This morning, the crew made the drive to Hometown to have breakfast at the Beacon Diner, which is located off Claremont Avenue. Today’s crew consisted of Bryan, Matt, Mike and Kevin. The Mighty Tonto had to bow out because of work…he’s no fun.
We arrived at the Beacon around 9 a.m. and it was hoppin’. We noticed that they had “International Coffee” specials, which included Irish or Mexican coffee. Nobody in our group was man enough to try any, though.
They have a neat create-your-own omelette option on the menu where you can pick your meat, type of cheese and veggies. Bryan decided to order a sausage and cheese omelette with spinach. He chose hash browns instead of homefries as his side. Kevin also tried an omelette, with his consisting of mushrooms, cheese, and spinach. I think we all know what Matt ordered. He went with the two-eggs meal (scrambled), with sausage and homefries. Mike opted for the Eggs Benedict with homefries. They do serve Bloody Marys at the Beacon! Bryan was the only one to try it this morning.
Establishment: 5/5 – It’s a nice restaurant that has two dining rooms – one section with booths, and one with tables. The interior was decorated with lighthouses and had a boat theme to it. They also had portraits of people (whom I assume are the founders) hanging in the dining room. This freaked Matt out a little bit as he doesn’t like people staring at him while he eats.
Service: 5/5 – Service was spot on. Our waitress gave us the coffee carafe to keep at our table so we can pour our own refills. We waited 15-minutes from the time we ordered until we received our food.
Appearance: 4/5 – Everything was presented well. Our coffee mugs looked very similar to our Breakfast in the Skook logo – saucer and all!
Taste: 3/5 – Matt rated the sausage a 4 out of 5, however, he thought his scrambled eggs were a little skimpy. They were cooked really thin, almost like an omelette. Speaking of omelettes, Bryan and Kevin really enjoyed theirs. Bryan liked the fact that they loaded his up with cheese. Mike liked the Eggs Benedict, but thought it could’ve been warmer. The homefries were freshly cut potatoes, while the hash browns were of the frozen variety.
Bloody Mary: 1/5 – Bryan didn’t really enjoy his Bloody Mary and couldn’t even finish it. It tasted like straight up Worcestershire sauce with some Sherry mixed in. It had a nice spice to it, but the taste was not great.
Price: 4/5 – Not overly pricey. Our bill totaled $41 for the four of us.
Overall, we enjoyed our experience today at the Beacon Diner. It didn’t quite stand out as the best in the county, but it did provide us with some good food. If you’re in the Tamaqua or Hometown area and want to go out for a nice breakfast, we recommend heading to the Beacon Diner. Oh, and if you do decide to go, please try some of their international coffees and let us know how they are!
Have a breakfast spot for us to visit? Email us your comments or suggestions at schuylkillbreakfast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter: @SkookBreakfast.
Breakfast in the Skook 