened to work our party, I swear! Nor, are we that LARGE!!!) showed up with glasses of water. She dropped them off, and before we could say anything, she turned around and was gone.
She came back a few minutes later to take our orders. We asked for the flatware and she told us that was the job of the front desk, in an annoyed tone. What were we supposed to do? Anyway, we repeated our request so she marched off and spoke to someone else. He (normal-sized person!) brought us the necessary utensils but would not take orders or answer questions as he turned out to be one of the busboys.
A few more minutes and out tiny waitress came back. Fake smile on her face she asked what we wanted. We asked if there were any specials? She pointed to a board by the front desk ... and disappeared again!
More minutes pass be and she's back. We gave her our orders ... and poof! ... gone again.
Ten minutes pass by and she's back with a plate of bread and some butter in packets. Drops that off, and runs away. By this time, at least one of the water glasses is completely empty... I won't bore you with the whole story as you see the trend. By the way, I do not blame her. As we watched, she was running from kitchen to tables and back. She was constantly busy. She obviously needed help to take care of as many tables as she had, but everyone on the staff seemed quite as busy so this was probably a management issue, not a waitress problem.
Eventually our food arrived. The verdict on it was mixed. The Salmon and Crab Cake entree was superb; the Shepherd's Pie was pedestrian; the Chicken Souvlaki was bad (the chicken was obviously cooked on a skillet - not a skewer, and the peppers and onions were raw and placed on top of the cooked chicken). The side salads were boring; the dressings were watered down. The whole experience was mixed.
I am not sure if we'll come back. Maybe at a time when they are not so rushed they can spend more time to make the dishes properly?
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