Ossawippi Express off the tracks

When Lorine and I pulled into the parking lot of the Ossawippi my first thought was why are we the only car in the lot, its lunch time in the middle of the week, that can not be a good sign. And it turned out that my first impression was the right one. Now the restaurant itself is kind of neat. It is made from old railroad cars that have been converted into a restaurant. A lot of the original RR hardware has been retained which makes for an interesting decor. If you are a train fan you will probably like this restaurant for that reason alone.

As far as the rest goes I was not all that impressed. It is a little grubby and run down not disgusting or anything but a few crumbs on the table or something floating in my glass is enough to put me off (I had both). As far as I am concerned an eating establishment should be spotless and the Ossawippi is far from spotless. The big spider crawling down the curtain was not that nice nor was the bug that crawled across the table in the middle of our meal.

The waiter was friendly but not that good and the food was tasty but perhaps a little bit overpriced for what it was. However as we were the only customers there was a lot of overhead they needed to cover. I had the Short Line Sandwich which consisted of hot chicken strips on bread with a mushroom sauce and some fried potatoes. It was tasty but the root beer I had with it was a bit flat and had no bite. I finished with a cup of tea which was fine except for the flecks of something in my cup. Call me weird but when I order tea that's all I want, no extra bits are required.

Bottom line if you are into trains it is worth a stop but otherwise you might want to wait for the next train.

2 teacups out of 5