Sunnyside Diner

[Pete]

^

There are some places (none that I've seen in OKC) where you place your own order through a tablet on the table.

That makes even more sense.

[baralheia]

Chili's and Olive Garden have Ziosk tablets on the tables that allow you to place your own order, as well as pay, right there.

Neat idea, and the ability to pay right there is very cool, though in practice I find them highly annoying during meal service because they take up too much table space when dining with a group.

[Pete]

This is from a place in California called Stacked.

One of the great advantages is they can change the menu very easily, as opposed to having to print them out... Big deal for restaurants that go with elaborate menu types.

[David]

Gotta be honest, that looks really awkward to use, at least if it is fixed in place like I'm assuming it is. Does the person next to it end up having to order for everyone, or get reached over by the other people ordering? That's addressed a bit if you can pass it around the table, though at that point I'd guess you end up losing hardware over time as people walk out with it.

The kiosk ordering systems that I used while waiting tables back in college would have a software keyboard if you need to type in special instructions, I can't quite imagine how to provide that flexibility in a system where the end users might type who knows what into it.

I dunno, I just see a lot of downsides to fully pulling the server out of the equation.

[Pete]

As cheap as TV's are now (especially compared to tablets) you could make the entire tabletop the screen and divide it into sections depending on the number of diners.

I bet someone is already doing this.

[baralheia]

TVs are cheap. However, tabletop-sized touchscreen panels... not so much. One of the big problems here, too, is you'd have to have a way to selectively disable the touchscreen, or else anything on the table would register as a touch. Maybe an overhead projector and a camera could be used for that - I've seen tech demos of similar systems that could even identify objects placed on the table and display contextual information about that object. But I could also see people complaining about the camera pointed at them at all times while they're dining...

[Urbanized]

Count me out. I want to give my order to a human being who can make recommendations, answer questions, and who is ultimately responsible to make sure that my order is delivered correctly. And I agree with David that having a whole table of people dealing with the gizmo sounds only slightly worse than being the single CUSTOMER personally tasked with entering your entire table's order. There are a few things that technology is going to be hard-pressed to replace correctly.

That said, I would not be necessarily opposed to touch screen ordering in a counter situation, and having used Ziosk many times to PAY at Abuelo's, I'm very comfortable with it being part of the settlement process.

[turnpup]

We had a late lunch there today about 2:00. Even that late, probably about 1/3 of the tables were occupied. Also, there were still people coming in when we were leaving about 2:45.

Parking is easy. There's a lot adjacent, plus on-street parallel parking. It's a bright, cheery space inside.

The food was very, very good! I had the corned beef and hash, and my husband had the chicken and biscuit. Both were quite large portions, and the presentation looked great as well. I didn't think to snap a picture until we were almost finished. Oops. Not going to make people look at pictures of half-eaten food.

Our server was very friendly and attentive. Just right. We also liked the payment system, because in some restaurants, there's a really long lag between when they hand you the bill and when they return to collect your card. It was also nice that there was a tip percentage button right on the screen, so we didn't even have to calculate anything.

About the only thing that might be a negative--and I know this will probably change once they've been open for a month or so--is that it took about 20 minutes for our food to arrive. But it was worth the wait, for sure. We'll be back.

My husband said to write that his only negative is that we can't go there for dinner, as they close at 3:00.

[ctchandler]

C.T., your technique is known in cooking circles as basting, and experienced diner staff will know what you want when you ask for basted eggs.

Thanks, I'm meeting friends for breakfast next Monday and I will order "basted" eggs and see how it turns out.
C. T.

[OKCbyTRANSFER]

Several comments about lack of customers, but I drive by daily and would not know they had opened/were open if not for this site. No big sign, banner, etc. Perhaps they are working out some kinks first

[Roger S]

Stopped in for breakfast this morning and the place was hopping... Two big parties were setup in the middle and the parking lot to the west of the building was full.



I ordered the corned beef hash, over medium, with sour dough toast.



My wife ordered the french toast.



Both orders were pretty tasty and I really appreciated the hash is made in house and not from a can. Service was excellent too..... I do have two complaints though.

The first isn't against the restaurant but the self-entitled jackass that blocked us in our parking space instead of parking in the lot across the street or on 6th. We were able to make a 100 point turn to get out and hopefully didn't damage any of the landscaping doing so.

The second is.... well you may have noticed I said I ordered my hash with over medium eggs...



Definitely not how an over medium egg I get anywhere else I order them looks but I'm going to give them some leeway because they were slammed, they have only been open for 3 days, and other than overcooking the egg... The food was great!

[Urbanized]

I went again this morning, and had the easy/medium convo with the server (a different one than the other day) and she said that the way they do it, over medium meant whites fully cooked, yolks fully runny. So I went with medium this time...and got mostly cooked yolks.

Still not enough to complain about. Everything else was once again very good. Eventually I will find the secret to ordering eggs there.

[sooner88]

Completely different type of food, but i've had the same issue with different restaurants in town in regards to steak. Medium-rare is medium, etc. Once you figure out how the specific spot cooks it it is easy to order the same, but it would be nice to have consistency from place to place. Regardless, i've heard good things already and am looking forward to trying it out soon,

[Paseofreak]

I went again this morning, and had the easy/medium convo with the server (a different one than the other day) and she said that the way they do it, over medium meant whites fully cooked, yolks fully runny. So I went with medium this time...and got mostly cooked yolks.

Unfortunately, the way an egg is built and treated before cooked makes it inherently difficult to deliver what we all seem to desire. The abundance of proteins in egg whites begin to coagulate at about 180 F while those in the yolk do so at about 163-165 F. Put on your thermodynamics hat for a minute and recognize that to achieve this, the white must essentially insulate the yolk from grill heat. Appropriate grill temp. and time are a razor thin affair, so experience with the condition of the eggs ( the yolks of fresher eggs sit atop the whites and are overall firmer, and larger eggs have comparatively more whites), understanding that, experience with the cook top and ability to manage simultaneous orders are paramount to delivering what is ordered.

It's probably too early to expect consistent results from this place right now. But when you do get what you expect at least tip a hat to the kitchen, if not tipping them specifically. A great diner cook is an unsung hero.

That said, while not my favorite preparation, Monday afternoons sunny side up eggs on my Croque Madame were a spectacular exemplar of the textbook definition of that style, and the eggs were humongous.

I'll cut them some slack for a few weeks and see if they remain consistent after that.

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

not hash in a can, what's the hash like, eh?

not a big fan of eggs, eggs, more eggs,

[Roger S]

not hash in a can, what's the hash like, eh?

It's like real corned beef mixed with hash-browns, onions, and bell pepper... It's not a crispy hash although you probably could ask them to put a crust on it.... Most importantly... It was tasty.

[Roger S]

Still not enough to complain about. Everything else was once again very good. Eventually I will find the secret to ordering eggs there.

Next time I will send mine back.... Send enough eggs back to the kitchen and they'll either learn to cook them correctly or hire a new cook..... I was already running behind schedule when I was there and the two big groups were really straining them or I would have sent them back yesterday.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
Yeah, hoping third time's the charm. It's pretty mild as far as startup jitters go. Everything else has been fine, including service. But you're right; doing eggs properly is pretty important for a breakfast diner. I will say something if the issue persists for the third time. It's only fair to them. I just hate sending food back.

[Roger S]

^^^^^^
Yeah, hoping third time's the charm. It's pretty mild as far as startup jitters go. Everything else has been fine, including service. But you're right; doing eggs properly is pretty important for a breakfast diner. I will say something if the issue persists for the third time. It's only fair to them. I just hate sending food back.

I did send them a nice message, when I got to my office, letting them know I really enjoyed the service, and the food, and I would be back to try them again soon, but that my eggs were overcooked... Have not received anything back from them on it yet.

[hoya]

Holy heck...how in the world do you eat toast without egg yolk sopped up in it?

Gross! I want my food where nothing touches.

[Roger S]

Gross! I want my food where nothing touches.

Bet you have a heck of a time trying to eat a sandwich!

[Teo9969]

Bet you have a heck of a time trying to eat a sandwich!

[soonerguru]

My lunch experience was good. Came for breakfast and was less enchanted. I shared my issues with the server and owner so I will withhold further public criticisms, allowing them time to address them. It's the first week.

[zefferoni]

Had the chicken fried steak this morning. Everything was delicious. I ordered over-medium eggs, and I got over-medium eggs lol.
I'll definitely be coming back!

[TheTravellers]

So many posts that reinforce my belief that I never want to be an alpha tester for a restaurant, not even a beta tester, I'll just wait for everybody else to get disappointed in the first few months, then hopefully I'll walk in and get the stuff done right.