Golden West Cafe

I've hitched up at Golden West at least a dozen times and the results have ranged from great to utterly retarded. It would be very easy to pick on the staff too, but it's Hampden... what can you expect? Instead, I'll just write up a short list of the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good:
- half-price burger Mondays
- chili-cheese fries made with real chili (not that Hormel canned bullshit)
- one time they had a schnitzel special, it was splendid
- the men's bathroom walls are plastered with old LP covers that have been copiously vandalized with penis references; they always make me giggle when I'm peeing
- decent menu selection
- in recent years their notorious wait time has gotten much, much better

The Bad:
- half-price burger Mondays tends to yield sub-par results, YMMV
- the kitschy decor is kinda lame; it kinda makes you feel like the owner just didn't feel like repairing the "aged walls" and then he dumped a bunch of yard sale leftovers all over the place for decoration
- biscuits and gravy needs to be SAUSAGE gravy instead of mushroom gravy
- hot water and a tea bag sets you back $2.35, where as an iced tea is only $2.00... wtf?
- it seems that the bartenders usually never talk to you until you've been standing/sitting there for at least 2 minutes

The Ugly:
- the other day I had a multiple-mistake breakfast order: ordered eggs, sausage, biscuit and home fries but the cook decided to put mushroom gravy on everything for some reason... got the re-make order, but the eggs weren't cooked, and when I told the waitress again she didn't even respond and just took the plate back... in the kitchen they literally scrapped the eggs off my plate back onto the grill and then re-plated them, ridiculous... waitress seemed fed up with ME when she finally brought it back, and didn't even think to offer any type of discount or anything
- one morning I had the pleasant addition of a shard of porcelain in my hash browns


As always, those are just my personal experiences and I'm not boycotting the restaurant or anything. I do however suggest that you don't go during a busy window of time, like weekend brunch. It seems that most of their fuck-ups occur when they're at full capacity. Also, I've always had much better luck/service at the bar than at a table.

Golden West Café
1105 W 36th St
Baltimore, MD 21211
410-889-8891

www.goldenwestcafe.com