The Machine Shed

Just when I thought that I'd had my fill of farm-themed family restaurants, The Machine Shed came to prove me wrong again. Filled to the brim with effigies of cows, pigs, and other foodstuffs, walls lined with toy tractors (for sale at a reasonable price) and other tourist crap, The Machine Shed does not fail to be a corny slice of Americana.

Fortunately, it also does not fail to be delicious.

The meal offered to me was a barbecue beef sandwich with swiss cheese and chips on the side, served with fried mushrooms as an appetizer.

The fried mushrooms were by far the best I have ever eaten in my life. They were not the cute little button mushrooms of your grandpa's restaurant, no sir. These were some form of much larger mushroom (a little bigger than a silver dollar around) with a flakey, greasy, wonderful breading. They oozed a little when you bit into them. They came with a tangy orange sauce that I did not use, but imagined to be good as well.

The sandwhich was alright. It was on their "homemade" freshly baked bread, but the actual barbecue beef could have come out of a make-at-home microwavable tub. The chips weren't anything special either. They weren't bad, they just didn't "wow" me. Although really, after the mushrooms I don't think they could have.

The service wasn't great either. It was slow, and the waitress seemed to have better things to do. What was most offensive, however, was that when I requested a coke the waitress raised no complaint, but when she turned to leave she muttered, "Pepsi, right?" She was already walking away without seeing if I actually confirmed this to be my drink of choice. First, it was rude of her to ask and not actually wait for a response, second, I would have rather had tea than pepsi, if they didn't have cokes. This upset me.

I imagine, were I to go back to this fairly priced family eatery, I will not have that trouble again, however.