Causeway Diner — Restaurant in Florida

Causeway Diner- North Merritt Island-3-Stars

Located in a corner space in the eclectic Commerce Shopping Center, just south of Mitchell Ellington Park in Merritt Island is where you will find this competent little diner. The faded sign above the door gave me the impression that the inside might be run down and that they were slinging inedible slop. After being greeted cheerfully enough, I was shown an empty table and handed a menu.

Perusing the menu I had to agree with their claim that they have a very diverse menu offering up foodstuffs from American, Greek and Italian roots it certainly got my taste buds to take notice. Before too long a server approached and asked if I was ready to order. I asked for the Special of the Day, the "homemade" meatloaf with a side of mashed potatoes and before I requested a second side, I asked the server if the green beans were fresh or out of a Sysco can. It was at this point that I heard a lady holler from the back, "They are out of a can, Big Boy." Turning, I saw the owner looking at me with a slight smile as she said, "Yeah, I know who you are. I'm the lady who told you intents and purposes was wrong [in a review]." So, she was quick enough to spot an eggcorn as a result of auto correct, let's see how and if that translates to running a diner.

Within an acceptable amount of time, my competent server returned with my order. Everyone knows that a refined palate is an essential tool for a food critic; however, what is often overlooked is the food critics olfactory sense. As the two go hand in hand, I find it is just as good of a judge of what is to come as my taste buds are to what came. As such, the smells wafting up from my plate had that unmistakable industrialized scent. If the meatloaf was indeed homemade, they need a new recipe. I found it to be cooked thoroughly enough, but below average in quality and taste. If the green beans are coming out of a Sysco can...The gravy was, for lack of a better word, interesting. I mean, for all intents and purposes, it was gravy, but the consistency was more akin to water and it tasted bland and instant on the palate. The mashed potatoes were obviously instant as they had that unmistakable "fresh from the box" taste. The green beans were as expected. They were limp and tasted as if they come out of a can. Oh, that's right. They did. Unexpectedly, I received a piece of cake that was, so I was informed, baked fresh every morning by the owner. I found the cake to be fresh, springy and delicious, while the frosting was a tad sweet for my liking. Maybe the cake was baked fresh on site, but the frosting came out of a can? I can't answer that, just that it was too sweet.

Look, this place is never going to win any culinary awards, but it is familiar low-quality Sysco burn and turn. The owner is a hoot and can certainly bake a cake. Her staff are competent, pleasant and exhibit a strong work ethic. The Big Boy says, "For comforting slop house grub, an engaging owner who knows a thing or two about grammar and fun staff, this is the place for you." P.S. The secret to a meatloaf second to none? It must be a mix of 3 types of meat and these would be: ground veal, ground beef and ground pork, so sayeth James Beard #iamthebigboy...

Hey diner lovers, Whale you’ll Llove this one or not-figured we try out this “DINER”, so we came in for a quick and easy lunch. We only ordered three burgers w/ French fries. Our was marginal and it seemed like a souped up high school cafeteria at best. However, when the bill came out to be over fifty dollars, we had to pinch ourselves to remember we were still on lil ole Merritt Island AND not on Miami’s’ South beach! Again; not only was the food average but the service sucked….we listened to our server bad mouth almost every one of her co-workers that wasn’t even there(either for being late or not even showing up at all; OVER&OVER&YES; OVER AGAIN)only realizing; who in their right mind would want to work beside that all damn day? Anyway, quickly knowing we must try escape fast without getting stuck with an even higher bill or getting stuck on their bench seating; which half of there benches have holes big enough I to lose a small child….most of them have duct taped holding them together and many look like they’ve been sewn many a time. We think there may be some loose change or maybe an old comb inside our bench….Let me know what you find and definitely ENJOY Karen. In conclusion, a little food for thought, lower your prices, clean up the dining area and fix the damn seating….maybe hire new help!

…we all kinda laughed out loud leaving because if your gonna charge that much for cheeseburgers(NOT even a bubba burger at that)at least you should NOT have holes in your benches? Just sayin

Good luck and...

We eat here a lot. Tonight we had our food and someone asked if we had dogs in the car and we said yes. We bring them all the time if it’s a nice evening. The owner came over and told us to move the car in the back or start the car. And then she said you can’t park your car in front of the restaurant with the dogs. She’s been extremely rude to us in the past but we figure it’s been a long day. We’ve even complemented how good it was to her and she said huh and he repeated and she was so rude to him snapping back at him. Today she was just plain nasty. I told the waitress I would wait out in the cars with my dogs. And my husband came around so we just left. We had just gotten our food. We never leave without paying our bills and always tip good. I feel very bad for the wait staff who work there. Unfortunately we won’t be back. And they have good food. We only had a few bites. I don’t care if she’s a big advocate for animals. So am I. Our little dogs are treated like royalty. They love going for a ride in the car. When my husband got in the car it was very cool inside. We would never put them in harms way. She needs to let her staff run the restaurant and stay home. It was full tonight and everyone heard how we were treated and were shocked how nasty she was.

It was only 80 degrees outside. We take them with us on cool evenings. And we check on them regularly. It’s obvious you know nothing about running a restaurant or owning a pet. I’m shocked...