“Oldest Bar in Mahanoy City”
Bryan, Matt, Mike and Tonto took the trip to Mahanoy City this morning to check out the oldest bar in town: The West End Cafe. One of our readers mentioned that they serve breakfast so we thought, “why not?”
The four of us arrived at the restaurant around 8:05 a.m., which is five minutes after they opened. We sat in the back room, which also serves as their gift shop. Yes, they do sell gifts here that include birthday cards, wreaths, and other fall/autumn decorations.
As far as the breakfast menu is concerned, it is very small. We’re talking the smallest breakfast menu we’ve come across on our tour of Schuylkill county. The menu consisted of five main breakfast meals along with donuts and danishes. Bryan ordered the French Toast and bacon meal, Tonto got the egg & cheese omelette with bacon, and both Matt and Mike went with the two-eggs with bacon and homefries meal (Matt substituted sausage for bacon, naturally).
Establishment: 2/5 – This is more of a bar than a restaurant. There are two seating rooms, one with the bar and one with three tables. The exterior had a couple of hand-written signs hanging on it. The interior was dimly lit and seemed pretty old. The gift shop area where we sat wasn’t too bad. The tables in the back (including the one we sat at) had table cloths on them. Parking is on the street.
Service: 3/5 – Our waiter was a very nice gentleman who frequently checked up on us and asked if we needed anything. We found it odd that we weren’t asked what style of eggs we wanted; I guess it was just going to be a surprise. The wait for the food was pretty long: 44-minutes. Bryan had to wait 37-minutes just to receive his danish. Was the food worth the wait? You’ll have to read on to find out…
Appearance: 3/5 – Matt’s and Mike’s meals didn’t look too bad – they ended up receiving their eggs over-easy. Bryan’s French Toast looked normal. Tonto’s omelette on the other hand looked like a flat overcooked scrambled egg…pretty plain. The strips of bacon were long and looked pretty good to the eye. We received our coffee in styrofoam cups, similar to Mazloom’s.
Taste: 2.5/5 – Bryan thought his French Toast was okay; it had lots of egg left on it from cooking. The bacon he received was cold and had a weird taste to it. Matt also thought his sausage tasted funny. The rest of the food was a tad below average. The coffee wasn’t the best, either. On the plus side, Bryan really enjoyed his Danish, which ended up being filled with cherries.
Price: 5/5 – The price wasn’t bad at all. Our bill totaled just under $31 for the four of us.
To sum it up, the food just wasn’t worth the wait. The West End Cafe isn’t really a breakfast establishment, we get that. But still, it was recommended to us so we felt the need to check it out. Ya never know when one of these unheard of establishments may surprise you. If you ever wake up in Mahanoy after a night out somewhere and don’t have your car to drive anywhere else, the West End Cafe wouldn’t be a terrible spot to have some breakfast. Oh, and if you are looking for an electric scooter, they are selling one for only $300!
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 