Buddy's - Pocatello, Idaho (my review)

We had dinner here tonight.

 

I'd seen a photo of this sign in another Flickr Members photostream (Phydeaux460) and was intrigued by the place. So much so that I decided next time I had a few free days off work I was going to head up that way and check it out. We didn't go just for this reason but it was part of a 4 day road trip I was able to put together. It was however one of our "must do" stops and we'd hoped we'd make it there around dinner time (we did).

 

Anyway, when we got there, there was a bit of a line. No problem, that can only mean the food is worth waiting for. We were told it would be a 20-25 minute wait. No problem. I wasn't thrilled though that they guy at the counter would not take my name, he just said "don't worry, I'll find you". After a few minutes, I decided to wait near the register so he'd have to stare and me and remember I needed to be seated. He eventually said "so you have four right"? Uh, no, just three. "Oh, Okay, you can sit there" (which tells me he'd have probably forgotten about me had I not been right there where he had to look at me).

 

We then sat down. The place was somewhat what I expected, older looking, a bit of a dive, but in a good way. The plastic chairs were not much to sit in, but what can you expect for an old place, right?

 

The waitress came right over and gave us menus and took our drink order. I was rather surprised looking at the menu when I saw the prices. For a dive, the prices were far more than I'd expect (Ravioli dinner was just under $20). When the waitress brought back my drink, a diet Coke, it was a glass of ice and a can (I assume that means no refill - and there wasn't).

 

Though the prices were a bit more than we expected, we decided to suck it up and go for it since we were there. The dinners include bread, salad and desert, so why not.

 

I'd read on the internet that they had a special salad and it was supposed to be quite good. It was brought in a bowl, over filled with two more bowls turned upside down on top (serve yourself style). Interesting for sure, I was fine by that. It was pretty decent, just greens mixed in Buddy's own creamy Italian dressing. A little less dressing would have been better, but it was decent. We also had our choice of bread, garlic or cheesy garlic. We got one of each and they were both great.

 

I decided I had to try the ravioli since that's what the sign says. I figured it must be the specialty. The menu and the waitress both told me it would be a 20-25 min wait as they were prepared for each order. No problem there. And it took just about that long to arrive. It didn't seem too bad though having salad and bread to eat in the mean time.

 

My wife had the spaghetti and I the ravioli with meatballs. The meatballs were really good, the ravioli, not so much. It's not that it was bad, it was just nothing to write home about. The ravioli shells were a bit thick for my liking and they had way too much sauce on them (my wife said the same about her spaghetti).

 

When we finished, the waitress came over and asked if we'd like desert. My wife asked, "the dinners come with desert, right?" The waitress said "no". So we passed on dessert. However, both me and my wife would have sworn the menu said it did. We really didn't care as neither of us really wanted anything, but our daughter was looking forward to eating ours. We're not really the type to argue, so we didn't. However, when we got back to our room, I looked at their menu on the Internet and it clearly states that the dinners include bread, salad, coffee and desert.

 

Overall, the experience was just so-so and we got screwed out of desert. Again, I didn't care, but at $20 a plate, I sort of cared. I didn't walk out thinking it was terrible, but if I was in the area again, I'd surly not go back. I'm sure for $40 I can find a far better meal elsewhere.

Done