Restaurant Review: Vinnie's Place

Restaurant:
Address: 110 S Edgemont St , Media , PA 19063
Rating: (out of 5 stars): ★★★
Style: Sandwich shop
Food: Decent sandwiches and steaks
Atmosphere: Neighborhood eatery
Parking: Lot
Service: Surly
Price Range: Inexpensive
Unique Features: Breakfast, lunch and dinner items

in Media is not a fancy place. It’s a simple sandwich shop in Media that has been serving its patrons for years. It’s the type of place where regulars are known by name and people order the same thing over and over. When I walked in the other day, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I had never set foot in Vinnie’s Place and that was pretty obvious.

The menu has breakfast, lunch and dinner options but as it was lunch time I opted for a chicken cheese steak (I added fried long hots) and salad. The dining area, counter and kitchen are quite clean and you are able to see the staff prepare your food. I was a bit dismayed to find that the chicken for my sandwich was already cooked and simply being reheated on the griddle. I’ve had plenty of chicken cheese steaks and the chicken is usually cooked to order. The cheese was nicely melted and the bun soft but the chicken was dried out and the portion was skimpy. The peppers were piping hot but not that flavorful. 

I ordered a side salad but there was some confusion and a salad with a heaping scoop of tuna salad emerged from the kitchen. When I said I had wanted a plain salad and returned the salad to the counter, rather than make me a new salad, they simply scraped off the tuna and gave it back to me. There are plenty of salad dressings to choose from but the Ken’s Steakhouse packet of blue cheese was disappointing. Instead of being creamy and wonderfully savory it was watery and had a weird tang to it as well as a very yellow color. Perhaps I have been spoiled by homemade blue cheese dressing but I didn’t enjoy the Ken’s dressing at all.

There are a wide variety of beverages and chips from which to choose. I washed it all down with some bottled water although an iced tea or coke would have gone well with my lunch too.

The service is surly. No one is rude but I wouldn’t call it exemplary service. There is a very relaxed vibe here. I could hear the staff members gossiping about members of their class as I was seated right by the counter. There are plenty of tables and a TV that didn’t appear to be working in the brightly lit dining area. While I didn’t love my lunch I have heard great things about the hoagies here. It’s a shame I wasn’t in a hoagie mood that day.