nnyNOW review of The Crystal Restaurant, Watertown NY.

The Crystal Restaurant
87 Public Square
Watertown NY 13601
315-782-9938

29 March 2009

We have been eating at the Crystal restaurant for many years and whenever someone is in town we make it a point to share a meal there.
Recently our daughter was in town on a "spring break" visit from Buffalo and one of the first things she wanted to do was have lunch at the Crystal. With all the national chain restaurants popping up on Arsenal street restaurants like the Crystal can get lost in the forest. It's too bad because the chain restaurants with their flashy menus and trendy dishes lack the soul and character, not to mention the tasty and reasonably priced food.

We headed in on Monday to meet during the lunch hour. In the excitement of the moment we had completely forgot that the Crystal is not open Monday. We settled for less that day but vowed to return. We repeated the exercise on Wednesday at about 1:00 in the afternoon. The sign in the front window proclaims the Crystal to be the longest established restaurant, and the letters on the sign just might be the originals by the look of them. No matter, we were there for the food and atmosphere.

We stepped through the double doors and choose a booth. The first thing a new comer notices about the Crystal is the original wood work, floor, lights and clock in the back with the sign that says "Electronically Controlled Time". For my money I chose electronically controlled time, every time! To the right is a bar, sans the stools where they serve drinks and the famous Tom and Jerry's during the Christmas season from the vintage bowl and cups.

We had no sooner hung wraps and settled into the comfortable booth when the waitress arrived with silver and menus. Since one of our trio was on lunch break we opted to order right away. We knew exactly what we wanted. BLT with onion rings, Cheeseburger with fries and a Hamburg with a side salad, and of course coffee. We know the menu fairly well. It has this food and that food. There were probably eight parties having a late lunch and the quiet music did not interfere with our conversation.

In just a few minutes the waitress appeared with the salad. Cut pieces of iceberg lettuce were accompanied with onion and grape tomatoes and sliced pepperincini. The dressing was rose colored Italian vinaigrette. It was tangy but one diner complained that the pepperincini made the dressing taste more like finger nail polish. I thought that was a little harsh but everyone has their own opinion.

Very soon after, the sandwiches arrived and they were just what we had expected. The hand made burgers were grilled to perfection and served on nicely toasted buns. A tomato slice and iceberg lettuce toped them off. The meat had a good full beef flavor and the grilled crust sealed in the juice. The American cheese was melted into every crack and crevice and the onion slice added a sharp spicy note to the flavors. These are truly great burgers. When a burger is ordered without fries it is accompanied by a generous hand full of ridge cut potato chips and all the sandwiches come with a dill pickle wedge.

The French fries were nice and hot, golden brown and crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Perfect. I do not know if they make their own fries but who cares, they could not be any better. The BLT was served on whole wheat bread that was could not have been toasted any better. Layers of iceberg lettuce and tomato were piled high and the smoky bacon was done to a crispy texture. Likewise the lettuce was crisp and the tomatoes were not mushy. Mayonnaise topped it off and the garnish was a generous dill pickle wedge.

Onion rings were also very good. The crispy light breading was done exactly right, not burnt, soggy or greasy. Our waitress stopped by several times to check on our progress and offered more coffee. She was very friendly, helpful and had us fed and on our way in less than 45 minutes.

It goes without saying we will stop again.

A lunch for 3 people was about $20.00 not including tip. That's less than $7.00 each for a meal prepared to order and served at our table in a most unique setting.
Probably the biggest drawback is the fact that the bathrooms are down a flight of stairs.
Hours 7am to 9pm every Tuesday thru Sunday.
Closed on Monday.

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