My family has a weekend tradition – this year, after heading to the farmers markets on Saturday mornings, we’ve been stopping at area restaurants for breakfast, or if it’s been late enough when we got there, brunch or lunch. Grill and Skillet has come recommended to me by a couple of different people, so we decided to give it a try this past weekend.
It’s fairly easy to pass by if you’re not looking. It’s on fairly nondescript stretch of East Main Street, just east of Bexley and on the same block as The Top Steakhouse. Once inside, the decor is a bit dated, composed of slightly ratty booths and a counter. The place definitely shows its age, but sometimes the best food comes from the biggest dives. It’s also the first time I’ve been made as a food blogger/reviewer – our waitress was someone who knew me from our dining out meetup group, so in the interest of full disclosure, that may have affected my experience. Your mileage may vary.
Their menu is your basic diner fare – lots of sandwiches and hot plates, burgers, breakfast items, along with a couple of specials. The coffee drinkers at the table rated the coffee highly. I, because I’ve been on a milkshake kick lately, decided to have a strawberry shake with my breakfast, which is made with Johnson’s ice cream and definitely has that real milkshake flavor. The strawberry flavor wasn’t artificial in the least, and I was thankful that the serving size wasn’t outrageously big. The thickness was ideal, too – not so thin that it was basically strawberry milk, but not so thick that I couldn’t suck it through the straw.
I opted for the Country Fried Steak breakfast ($7.25) with a side of bacon ($1.90), which came on no less than 4 separate plates. The chicken fried steak seemed to be battered rather than dredged through flour and fried, and was a bit odd to my palate – kind of reminded me of something that I’d get in a frozen TV dinner because it lacked the texture I normally expect in that dish. My husband, who ate the rest of mine, thought it was just fine, so it just may be a personal preference thing. The sausage gravy on top was good, though.
On the other hand, the eggs and hash browns that came with the dish were fan-friggin-tastic. Eggs that were done perfectly (I ordered them over easy and they came out exactly that way), hash browns that were perfectly browned, just the way I like it, and the bacon I ordered was also cooked exactly the way I like it, nice and crispy. My other dining companion who ordered a variation on the same dish agreed that his came out perfectly as well. Their short order cook definitely knows his way around a grill top.
And as minor a detail as this is, the toast was the best I’ve had in a while. Dipped into my egg yolk, it was one of the most satisfying things I’ve eaten for breakfast in weeks.
My husband chose the Mexican Omelette ($6.75), a three egg monster that is stuffed with onions, jalapenos, cheese, sausage, and then covered with salsa. Although it was a bit more browned than I prefer my eggs, it was done exactly to my husband’s liking. It, too, comes with hash browns and toast.
My husband also opted for a side of corned beef hash, which was a little more processed than I like, but the crispiness made up for any sins of a food service grade nature.
It will take a few more visits to find our ideal order here, but lucky for us, it’s affordable enough for us to do that. There’s not a great amount of variety on the menu, but it’s a credible diner and one of the areas in which they excel is providing you with your food in just the way you want it. We’re eager to return.
If you’d like to go: Grill and Skillet, 2924 E. Main Street, Columbus, OH 43209, 614-231-1702
More reviews by swampkitty can be found online at ColumbusFoodie.com.
