MASSENA — In less than five years, the restaurant in downtown Massena's Quality Inn has changed three times.
First it was Downtown Steak & Seafood. Then it was Tommy's Restaurant, offering fine dining. Now it's Dar's Place — the same Dar's Place that was located on Route 56 just outside of Massena for several years.
We were certainly surprised to walk into a good-sized hotel dining room to find almost every table occupied — and on a weekday night.
Dar's Place did little to change the restaurant decor, nor was any needed. It's a comfortable setting, with dark faux plank floors, a brick half wall separating the now closed bar area from the dining room (neither the hotel nor Dar's has a liquor license at this time), and floor-to-ceiling windows facing Main Street.
We seated ourselves per instructions from one of the two busy waitresses. The only available tables hadn't been bused, but after just a few minutes, Trish, our server, was there to clean things up and get the evening under way.
The menu is definitely diner-ish, almost identical to Dar's menu when she was on the main highway. There are lots of fried foods (a dozen of the appetizer selections alone are deep-fried) but there are some semi-healthy entities as well.
And of course, burgers and fries, sandwiches and subs, salads and soups.
There are homemade desserts galore; more than a dozen were listed on the “specials” board.
Evening entrees include pork chops, ham steak, liver and onions, Delmonico (rib-eye) steaks and prime rib served nightly. There are several chicken dishes and pasta dishes, like spaghetti and meatballs, shrimp, broccoli and penne and vegetable prima vera.
Even though the place was getting packed, Trish had no problem putting our soup and appetizer order in before our entrees. She was cool, calm and collected and treated us like we were her only table. We soon learned that she was a veteran of Dar's previous location.
Loaded nachos ($7.95), one of the few appetizers that didn't require a dunking in hot grease, was the first indication that Dar's Place is about quantity.
A huge platter of crisp multi-colored chips was covered with chopped tomatoes and onions, shredded lettuce and cheese, diced jalapenos and sliced black olives. Four of us had trouble polishing off the entire dish.
Chicken quesadilla ($5.50) was good, and good-sized: gooey cheese and a generous amount of bite-sized, seasoned chicken meat between two lightly grilled flour tortillas. We were intrigued by a tasty dusting of mystery seasoning on the outside of the shells.
French onion soup ($3.95) was nicely presented: golden-brown broiled cheese on top and flowing down the sides of the traditional crock. The beef stock was OK but lacked a certain complexity associated with French onion. The bread supporting the cheese was a bit too soggy and didn't stand up to the liquid of the soup. But hey, it's soup.
Soup of the day ($1.95) was ham and cabbage. Or was it cabbage and ham? Flavor was decent, but the soup lacked, well, cabbage and ham. It could have used more diced potato and carrot, too.
Entrees come with choice of tossed salad, macaroni salad or coleslaw. We tried them all.
Tossed salad was mostly iceberg lettuce with a few traces of Romaine and the usual vegetables with a small packet of Ken's Italian dressing plopped on top.
Macaroni salad required salt. Coleslaw was quite flavorful, consisting of finely processed cabbage and veggies with the perfect amount of mayo.
Shrimp and broccoli over penne pasta ($14.95) was an enormous portion, served in a large rimmed bowl. There had to be at least a pound of pasta in a light Alfredo-like cream sauce with a good amount of slightly overcooked broccoli. There were seven or eight shrimp hidden in the gigantic portion of pasta. It was like a treasure hunt trying to find them.
Chicken Parmesan ($14.95) was another belt buster. A mammoth amount of nicely breaded chicken totally obscured an equally mammoth amount of nicely cooked spaghetti. The mountain of food was covered with lots of sauce and melted mozzarella. Even after we all sampled some, the plate was still overflowing.
As if there weren't enough food on both dishes, each plate was finished off with four or five pieces of garlic toast.
Broiled haddock ($12.95) was a more realistic, human-size portion. The fish was dusted with paprika and served with tartar sauce on the side, but we opted for a squeeze of fresh lemon that gave it a moist, zesty flavor. Baked potato was very good.
You can get prime rib or a Delmonico paired with a six-ounce lobster tail for $25.95. We chose prime rib and ordered it medium rare. It arrived on its own metal platter surrounded with au jus, and we could tell just by looking that it was way past medium rare, in fact more like medium well.
We did the usual “But I hate to send something back” routine, then decided to ask Trish if there was a possibility of a lesser-done piece. She didn't hesitate for a second, whisked the hunk of meat to the kitchen and returned a few minutes with a medium-rare piece. You see, it pays to tell your server when something isn't right.
The lobster tail was nicely displayed, the meat perched over its shell — maybe just a little overcooked for our liking, but perfectly OK when dipped in the drawn butter, served in its own classy little candle-powered warmer.
Having broken our appetites on mounds of food, and with Styrofoam to-go boxes all over the table, Trish just about dropped to the floor when we said, “So what's for dessert?”
She rattled off the list of nearly a dozen homemade treats. We honed in on carrot cake and blackberry pie. She suggested a scoop of ice cream with the pie, and we went for it.
Surprise, surprise — the carrot cake was another superhuman portion, but excellent and loaded with lots of walnuts and lots and lots of raisins. We loved the sweet-but-not-too-rich buttery icing.
Blackberry pie, as it turned out, was blueberry pie, and pretty bland. The scoop of ice cream turned out to be four scoops (one for each of us, we figured), but nonetheless, followed the evening's theme of over-the-top excessiveness.
Dinner for four cost $96 before tip.
The lack of a liquor license didn't seem to hurt business. If and when it comes, it will surely attract new customers who enjoy a drink with dinner.
There seemed to be an air of familiarity that encompassed the staff and the diners. It appeared many of the people in the room were locals, probably loyal customers of Darlene Tyler who followed her from the old location.
One thing is certain: for first-timers, Trish sure made us feel at home. Her style was casual, friendly and accommodating.
Dar's formula for success, serving decent quality food in overwhelming quantities, has followed her from her little diner just outside of Massena to her new home in the Quality Inn downtown.
You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
