Brunch Review: Silver Diner

When I was planning car shopping, I also needed to plan brunch beforehand. You know the saying, "Never go car shopping without brunching beforehand."

Okay, fine -- that's not a saying. But anyway, I brought my friend and her husband to help me and left it in his capable hands to recommend where we go since we wanted it to be close to the Mazda dealership, which is outside my normal brunching radius.

We landed on Silver Diner, which apparently is a chain of old-school American-themed diners. When I think of classic diners, I think of Athena where my sandwich was like $6. This diner is not like that. The two meals I was picking between (huevos rancheros or salmon sliders) were upwards of $12. So it's basically a restaurant themed to appear as old American diner, but they want you to pay premium pricing.

Anyway, I went with the bison huevos rancheros, which had ground bison, goat cheese, poached eggs and avocado. The dish was plated with three huge tortilla chips too.

Ground Bison Huevos Rancheros

While the price tag on this meal astounded me, the food was really good, but then again for $14, it has to be really good. I liked how they took one of my favorite brunch meals and made it original. The goat cheese was a really strong compliment to the bold flavors of the sauce. I wasn't impressed with the chips, though. It was a cross between bread and chip, and didn't really add any value to the meal other than looking nice.

Around the table, Mark got the eggs Benedict, Emily got an omelet with an English muffin on the side, and Liz got the tomato mozzarella sandwich sans tomatoes and an Oreo milkshake, which I essentially consumed on her behalf. I really enjoy when dessert gets worked into brunch, especially while I'm pseudo-dieting and semi-skipping the sweets.

Overall, Silver Diner is conveniently located in Innsbrook if you're trying to go car shopping on West Broad Street and serves good food. Would I sing the praise of Silver Diner like I do for Belle & James or On the Rox?

No. It's a wannabe diner with the price tag of an upscale restaurant. But it gets the job done and won't make your stomach turn. It just may kick you in your wallet a bit if you're expecting diner pricing when you walk into Silver Diner.