Fedele's Deli

75 Lake Avenue, Hilton
Visited July 15 & 18, 2011
Written by Tyler




If a sub shop isn’t going to bake its own bread, the least it can do is bring in and serve the best bread in the area, which is exactly the case at the new Fedele’s Deli in Hilton.

Several restaurants have come and gone through our hometown, so we were interested to see how Fedele’s – which opened in June in the former Forest Hill Catering location – stacked up.

Drew and I gave it a shot one day during work. I ordered a grilled chickend sandwich, as usual, and he ordered a Buffalo chicken sub.

My chicken itself was nothing extraordinary, but being served on a Martusciello’s roll makes any sandwich delicious. The sandwich went from being ‘average’ to ‘good’ solely because of the bread.

Drew’s sandwich was much the same. It was simply chicken tenders, some wing sauce and some ranch dressing. It was nothing you can’t get at any sub place (though still tasty), but the addition of a Martusciello’s roll made all the difference.

Joe was so excited when I told him there was a place in Hilton serving Martusciello’s bread that he went to Fedele’s for dinner that night himself. He ordered an Italian assorted sub, which he was pleased – though not blown away – by.

I got Fedele’s again with my family a few nights later. I ordered the same thing, but got it topped with wing sauce. I couldn’t wait to have what was sort of a hybrid of what Drew and I each got the first time.

But you can imagine my disappointment when I opened the box and saw my sandwich came on a generic sandwich roll, rather than a Martusciello’s roll, making for an incredibly generic overall sandwich.

Fortunately for the others, their subs came on Martusciello’s bread. My mom and sister split a ham and cheese sub, and my dad had a steak sub with mushrooms and mozzarella.

My dad seemed to enjoy his. The chunks of steak were very thick compared to comparable subs from other places, and the sub was loaded with mushrooms.

Fedele’s puts more meat on its subs than Subway, but not nearly as much as DiBella’s. My mom agreed with me after eating hers.

If you’re a bread lover, like me, you will like Fedele’s. The contents of the subs are no better or worse than similar places, but the use of Martusciello’s bread – widely regarded as the best in Greater Rochester – puts Fedele’s subs a cut above the rest in Hilton.

A restaurant can’t have too high of a grade if that’s the main thing that stands out, but I see potential in Fedele’s. The owners seem very enthusiastic and frequently update their Facebook page.

The menu is relatively limited – cold subs, hot subs, a few fryer items, a few salads and a few items off the grill – but there are daily specials, which appear to change on a week-to-week basis. In other words, it looks look a lot of experimentation with different menu items is going on, and maybe some of them will catch on full time if popular enough.

Oh, and Friday is dessert day. According to Fedele’s Facebook page, the Oreo cheesecake sold out yesterday.

Again, I see some potential here. Fedele’s might be on to something. God knows we could use a little variety in our food out in Hilton.

Ratings

Service/Atmosphere: I haven’t actually been inside yet, but it seemed like the food was ready soon enough.

Food: Not much different than a typical sub shop – until you get to the bread. We’ll definitely have to try out some of the daily specials soon, because those just might be what gives Fedele’s a little variety, relative to other places in Hilton.

Value: Prices are right about where they should be, and match the portion size well.

Overall: Needs to have more than amazing bread brought in from somewhere else to make it great on a larger scale, but this place is brand new and has a lot of potential. I’ll be back soon.

Grade: B-

BBQ Fred

610 North Greece Road, North Greece
Visited Feb. 25, 2011
Written by Tyler



Barbecue is my favorite cuisine. There aren’t a ton of barbecue-specific places on the west side, as noted in previous posts, so having one open near my home in Hilton is intriguing, to say the least.

BBQ Fred opened last summer in a former sub shop near the corner of North Greece and Latta roads in North Greece (though it has a Hilton mailing address), becoming an instant must-visit.

Drew and I took the three-mile trek to BBQ Fred late last summer, eager to get involved in some barbecue and see if it would become a part of our regular dining rotation. For me, I was practically licking my lips awaiting some chicken.

Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed they when the cashier told me they were somehow out of chicken. How on Earth does a barbecue place run out of chicken, on a Friday evening nonetheless?

Anyway, Drew and I agreed to split one of the more interesting menu options, a pulled pork French-bread pizza.
Its novelty made it stand out somewhat, but there wasn’t as much flavor as we would have liked – which was probably due to the relative lack of both pork and sauce – and there was too much cheese (mozzarella and cheddar, but a lot mozzarella). It was decent, but nothing that will put BBQ Fred on the map.

I made sure to get a corn muffin – one of my top-five favorite foods – but was skeptical about the one I received when it arrived cold and with a dollop of butter plopped on top. Truth be told, it was actually quite tasty and nicely put-together, in that it didn’t crumble all over the place.
I also got Cowboy beans, which were the highlight of the meal. They weren’t generic, straight-out-of-the-can beans places most quick-service restaurants have, and weren’t drowned out by an overly sweet sauce. They had a nice smoky sauce with just enough sweetness, along with pieces of bacon and ground beef for flavor, and were probably the best I’ve had in the area.

To be fair to BBQ Fred, I had to wait to grade it until a return visit, which didn’t come until six months later when my family and I ordered takeout.

The menu had undergone some additions since my first visit, and the pulled pork French-bread pizza appears to have undergone some proportional changes. No one got the pizza during the second foray, but I have included a picture of the concoction courtesy of BBQ Fred’s Facebook page.

Anyway, my dad got a sampler platter of pulled pork, chicken legs and baby-back ribs. He enjoyed the pulled pork and ribs, but said the chicken wasn’t great because there wasn’t much to it and it tasted like it had been reheated after sitting out awhile.

My mom opted for the Loaded Chicken Nachos, including a ton of basic yellow-corn tortilla chips, a mound of diced grilled chicken, onions, black olives and peppers, with salsa, sour cream and nacho cheese on the side.

Apparently my mom misinterpreted her order, as she was expecting pulled pork nachos for some reason, along with shredded cheddar (rather than nacho cheese), leaving her disappointed.

We agreed the concept of the nachos was good, and the portion size was exceptional, but she thought it was simply a combination of generic items – albeit a unique one.

Then there’s my Fred Plate, including the long-awaited grilled chicken. These are BBQ Fred’s version of garbage plates, but my specific combination choice didn’t resemble one, which is fine.
I got two grilled chicken breasts, a long slice of garlic bread, half of a large corn muffin and a large bowl of Cowboy beans. I was licking my lips over a dream of a meal.


Truth be told, the chicken was very disappointing. It looked dry, and it was just that. It had no visible marinade, wasn’t tender and had average taste. I doused some of Fred’s barbecue sauce on the chicken, which somewhat of a saving grace, as it provided a nice smoky punch with a perfect hint of sweetness.

But the Fred Plate was uphill from there, as the corn muffin and garlic bread were slightly above average, and the Cowboy beans were, once again, excellent. The muffin was much different from the one I had last time, which appears to be a trend among many BBQ Fred menu items.

Aside from the aforementioned items, choices include burgers and hots, salads, wraps, subs (including a pizza sub section of the menu), sandwiches and a host of other chicken dishes.

Overall, BBQ Fred is a serviceable choice for food in the Hilton/North Greece vicinity, an area where barbecue is not very prevalent. It has fairly generic barbecue, but its novel concepts make for a compelling menu.

Ratings

Service/Atmosphere: It’s not much of a sit-down place, but there are a few tables. The food is ready at a reasonable rate.

Food: A lot of choices, many of which are very unique. Some of the popular meats – pork and ribs, particularly – are pretty good, but the chicken is below average. Good sides, especially the Cowboy beans.

Value: Large portions, reasonable price.

Overall: A lot of the food is generic, but BBQ Fred fills a niche this area doesn’t really have. It’s worth returning to based on its novelty and food concepts alone.

Grade: B-

Hilton Fireman's Carnival

137 South Avenue, Hilton
July 28-31, 2010
Written by Tyler and Drew

(Image courtesy of hiltonfd.org)

Every time the last weekend of July rolls around, numerous tractor trailers come rolling into the village of Hilton. For four crazy nights, the Hilton Firemen’s Carnival takes center stage and puts a little livelihood in to an otherwise-quiet village.

Drew lives within a mile of the fairgrounds, and for those few nights, it is very difficult to do anything due to the screaming kids, uncharacteristically busy streets, and loud music blasting from the carnival. Some of the behavior of many carnival goers, particularly teenagers, is less than exemplary, but you can’t beat some of the food available at the carnival.

Thursday after work, the two of us walked down to grab a bite just as the carnival was opening around 6 p.m. We ordered all of our food, then went back to Drew’s house to enjoy our meal.

We both decided to try the beef on wick sandwich. The one thing that stood out about the sandwich was the roll – or wick, in this case – which was pleasantly salty and dipped in some sort of au jus. Other than the roll though, the sandwich was just like any other typical festival sandwich. The beef was a bit dry and generic, but there was plenty of it and the roll definitely helped out. All in all, it was worth the $5 it cost.

After ordering his sandwich from one of the many Hilton Fire Department (HFD) concession stands, Drew walked over to the Walker Fire Department’s clam stand and ordered a side of salt potatoes. For $1.50, he received five larger-than-golf-ball-sized salt potatoes. The potatoes were perfectly cooked through and were pretty decent considering how cheap they were. They were also served with a small cup of what looked like melted butter, but it looked strange and he ended up just throwing it out.

Tyler always has to order at least one bag of popcorn every year.

“It is the best popcorn,” he said. “(It) wasn't obnoxiously buttery like movie popcorn. It melts in your mouth… (it’s) just perfect”.

For $1.50 ($2 for a large) he got an overflowing sandwich bag of fresh-from-the-popper Pickett’s Popcorn, a Hilton carnival staple. It was not overly buttery, salty, or oily, Tyler explained, but a perfect balance of all the components that make up good popcorn. He even went by himself to the carnival Wednesday to get a bag of popcorn as his main course for dinner that night.

We also tried some sugar waffles from the HFD. Drew was first introduced to these very tasty treats at last year’s carnival and said he could only wish he knew about these saucer-sized waffles, dipped into and fully covered with powder sugar, a long time ago. There is no easy or clean way to eat these things.

“Personally, I just pick at it and couldn’t care less about how much powder ends up in my shirt, mainly because the taste is that good,” Drew said.

These waffles cost 75 cents each and usually two or three of them is more than enough for a while. They are fried up and then stuck in to a heat box, so in a single order can provide a wide variation of doneness of waffles. In our first order of four, there were two perfectly golden ones, one undercooked and one overcooked waffle. Undercooked ones are rather chewy and hard to eat, overcooked ones are fine, just a little more crisp, and the perfectly done ones are outstanding and melt in your mouth. The powdered-sugar coating doesn’t come in obnoxious amounts either; rather it sticks to the waffles and created a pleasant glaze of sorts.

On his return visits Friday and Saturday, Drew tried a slice of pizza. The HFD’s pizza is made fresh in its own oven, but the pizza definitely doesn’t stand out over any of the pizzerias in town. The crust is very crunchy and everything else is very mediocre. For $2 a slice, or $11 for a whole pizza, you will definitely get a meal that will fill you up, but the pizza is average.

Tyler was fortunate enough to sample some HFD fried dough. He had to settle for lukewarm dough, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, which had been sitting in the microwave overnight. He said it still tasted good – soft and sweet, yet not too greasy – much to his surprise. He said he could only imagine how great it would taste fresh out of the fryer.

Word on the street is the hamburgers, which we didn’t have the pleasure of trying this year, were outstanding at the HFD burger stand. Apparently they sold out and had to wait several hours on Saturday for more burgers to come in because they were selling like crazy.

Another interesting note about the hamburgers; the HFD has never sold cheeseburgers at the carnival, dating back to 1983. The aprons the HFD workers wear even say, "We still don’t do cheese."

The HFD has a relatively low number of choices, also including hot dogs, Italian sausage and French fries, notably. The menu pretty much never changes from year to year, though the prices occasionally creep up. Tyler was disappointed by the lack of chicken selections, but has become used to it over the years of annually attending the carnival multiple nights. For him, the popcorn suffices.

For being carnival food being made by people associated with the HFD, rather than trained chefs, this is as good as it gets. The food is tasty, filling and reasonably priced, and was by far the highlight of our carnival experience this year.

Are we looking forward to next year’s carnival? For the food, yes; for the commotion that comes with it, not so much.

Jo's Diner

444 North Avenue, Hilton
Visited May 21, 2010
Written by Drew



After getting out of school at 10:30 a.m. because of a half day, I thought it would be fitting to meet Tyler somewhere and cross yet another place off our list.

We found ourselves two miles north of the Village of Hilton at Jo’s Diner, and two miles south of the Lake Ontario State Parkway, on the corner of Route 259 and Curtis Road.

Jo’s has a strange location, as there really aren’t any other businesses within a few miles. The deceptively large building has housed numerous restaurants through the years, but none have lasted very long (Jo’s has been open since late 2008/early 2009, approximately).

Like the Lighthouse Diner, we were very deceived by the size of the restaurant. It appears small from the outside, but it was surprisingly quite large on the inside. There were three separate rooms that make you feel more at home and comfortable.

Two of the rooms are regular dining rooms – bright and squeaky clean – and the other has a few small tables and a countertop facing the kitchen. There were only a handful of other diners, though I think we missed the morning regulars.

Jo’s is said to have good breakfasts, so I skipped breakfast before school that morning because I was planning on eating a big meal. So, being extra hungry, I ordered a tall stack of buttermilk pancakes. While ordering this, the waitress looked down at me and asked me if I was sure. I stupidly insisted that I was really hungry. I made a mistake. I had three large, Frisbee-sized pancakes sitting in front of me. I was able to finish about one and a half of them.

Tyler sampled a few bites of pancake and was fairly impressed, saying they were nice and thick with a tasty crispiness on the outside, but fluffy on the inside.

Tyler also ordered breakfast, opting for two eggs with ham, home fries and toast. He said the scrambled eggs were better than any other egg dish he had recently, and said Jo’s home fries are the closest thing he’s had to those of Hilton Family Restaurant (HFR), which is his standard for home fries.

“The eggs were very good, they were some of the best I have had in a while,” he said. “The home fries were also very good... almost as good as HFR’s.”

He said the toast and ham were very average, but was impressed by the pancakes he sampled from my plate and pleasantly surprised by his eggs and home fries.

If you are planning on going to Jo’s Diner, you’ll have to do so within its very abnormal hours of operation; Tuesday through Thursday, plus Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is closed on Mondays.

Jo’s has a typical diner menu, but the portions (at least for breakfast) are relatively large. For lunch Jo’s offers mostly soups and sandwiches, and its Friday fish fries have received positive reviews.

Overall it was a pleasant surprise, as the prices were reasonable and the portions were filling. The atmosphere isn’t as lively and aesthetically pleasing as HFR, but the food was very comparable.


Ratings:

Service/Atmosphere: Friendly service, very honest waitress, average wait time, relatively clean. Jo’s out-back location doesn’t have the intimate small-town feel the HFR does in the heart of Hilton.

Food: Very comparable to HFR, which is our standard for greasy-spoon diners like this.

Value: We always talk about bang for the buck and quality, and the very large pancakes epitomized that.

Overall: Jo’s was pleasantly surprising, considering its somewhat remote location and the lack of success its building predecessors have had. We’ll definitely be back for a good breakfast.

Grade: B

Dakota Grill

913 Roosevelt Highway, Hilton
Visited May 26, 2010
Written by Tyler



The Dakota Grill sits close to the road, right on the border of Hamlin and Parma, near an X-shaped intersection. The building looks relatively plain – with a gray exterior – from the outside, but the opposite is true on the inside.

There is a small dining room to the left when you enter, a full bar with TVs in the middle, another dining area to the right of the bar, plus an outdoor patio.

The walls are adorned with many random slices of ‘Americana,’ as Greg described it. Though it seems to be marketed somewhat toward Western and biker types, there really is no one central theme to the Dakota.

Like the Arlington, the Dakota is the closest thing to upscale dining in Hilton, but is still very casual. There are many finer dishes available, including the popular Wednesday ‘Surf & Turf’ special ($16.95), chicken, pasta, steak, seafood and Friday fish fry.

But on our college-student budget, we order from the bar menu, which features many burgers and chicken sandwiches that have become popular take-out options in my house.

The Dakota offers some of the best chicken sandwiches around, and I opted for the Black Jack Cajun Chicken ($5.75) on this visit. The chicken was grilled to perfection, but it’s the seasoning that makes this particular sandwich.

The breast was blackened by a spicy Cajun seasoning – so much so that it looked like it had been completely burnt. Obviously, it hadn’t, and the sweet mustard it was topped in complemented its kick well, making it a delicious concoction.

Greg opted for the Dakota Burger – which was topped with bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese, Thousand Island dressing and sweet Dakota Sauce – with a side of fries.


Greg was pleased with the burger (cooked medium), saying the key to it was texture.

It was very well cooked; a tad crispy on the outside but pink halfway through and quite tender,” Greg said. “The literal handful of toppings (was) more than enough, and made the burger a tad messy, but delicious.

“I thoroughly enjoyed their combination of the Dakota Sauce with the Thousand Island dressing. The Dakota Sauce was smooth and sweet, while the Thousand Island provided a small kick on the front side.”

Greg added his burger – the most expensive on the menu at $4.95 – was one of the best values around, though his fries (which he described as average) cost extra.

The service was average in terms of promptness, but informative and friendly. We were also pleased by the complimentary bread and butter. Greg described his experience as “pleasant, perhaps even a tad charming.”

The Dakota is a pleasant stop for somewhat upscale, yet casual dining. If you aren’t in to the expensive stuff, the burgers and chicken sandwiches are difficult to be disappointed by. The restaurant and bar put just the right amount of liveliness in to a relatively quiet area.

Ratings:
Service/Atmosphere: Not the quickest, though friendly and you get free bread. The atmosphere is great; it feels like a roadside bar and grill should.
Food: I’m not sure on how the items on the actual dinner menu are, but those on the bar menu are consistently delicious.
Value: As Greg alluded to, the sandwiches are a great value. The portion sizes aren’t big because the items we bought didn’t come with sides, but those can be added for a reasonable price.
Overall: The setting makes it unique, and the Dakota as a whole is nicer than its outside appearance suggests. The entire meal may not blow you away, but the main course (from our experience) always pleases.
Grade: B

The Arlington Restaurant

4 Main Street, Hilton
Visited April 5, 2010
Written by Tyler




The Arlington has been a staple of Hilton’s Main Street for over a century, since opening in 1897. The Arlington Hotel closed in 1966, giving way to a restaurant and full bar in a new building nearby (the hotel was demolished shortly thereafter).

Ownership, which some of my family was a part of at one point, has changed hands a few times before becoming a restaurant. The Edelman family has owned the restaurant for the majority of its run – and still operates the adjoining liquor store – but sold ownership of the restaurant a few years ago.

My family has raved about the Friday Fish Fry at The Arlington for years. My grandpa still goes for lunch most days, and more recently my grandma has been bringing family and friends to the Tuesday Gourmet Pasta Bar.

I went to lunch with my grandma at The Arlington the day after Easter. It wasn’t very crowded, but it was still a good atmosphere, as antiques celebrating Hilton’s heritage of apple farms adorned the wall.

The menu seems to have something for just about everyone, but we each decided on sandwiches this day. My grandma enjoyed her Chicken Caesar Sandwich, topped with Caesar salad and served between garlic toast.

As for myself, I opted for the Turkey Ham Club. This was one large sandwich, but I eventually settled on a ‘divide and conquer’ attack plan. All the typical components of a club sandwich mixed well on this sandwich. The hot and cold ingredients complemented each other nicely, but the crisp bacon really made the sandwich stand out.

The Arlington is probably the closest there is thing to fine dining in Hilton, but it still has a rather casual atmosphere.

The Arlington’s weekly specials also include Monday Steak Night and Saturday Prime Rib, in addition to a diverse menu which includes a decent-sized selection of fried appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches and pastas.

There are a few premium entrees like New York Strip, Filet Mignon and Chicken Parmesan, among others. Also featured are a few barbecue options, as well as “Home Style Favorites” like chicken pot pie and meat loaf.

The Arlington, which is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, has good food and a fancy yet casual and friendly small-town atmosphere that make it a good place to stop for a night out when in Hilton.

Ratings:
Service/Atmosphere: Efficient and friendly service added to the quaint, small-town atmosphere.
Food: No complaints and a good selection.
Value: Not quite cheap enough to be casual, but not expensive enough to be considered fine dining. You get your money’s worth.
Overall: Great small-town atmosphere and good food; easy to see why my family has enjoyed it for years. I’ve heard a lot of praise, especially about the weekly specials.
Grade: B-

Crosby's (formerly K&K Food Mart)

1228 Hilton-Parma Corners Road, Parma
Written by Tyler

Gas stations aren’t typically the most picturesque places to sit down and enjoy a bite, but they’re usually good for cheap bites on the go.

It would be unfair for grading such a place on atmosphere and service (for food), not to mention it’s a relatively extensive chain, so we will refrain from giving a grade in this situation. But, we will throw a suggestion out there if you’re ever in the Hilton/Parma area and need to grab something quickly, and perhaps share it with a friend or two.

Crosby’s, formerly K&K Food Mart, on the corner of Parma Center Road and Route 259, is a Sunoco station with a food mart/convenience store inside.

They do have a typical pizza-joint menu, including fresh pizza (as opposed to gas stations with only a few slices sitting in a warmer all day), wings, fried foods, subs and more, but it’s the calzones that having us fueling up on food at Crosby’s, rather than gas.

It’s more so just a folded over, or “stuffed” pizza, rather than a typical calzone, which often has multiple types of cheese, sauce on the side and is personal sized. Crosby’s/K&K’s “Family Size Calzone” ($8.99) is the size of a large pizza, folded over.

If you are a fan of traditional calzones or thin-crust pizza, this may not exactly satisfy your cravings, but if you’re a fan of doughy pizza and crust, like me, this is right up your alley.

The traditional pepperoni calzone from this location isn’t too heavy on the cheese, and actually includes about an equal sauce to cheese ratio, which I much prefer. It’s a bit greasy, but the crust and sauce, along with a fairly liberal amount of pepperoni, make this calzone satisfying.
They also offer ham & cheese, sausage, roast beef and meatball, and perhaps more at other locations, but the one we keep going back for is the bossy chicken.

The bossy chicken calzone includes chunks of chicken tenders covered in Boss Sauce and a steady (though thankfully not overwhelming) supply of mozzarella. The sweetness on the sauce covering the chicken is the perfect complement to the doughy crust, in our opinion.

K&K and Crosby’s have over 30 locations throughout upstate New York and northwestern Pennsylvania, including ones in Hamlin, Brockport, Clarkson, Kendall and Holley, among others. We haven’t been to any other locations, so we aren’t sure if the calzones are the same at each one, though we imagine they are quite similar.

This may not be more than folded pizza or gas station food to some – some might not even consider it a real calzone – but it’s a calzone as we know it, and it’s a rather frequent meal for us.

Hilton Family Restaurant

52 Hovey Street, Hilton
Written by Tyler

(Image courtesy of rochester.metromix.com)

As we stated in The Situation the Hilton Family Restaurant (HFR for short. Thanks, Mr. D’Amico) is basically our standard for how we judge restaurants. We grew up eating there, and it feels more and more like home each time we go back.

It’s the quintessential small-town, greasy spoon, enter-cliché-here diner, with nothing fancy about it. And we love it.

Aside from the old non-smoking section being opened up to all diners once New York State law banned smoking inside restaurants, no major changes have really occurred at HFR, it seems.

It has basically been the same since its inception in 1986. If you’re from Hilton, you will probably know more than half the people in HFR at any given time, and it seems like most Hilton residents consider themselves regulars, which provides for a great, tight-knit, small-town atmosphere that we look for in the restaurants we visit.

Families pour in after church on Sunday, and students fill it on half days or off days from school. Actually, the restaurant is fairly crowded most days, but especially on weekend mornings, though there is plenty of seating and I don’t think I’ve ever had to wait to be seated.

The prices are very fair, meaning a lot of “bang for the buck” as we call it, the service is always very efficient and the staff is very friendly.

As for the food – HFR has good dinners, from my experience. Some people say their dinners are inconsistent, though I personally haven’t had a bad experience. The Super (double) Cheeseburger is a popular pick and has left me satisfied every time I’ve had it, especially when complemented by the home fries, which I’ll address momentarily.

To be honest though, I get breakfast at least 90 percent I dine at HFR, so I can’t really say too much about the lunch and dinner choices. But, yeah, the breakfast is that good.

We’ll start with the home fries – greasy, but crispy and just the right size. Basically, you have to get them if you order breakfast (or any meal, I suppose) here, and they do come with most breakfast entrees. I’m not completely sure where exactly the crispiness comes from, but it really sets these home fries apart from the rest of the pack.

My dad has said for years these are the best home fries he has ever had. We have had good home fries at other restaurants, but nothing has quite matched that of HFR’s. Put salt, pepper, ketchup or whatever you want on them, but these home fries taste good no matter how they are topped.

Another popular choice is the breakfast sandwich ($3.25), which comes with eggs (made to order), choice of meat (either of the three – bacon, ham or sausage – are all safe bets) and cheese on either a hard roll (my preference), bagel, toast, croissant or whatever else you can think of that makes sense. It’s the perfect balance of each of the components of the sandwich, and did I mention it comes with home fries?

The many omelets (usually $4-5), with just about any option you can imagine, are frequented by several of my friends, always to satisfaction. The pancakes and French toast never disappoint and the toast is a great complement to any breakfast. Nothing kicks off a great breakfast like a delicious chocolate milk, by the way.

One thing that bothers me is when people around town, usually kids, refer to HFR as “the family diner” or “the diner.” That’s false; it’s the Family Restaurant. I guess that does show how regularly people visit HFR and makes it seem like it’s something that’s a given among Hiltonians. I guess I can live with that, though I prefer the proper name.

Contrary to another review I read, HFR does have takeout available. It’s like bringing home a slice of home, if that makes any sense.

They don’t take credit or debit, cash only, but there is a conveniently located ATM next to the register– perfect for some of our buddies who don’t normally have cash on hand (cough … Jay Clifford). It’s just another thing about HFR that has never changed, which I commend them for.
Are we biased? Absolutely. Many of these things aren’t much different from other family restaurants, but, again, this place makes us feel at home. No other restaurant can possibly have that authentic home feel HFR does, and that’s why it is the ‘A’ standard for all the places we dine at.

Ratings:
Service/Atmosphere- To reiterate, the service is excellent (friendly staff, orders ready quickly) and we feel at home whenever we come.
Food- Typical diner menu, but, at least from my experience, consistently good. I’ve never been disappointed by an HFR meal. Greatest home fries on Earth. Awesome breakfast.
Value- One of the more affordable places around, with great portions for the price. The standard for our emphasis on “bang for the buck,” you get the best value for your money.
Overall- Consistently good food, with the value and atmosphere, especially, putting it over the top. The standard for what we like in a restaurant. A place we really don’t think twice about going to when the opportunity arises.
Grade: A-

Note: A new version of the menu has recently been introduced. Some of the prices have changed slightly and there are a few new items.