Review: Buddies USA Diner, Towcester

American food shouldn't be a hard one to review; it's all shakes, burgers, wet fries, and BBQ wings right?

I didn't know Buddies USA Diner existed; suggested by a friend, it sounded like the perfect ending to a busy long week. Barbequed anything and ice-cream solves everything.

The exterior of the building was pretty disappointing; the retro feel I was expecting just wasn't quite there. An American flag on the roof was the only give away. The interior was better;

 The first obstacle we faced was the menu; a multi-way menu crammed with as much text on the page as possible, it was confusing to know where to look first. Drinks, Desserts, Lunch, Dinner- a strange order to put the menu I first thought; but hindsight says it makes sense. I would only pop in again when passing for a drink, maybe a dessert, lunch only if necessary, and probably not for dinner.

*And this is only one third of the menu!

What caught my attention was 'The Corn Dog'. This is my all time favourite American fast food and something I have been meaning to try for a long time. I was a bit disappointed to find out it was their twist on it as opposed to the real thing; most people will never have eaten a corn dog before so why twist something that is unusual to many customers in the first place.

I chose the corn dog without the cheese; American Cheese is a very yellow processed cheese, known to most as burger cheese (the kind you get cut into squares individually wrapped in plastic.) Yuck.

As opposed to the original corn batter, Buddies chose to wrap the corn dog in a tortilla. Although it gave a very faint taste that was similar to a corn dog (deep fried flour around a frankfurter) it didn't give me a genuine taste of America. 

On the plus side, the portion sizes are huge! I managed the corn dog, and the corn- but that was it! The tortilla sat too heavy for such a deep fried meal, the traditional corn batter would have lightened the meal much better.

The decor was tired, but did whisper 'retro'. There was a lot of  vintage-inspired memorabilia on the walls, just for the sake of being there. The diner was trying too hard to shout 'American diner' that it lost its authenticity along the way. 

*

The diner was busy when we arrived but by the time we had ordered at around half 8 there were only a few tables left. I really think that if this diner was located elsewhere it could really be a hit; what a perfect place for students to meet up, first dates to take place, and families to dine. Think Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray in A Cinderella Story..

The location summarizes the feel of this diner for me; a novelty road side cafe you would stop at when driving past, but it's not a destination venue.

Aesthetics aside, this is just another Little Chef at the side of an A-road..

*When I first published this review I realised I had forgotten to mention the service we received. The missing review about service sums up perfectly the very basic attention we were given. I've had more interaction and enthusiasm from someone packing my bags in Marks and Spencers. This is no Ruby's Diner..