Pop N Sons Diner
4812 N. Dale Mabry Hwy.
Tampa, FL 33614
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, and Pop N Sons is about a five-minute walk from the hotel. Pop N Sons will not blow you away with their excellent decor. They play up the 50s diner vibe here but do not take it to the extremes of having their waitresses wearing poodle skirts or anything. There are some 50's memorabilia on the walls and fifties rock and roll coming through the speakers. That is just part of the atmosphere here.
This place really has a homey vibe. We arrived for our first visit at about 11 on a Sunday morning. As soon as we walked in, the average age of the customers dropped by about two decades. Almost every table was packed, but we found one near the back. Everyone who walked in was greeted by name and told that their coffee or drink was coming. We were given some time to review the menu, which we chose to provide us with energy for the football game.
I grouped these all together because they were all basically the same. The breakfasts here were all standard items in any other diner across the US. I had the Three Eggs, Three Bacon, and Three Pancakes ($6.99). The eggs were cooked just as I wanted them, the bacon was very crisp, and the pancakes were the best part of the breakfast. They were heavy, without being overbearing. They soaked up the maple syrup well and had a good buttermilk tinge. Katie got the Two Eggs with Bacon ($6.59). She had her eggs over easy and went with the home fries instead of the hash browns. Katie thought the home fries were seasoned well and were less greasy than she thought they would be. Sabrina ordered two eggs and sausage ($6.59) and a fruit cup ($2.49), which she thought was part of her meal but wasn't. Way to read the menu correctly, Sabrina. She really wanted Anthony to ask the waitress about it, but she would have been wrong, as usual.
We made two trips to Pop N Sons during our short stay in Tampa. We had a late afternoon flight, so we had lunch here before we went to the airport. Again, the menu for lunch at Pop N Sons is standard for a typical diner. Katie surprised me with her food choices on this trip, and her selection of a Tuna Melt ($6.99) was not what I expected her to have here either. This tuna melt came on rye with Swiss cheese. She thought the sandwich was pretty solid. She even said that this was one of the best tuna melts she has had in a while.
I also had a melt, but mine was the Patty Melt ($6.99). This traditional patty melt consisted of ground beef, grilled onions, and Swiss cheese, all on rye bread. The burger patty was thin, but this was a solid-tasting patty melt. The bread here was what made this sandwich. It had a great rye flavor and really went well with this sandwich. The french fries were average and nothing to write home about.
Pop N Sons is not anything that is going to wow you. What they will do, though, is make you honest, old-school meals here. In this age of chain restaurants, places like Pop N Sons are a nice respite from the cookie-cutter type places that dot almost every corner of every town in America. The food here was fine, but what makes it even better is that you support a local business while eating here. Our server, Grace, knew almost all her customers' names when they walked through the door. That does not happen at your local Chili's or chain restaurant. Pop N Sons is open 24 hours, so whatever time hunger hits, you can bypass Denny's and try it out. We had a great conversation with the owner, Jerry, as we paid our bill. He felt these types of restaurants may soon be a thing of the past. That is a shame, but the good news is you still have time to experience authentic diner food at Pop N Sons.
Out of five weasels (because when I hear the word pop, I almost always think of the nursery rhyme, "Pop Goes the Weasel"), five being best to zero being worst, Pop N Sons Diner gets 2.5 weasels.
To find out more information about Pop N Sons Diner, check them out here: http://www.popnsons.com/
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