Americana Diner

Read reviews about great food but was truly disappointed. Some later reviews said the food had gone downhill but I have been trying to find a dinner near me that serves tasty food, so decided to risk it. Never going back. Had the special, cheese ravioli with red sauce and mozzarella. Soup or salad came with the meal. I had chicken rice. It was brought to my table lukewarm. The soup stock looked almost curried, it was such an odd yellow-green color, and was basically tasteless. There was no texture to the rice - it was limp and mushy - and the chicken had no flavor of chicken. This soup had seen better days. No thought or flavor had been put into it. The menu says the pasta is hand made. I don't think so. Real hand made pasta is thin. These ravioli were round and quite thick. Ricotta cheese filling was bland and tasteless and the ravioli pasta thick and chewy, not delicate like hand made pasta. This dish was brought to my table lukewarm, as well. Red sauce on top was very thin and watery, had hardly any taste at all - no trace of tomato taste whatsoever. Same mozzarella as everywhere - big blobs of thick, stringy, melted cheese with no taste. Why can't we get mozzarella in the U.S. like I've had in Italy? Delicate, light, fresh taste of milk, delightful. Nothing thick or stringy or tasteless about it! Finally, ordered rice pudding because dessert came with the meal. I asked for whipped cream and got it, although there was not enough for each bite. Too bad, because that was the best thing about this dessert. The rice pudding itself had a rubbery crust in places. It was thick and chewy, without much flavor, not at all creamy with a nice vanilla note like you can still find in some diners. Seemed old or overchilled or both. All the dishes I ordeted lacked flavor. The two hot dishes were brought out lukewarm. The rice pudding seemed old and tired. I was disappointed in the food but not surprised. Seems diners these days have found a way to suck out all the flavor in the food they serve, and the Americana Diner is embracing that trend. The waitress was nice, though not particularly attentive. She sat across from my booth at the counter with her back to me and hardly turned around to check on my table, though she did refill my diet soda. Don't bother trying this place if you haven't. It's not worth the trip.