The Club Diner - Bellmawr, NJ

Posted by Anna

June 2, 2008

The Club Diner
20 North Black Horse Pike
Bellmawr, NJ

We have a diner. We don’t own it, but like everyone else in New Jersey, we have a diner. It’s the place you go to when you want a late night snack on your way home from the Phillies game or you go after Mass on Sunday morning for a big diner breakfast. If you walk into the living room right now, where your family is sitting watching television or doing homework and said, “Come on, we’re going to The Diner,” they know exactly which diner you are going to. For us, this would be the Club Diner in Bellmawr.

The Club Diner has been a Bellmawr institution for more than 60 years. Despite a renovation in the past year or so, the diner still looks like the traditional Jersey institution – all shiny chrome and neon looking on the outside, with comfy booths and a nice counter on the inside.

When you go to the diner, you aren’t necessarily going for “good” food. You’re going for a comfort type food, simple foods, and generous portions. You don’t walk into any diner expecting to see Emeril fixing a horseradish aioli or Julia Child preparing a soufflé. For what it is meant to be, the Club Diner certainly meets expectations, but you do occasionally find that it exceeds your wildest dreams in terms of diner food. The meat loaf is always good; the pork loin is always tender; you can always get a better than McDonald’s burger fast; and then there are the occasional really delicious specials.

In the past year, thanks to my husband’s work schedule, we have been at the Club Diner nearly every Thursday night around midnight. He comes in from the Midwest, where he’s been working, and we go grab a late dinner and reconnect after being apart all week. It only took a couple of those late night Thursday nights for us to be recognized by both the hostess and Patty, the late night Thursday night waitress. After about the third week, as soon as we were seated, Patty was there with my husband’s extra large glass of water and my sugar free iced tea, without us ever asking. And it was right around that same time that she asked if we wanted the “usual” or if we wanted to check out the menu. You can’t beat service like that. Once she found out it was always going to be the usual, she would greet us with our drinks, promise my soup in a minute, and just minutes after that, the dinner we shared would be on the table. Just about the time we were getting full, she would be there with a box and a bag for us to wrap the leftovers, and she had already wrapped up the rice pudding that comes with the meal for us to take home. We’ve had other really good experiences with The Club Diner waitresses, but I will admit that there are one or two that look like they were waitresses at the Last Supper who would win no prizes for Miss Congeniality. But in a way, I love seeing them, because they are part of Diner lore. You can’t run a diner without them.

Our “usual” is a bowl of chicken orzo soup and the complete crab cake dinner. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the chicken orzo soup from the Club Diner. Did I mention how much I love it? This is the chicken soup my grandmother would make if she wasn’t Irish and culinary impaired as a result. There’s nothing fancy about it – no weird vegetables or spices you can’t quite place. It’s chicken, orzo pasta, a little onion, a little celery, and chicken broth. It’s the perfect soup.

The crab cake dinner comes complete with your choice of soup or salad (come on, you KNOW we order the chicken orzo soup!), two vegetables, and dessert. I don’t know why, but diner crab cakes are always served on toast, and the Club Diner crab cakes are no different. There is a good amount of filler in the crab cakes, but plenty of real crabmeat as well. They are huge – especially if you compare them to a Bobby Chez crab cake – and have little bits of red pepper in them, along with onion and celery. The breading isn’t too thick, which is nice, and they are broiled and served with drawn butter. We always order the mashed potatoes and peas, staples at the Club diner, and they are as you would expect mashed potatoes and peas to be.

On another recent trip, I ordered the broiled scallops. Expecting some small bay scallops piled up on top of toast, drowning in butter, I was incredibly surprised and really pleased with the several good sized sea scallops – on toast – that were so perfectly seasoned and cooked just right. Another delicious dish we’ve had is the rare special of teriyaki salmon. The glazed salmon is served on a bed of onions, peppers, and strips of zucchini and summer squash – it was delicious!

The kids’ meals are as generously portioned as the adult meals, and the sandwiches are all stuffed pretty full with meats and cheeses. They make really good French fries here, too – crispy, not mushy.

We spend the same approximately $22 every Thursday night when we eat here. Well worth it for the large portions, the friendly service, and the delicious comfort food.

Pros: The standard diner fare is always good – great breakfasts, good meatloaf, flavorful pork chops.

Cons: The occasional cranky waitress; can be REALLY crowded on Sunday mornings.

Anna’s Score: 3.0 Chews