78 West
Transit Road, Williamsville, NY
4 noms out of 5
I’ve been wanting to try this restaurant since it opened and yesterday Chris and I went for lunch to support The Big Chew, a fundraiser for the local SPCA. A percentage of our bill was donated to help shelter animals.
The menu online looked delicious and the lunch special seemed like a really good deal – piece of Quiche, half sandwich, soup or salad – pick two – for $6.95. You can view the rest of the lunch and the dinner menu on their website, which is linked above.
The first thing that struck me when I walked in was how classy the place looked. There was a spacious bar made out of dark woods and a lounge area adjoining it. The impression I get from their Facebook page is that it’s a place a lot of people like to hang out at on a Saturday night and it can get pretty wild. I don’t know how accurate that is, though. There was cloth draped across the ceiling and some cool lights hanging down. There were white table cloths and napkins and I felt kind of strange wearing jeans there, though I did notice other people have jeans on, too. I was grateful I had changed into a nicer top before we left.
We ate in the main seating area where we were the youngest people there. There were middle-aged women on lunch dates with their friends and business men out of lunch from the office. I didn’t feel out of place, though. There were more private tables in the back with drapes hanging from the ceiling that would be drawn for more privacy. They also have an event room in the back.
It took us a few minutes to figure out what to order; everything sounded delicious. I ordered the half sandwich/salad combo and Chris ordered the linguine dish. For my sandwich I had the Turkey BLT, which came on toasted bread, had just the right amount of mayo and tasted delicious. I had the Caesar salad for my other half which had the perfect amount of dressing, lots of good parmesan cheese on top, and came with two really fresh slices of tomato. Overall my meal was delicious, but it was a little small. I wasn’t hungry when I left, but I wasn’t satisfied either.
My husband had the linguine, which he said was a big enough portion for him. “That pasta was amazing,” he said to me. I tried it and I have to agree. It was al dente linguine in a creamy goat cheese sauce (very similar to alfredo) with artichoke and roasted red peppers. Yum!
We were pleasantly surprised to see that there were free refills on the soda, which were $1.95 each; a good deal I think considering most restaurants these days will charge you $2 or $2.50 for a diet coke.
There were only three desserts on the dessert tray and none of them appealed to me. There was a flour-less chocolate cake (I’ve never had one that tasted good) and I can’t remember what the other two desserts were. They didn’t speak to me.
Overall it was pleasant and delicious meal. I can’t wait to try it for dinner sometime and even try their Sunday Brunch. The only reason I gave it four noms out of five instead of five noms was my small portioned lunch and the fact that they didn’t bring us rolls while we were waiting; other tables had rolls.
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