This spot has been on my radar for a while, with their comfort food like burger and shakes. One weekend, we were nearby and looking for a place to eat, so we decided to check this place out.

The first thing we saw was their nice, large bar. They offer beer, wine and cocktails. The cocktail menu looked fun, but we didn’t get any drinks, since we wanted to get one of their shakes. To the left of the bar was a long bar tables, either for a big group, or to share. They had a few more table seating by the window.

The bar itself had a good amount of seating. They have more table seating by the other side of the street, going all the way back. The first half of the place was decorated with mainly just black and white, from the floor, walls and furniture. They had a few TV screens showing kid’s cartoon shows while we were there.

The dining area in the back was more spacious, with silver metallic furniture mixed with black ones. We sat at this area, and since it was between lunch and dinner rush, it was nice and quiet. The décor was kind of vintage, with the simple black and white colors, shiny metallic, and some old, classic items on display.

To keep up with the theme, each table had an old tin lunch box, I thought they were so cute! And they do serve a purpose. They hold silverware, napkins and some condiments in there.

Once we sat, our server brought us water in mason jar. Another reminiscence of the good ole’ days, at least to me.

Since we wanted to have food and shake, we decided to order one of each to share. It is always better and safer to order small at a place you have never been to, since we don’t know how big or small the potion is. We can always add something else if we need to. So, the food of our choice was Chicken and Bacon Waffle ($17), that comes with fried chicken breast and a big waffle with bacon baked right in, and topped with Cholula honey and cheesy sauce. The portion was nice and big, with two fried chicken pieces on top of the sweet and soft waffle. The chicken was moist and tasty, but the bacon was horrible. The bacon pieces were so tough, we couldn’t chew it off. We left the bacons on the plate, as they were not edible… The cheesy sauce was just a-ok, I wanted more kick to it.

 

Then the shake. We ordered Strawberry Shorty ($13) off their Bigmouth Shakes. It is made with vanilla ice cream with strawberries and strawberry syrup. It comes with the topping of icing, slice of strawberry shortcake, Lorna Doone cookies, strawberries and whipped cream. When it arrived, I noticed one of the main topping that makes this shake what it is…slice of strawberry shortcake. When we inquired about it to our server, she said that they don’t do that anymore, since they put them around the glass… Wait, they are crushed cookies, not shortcake… She said she can give us a cookie instead, and went back to the kitchen. I know, we were as confused as you are…

Then, she cane back with, guess what? Slice of shortcake!!! Well, it was actually a slice of small pound cake. Seems that the kitchen staff forgot to put that on top, and the server didn’t know that it was forgotten… She did apologize about the error. So, we put it on top to finish off the shake, in the way they should’ve been. Finally we were ready to dig in! It was sweet and decadent, creamy and tasty. The strawberry that came with it was very sour, which was disappointing.

Overall, this place did not live up to my expectation. The food was a-ok, mainly because of the horrible bacon. The shake was just a-ok, mainly because we had to work hard to get everything we ordered. The price tag didn’t match the experience, nor the quality. The music that they had was fun list from the 80’s, but it was a bit too loud. That kind of take away from relaxing atmosphere. I don’t think I will return, it is a good thing there are so many other places that offers comfort food and mouth-watering shakes everywhere in the city.

 

Mom’s Kitchen & Bar – 701 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019