The Caterer’s Corner Café: W for Weird

My coworkers and I just tried the Caterer’s Café in the former La Petite France spot for lunch, and it was a bizarre experience. First off, the décor has not been changed from the restaurant’s original formal, straitlaced design including the china, cloth napkins and silver. The menu spans sandwiches, soups and a salad bar.

Upon walking in, I saw the “salad bar,” which was a table in the middle of the restaurant with soup and some salad fixings. Everything was in pretty small bowls including one tiny container of greens, so I decided to skip this option and go for the soup/sandwich combo with the soup du jour, tomato, and the dill-tuna salad sandwich on multigrain bread. The meals arrived on fine china: a bit like eating lunch at your grandmother’s house. The food was all fine, I’m not gonna say spectacular. The soup tasted homemade but it came out lukewarm and was extra chunky. The tomato pieces were kind of chewy as if the soup hadn’t simmered long enough. The tuna was light on mayo but also on flavor. The best part of the meal was the dill potato salad with redskin potatoes, fresh dill and a creamy, smooth texture.

When our checks were brought, they weren’t taken for a while. Keep in mind we were the only table in the place and she was pretty much standing off to the side watching us. Maybe she was waiting for a break in the conversation to interrupt? Finally, the server came over and we asked if we were supposed the checks bring up them to her (since she gave us kind of an odd look as she took them). She responded with a confused “yes” but then took them into the back. English wasn’t her first language, so maybe she didn’t understand the question? When the receipts returned, there was no place to write in a tip and she stood right over our shoulders as we signed, so discussion of how/should we tip wasn’t really an option. On the car ride back to work, we decided the spot and experience deserves a “W” for “Weird” rating. I know this place is newly opened, so maybe they'll work some of the kinks out in the future...