I hadn’t been back to the Parkway for at least ten years, and I’d only been to the dining car in the front, which I strongly recommend for atmosphere at lunch (this is the real thing), but we were here for dinner. I have to say that this was one of the more relaxing and fun Foodies dinners yet, and in such an unassuming place. Dinner is served in the “new (to me)” room, which is more of a restaurant style setting, but keeps some of the front diner appeal. There are booths by open windows when it’s warm and the place is welcoming, clean, and low key overall. The bread to start is your good basic Italian loaf, sliced and served with butter, which works for me because I’m old school and I like my diners to stick to their origins food-wise; if I want fancy, I’ll go to a fancy restaurant. A diner means the basics on all levels, and The Parkway is just that. My struggle is finding something on the menu that fits with a strict IBS/Colitis diet, and I thought I’d be out of luck at The Parkway (this is a place where you should go to eat the meatball and sausage combo plates, which is what I used to do in my younger days, and my mouth watered as I watched my fellow Foodies mopping up their red sauce). Not for me on this particular night, but there was something on the menu that met all of my strict dietary requirements, and tasted very good too! I ordered the Balsamic grilled chicken sandwich, with none of the toppings. It was good, but not overly flavorful. I imagine that if I had ordered the sandwich as on the menu (with the toppings), it would have been great. Mea culpa. No regrets though. It was affordable, fun, very low key, and all and all a place I’d go back to, if only to salivate over anything served up with red sauce. Next time… -NM
