First Impression

John: I don’t get to talk to the sales people in our office too much. They’re on the other side of the building and they speak a different language. So as you can imagine, communication is pretty difficult. However, one of the sales people snuck into my office on Thursday and gave me a piece of advice, he said, ‘I heard you’re going to Thumbs Up this week. You better get there early because there’s no parking available EVER. All the spots are always filled up.’ Because he spoke in his native sales tongue, I didn’t understand him, which is too bad, because I could have used that advice Friday morning. At 11 a.m. I rolled into the parking lot, which was full. It wasn’t lunch time, it wasn’t breakfast time and it wasn’t Sunday. Yet at 11 a.m. on a Friday, the parking lot was full. Wow. I sucked it up and parked a mile away. When I finally got to the door, I saw a familiar car in the front row; Copsey’s car. I was so shocked that I didn’t even bother asking him how he got such a sweet parking spot. The inside of Thumbs Up is set up just like your normal diner. There are several booths (they were all filled) and there’s a counter, which I would call a bar if they served alcohol. Since every table was full, Copsey and I sat at the counter.

Copsey: I have two rules when it comes to breakfast: first, since there’s (usually) no alcohol involved, it has to make up the difference by being remarkably unhealthy.

Second, I don’t want to have to exercise around my meals. So parking next to John was out of the question. Luckily, a few well-placed greenbacks can make a convenient parking space appear pretty quickly. When I walked into Thumbs Up, it was packed. Loud and packed, both of which were surprising. As John said, we’re not exactly early risers, so we normally don’t meet the breakfast crowd. Well, we certainly met them this time. I suppose it speaks to the food and just the happy, casual feeling of the place that people might enjoy spending a relaxing morning at their local breakfast place.  

John: A- (I want more parking)
Copsey: A

Appetizers

John: For the last two months, Copsey and I have not catered to the brunch crowd. We left you guys high and dry. Because of this, I ordered French toast and pancakes to start off the meal. After I ordered them, the server had one question, “Did you say that’s your appetizer?” When our food was brought out, we had six different people deliver it because everyone wanted to see the 5’7” 138 pound kids that are going to eat seven plates of food. The French toast was fantastic. Everyone in my family knows I only cook one thing: French toast. Therefore, if I have one opinion that you should ever trust in these restaurant reviews, it’s this one (Don’t get me wrong, you should trust all of them): Get the French toast. I didn’t bring a ruler, but the bread the French toast was made with had to be at least an inch thick. It tasted like a perfect mixture of bread, cinnamon, milk and egg. Kind of like two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom, when these things are combined properly, they make something unbelievable. The pancake did not disappoint either, but I ate that second.

Copsey: Not being the French toast gourmand that John is, I ordered a bacon and cheddar-cheese-egg biscuit. I like the most important meal of the day fat-saturated and simple. Let me say that I was a happy camper when I finished. The bacon was perfectly cooked and the scrambled egg just the right mixture of runny and fluffy. The biscuit was a little rough but tasted very healthy (was it whole grain bread? I’m not sure). Whatever it was, I could have had more.

John: A
Copsey: B+

Entrée

John: Since Thumbs Up offers breakfast and lunch, Copsey and I thought it would be prudent of us to order lunch dishes also. I threw a fit because I wanted to order 13 pieces of French toast. However, after Copsey calmed me down, I went with the burger melt. Generally, I’ve found that dishes with cheese in them are always good (macaroni and cheese, potatoes and cheese, grilled cheese). This sandwich is basically a burger, except instead of a bun, its served on rye bread. It also has mushrooms, grilled onions and Swiss cheese on it. The burger was perfectly cooked, the rye bread was a pleasant surprise, so I thought this dish definitely worked. The only thing I didn’t like during the meal was Copsey’s Southwestern Eggs. It was eggs, black beans and cheese tossed in a tortilla and covered in guacamole and pico de gallo. There were just too many black beans and they overwhelmed every other flavor; the poor egg and cheese never had a chance to impress me.

Copsey: Surprisingly, I was exactly the opposite. I enjoyed the Southwestern Eggs, since it’s something I rarely have. Sure they were basically egg tortillas, but you can’t deny they had flavor. If you want just egg, order plain eggs – I, however, wanted an experience! The fresh veggies made me feel like I was having something healthy and, while I’m not normally a fan of black beans, they added a texture and “crunch” to combat the eggs. It also came with fried potatos. The burger, on the other hand, I was not amazed by. It was a simple burger, a little too tough for my tastes. Not bad, but not great.

John: B+
Copsey: B+

Dessert

John: I’ve always believed that breakfast itself is one big dessert. I wanted to order six more pieces of French toast for dessert, but Copsey vetoed me. Instead, we ordered the Key Lime Cake. Yes, I wrote that right, it was a Key Lime Cake, not pie. I’m not a big fan of Key Lime Pie, but I actually found myself enjoying the cake. The desserts sit on the counter, so you might find yourself staring at them for the duration of your meal. Best sales idea ever.

Copsey: I had to ninja-order the cake – striking when John’s back was turned. Little did I know that he actually did not like Key Lime Pie. Luckily, this meant after he had his fill, I was able to eat the rest. I had been drooling over this thing throughout the meal; as John said, it was right in front of us the whole time. Light and fluffy, with the strong flavor that the lime gives you, this thing immediately went to the top of my Christmas List.

John: B+
Copsey: A-

Final Impression

John:  Besides the fact that I had to park six miles away, I really enjoyed my experience at Thumbs Up. Around 11:45 a.m., the restaurant really started to clear out. So if you’re reading this thinking, ‘I want to try this place out, but I don’t want to park four zip codes away,’ then Friday morning at 11:45 is the time to go. Or if you have the right connections, you can borrow balloon boy’s mode of transportation and skip parking all together.  If you’re not partial to pancakes, French toast and burger melts, Thumbs Up also offers omelettes, Belgian waffles, barbeque sandwiches, turkey clubs and Reuben’s and several chicken dishes. I’m pretty confident that you’ll find something to enjoy on this menu. If all else fails, get the French toast.

Copsey: We were teased throughout the meal by serving staff and patrons, amazed that we could order – and eat – so much. We gave them a good life lesson, though – never underestimate the eating power of the Dining Duo.

John: A-
Copsey: B+