4 West Diner

A little bit expensive but incredible food. Especially the pancakes!

This place sucks. The food is gross, I couldn't even eat most of it. It's crazy loud, and the waitress didn't check on us once while we were eating. We had to flag someone down to get us refills. You'll never see me here again.

I'm seriously into food.My parents own a restaurant,festival and catering business and I cook myself.I say this to qualify my remarks and to express that I'm no amateur to food service.My dining partner recommended this establishment after having several excellent breakfast take-out experiences as an employee of the Staples corporate office nearby.I will take her word that the breakfast is phenomenal. My lunch experience was not.

While the diner itself was pleasant(atmosphere, staff, easy location and parking),the entrees I ordered were neither tasty nor well presented.I originally ordered and received the Brisket of Beef Sandwich.I chose to have it on Ciabatta as its a pretty hearty bread and its smooth olive oil flavor would have been nice against the bold flavor of the meat.It arrived at the table a wet mess.For starters,the flavor was okay but the au jus was incredibly thin.I am uncertain what inspired the plating but it needs to be reworked.The meat was placed on un-toasted bread and that exacerbated the problem of the watery au jus.The bread was soaked-top and bottom buns.Not a nice,"gravy sopping" soaked but a spongy-piece of bread in the kitchen sink soaked.My fries and onion rings were served on the same plate so the bottom layer of those were soaked,too.That was disappointing because the onion rings were actually quite fabulous- freshly cut vidalia onions (it tasted) with a nice golden panko batter and fried to perfect crispness-sooo good.Alas,half of these beauties were ruined by the brisket's thin au jus which was carelessly (and very generously) added to the plate.So,that was a bust and I sent the sandwich back.

I then requested the steak fajita wrap.I received it quickly- again,no complaints on service.The wrap was pretty on the plate-neatly sliced,halves stacked and the golden toasting of the outside exposed.My dining partner ordered the same dish and her's wasn't nearly as appealing when served.I could see that my meat was cooked to my preference, my friend's-not so much.At this point,I'm thinking that sending the brisket back woke the chef up a bit. I cut into the wrap,soggy vegetables. Fantastic! :-| The onions and peppers were cooked the way you would cook them for a Philly cheese steak-to death.The fresh,flavorful and colorful combination you expect from a fajita was instead greasy,translucent and bland.In fact,there was nothing fajita about that wrap except the use of skirt steak.

I picked through half my wrap,ate the dry portion of my onion rings,requested the check and to speak to a manager.The manager,although polite,was obviously not used to hearing criticism of the food.He suggested that it was the type of sandwiches I ordered.I pushed back, insisting that there is never a reason to serve wet bread or greasy wraps.He seemed to agree and offered me a slice of cake.I'm not particularly fond of cake(I prefer the consistency of cookies and brownies).I told him this,he shrugged his shoulders,did something funny with his eyebrows and said"Okay, next time."

There will not be a next time.

Notes:
Your menu has too many items.Unless you have five chefs in the kitchen with different specialties,your menu is sure to be problematic for any single chef on a shift to expertly prepare every dish.Seriously,you had General Tso's Chicken on the same menu that advertised a Fajita Wrap.Pick a few staples and stick to them.How are you even maintaining that much perishable inventory? I don't want think too hard on it but gees,the restaurant was nearly empty on a Saturday and its 10 minutes from two high-traffic malls.

As I stated in my review,the flavor of the brisket is good and if you are committed to keeping the au jus as is and not converting it to a thicker brisket gravy,I suggest only serving it in the little bowl that came with my sandwich.On the sandwich itself,add drained brisket.This way,the au jus can be used as a dipping sauce for the sandwich and the bread,fries and rings wont be ruined.

Fix the fajita wrap or call it a cheese steak wrap.

Good food and kid friendly. What you expect from a diner, but service from waiter wasn't as fast as you'd expect.

If you can avoid it please save yourself the trip and go somewhere else. Food was not worth the price. I've had better from cheaper places. Out of everything I think the service was the worst part. Careless and unprofessional. Would never come back.