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Hi, hope everyone is doing well this week. I don’t know about you ,but somehow, somewhere the year has just gotten away from me. Can you believe it is time for the kids to get out of school already? Seems just like a month ago that we were buying new book bags and sending them off to be educated. Wow! I guess it is true, the older you get the quicker time passes you by. All of this hot weather probably has the kids feeling like summertime is here and they have had enough school. I know as a child I loved school but I sure was happy to see summer come. Please just be mindful that when school is out more children will be playing and running all about. Be careful, you are the last thing they are thinking about when they are out playing. Let’s make summer safe for everyone.

Heard there was a new Moma in town so I had to go check her out. Well, actually it is a new restaurant located in Reading on Reading Road. We decided to go to Moma’s Hot Pot on a Friday evening. It is located in the old Sweeney Seafood building. We entered and found the inside to be clean and open. I don’t like to be stacked up on other people when I go out to eat, I guess you could say I like a little “elbow” room. There were about seven or eight other groups of  people having dinner when we got there. We were seated immediately but had to wait quite awhile before getting drinks and silverware. There were people that came in after us the got waited on before us, but not being in a hurry, we didn’t mind and used the time to chat and unwind. Eventually the two waitresses working the floor came over to our table and offered their apologies explaining that they were short staffed and they appreciated our patience. Having time to look over the extensive menu we placed our order and went back to waiting.

The menu has quite a bit to offer, Italian, Eastern and America cuisine is mostly available.  They have everything from burgers to manicotti and back around to some eastern dishes I couldn’t even pronounce. They also have a reasonable children’s menu. I always like to check out the food orders that are being served around me when I am in a new restaurant so I know what to expect when my order arrives. The two waitresses were still rushing around doing the best they could do, but honestly the evening would have been more enjoyable with better service. I finally ordered a chopped steak with grilled onion and mushrooms served with gravy and mashed potatoes, only to be told that they were out of gravy. My husband ordered the fish and chips after seeing several orders of the dish whiz past us. My sister-in-law ordered the zucchini sticks and grilled vegetables. We had about a twenty-five minute wait before our food was brought out, only to be told that they were also out of the grilled vegetables.(It would have been nice if they had let us know this before the rest of the food was brought out to the table) My sister-in-law switched her order to the chef salad with dressing.  My chopped steak was tasty even without the gravy and the only problem with the mashed potatoes was that they tasted like “more.” My tossed salad was warm but once I put the home-made Russian dressing on it, I devoured it. The dressing is the best I have had in a long time. My husband’s fish and chips must have been good, he kept saying “mmm fish and chips”. He cleaned his plate and had a little room to try the zucchini strips, which he replied that he wished he wasn’t so full because they were really good. My sister-in-law’s chef salad finally arrived and the presentation was real pretty. It was in a big shell bowl with generous amounts of meat, cheese and egg. She said it was fresh and very tasty, even if she did have to wait. As I watched around the little restaurant I noticed that everyone was eating and seemed to be enjoying themselves. I guess we all just settled in and decided slow service or not, the food was worth the wait. Our bill for two dinners and one soft drink came to about seventeen dollars, which I didn’t think was too bad. My sister-in-law’s tab was even better, due to the grilled vegetables not being available and her chef salad being served well after we got our food, she wasn’t charged for it. Her total about four dollars. The poor waitresses kept trying to do their best by greeting customers, taking orders, serving food and bussing tables, from the looks on the customers faces it was more stressful for them than for us waiting patrons.

I would recommend you give them a try and hopefully the waitresses will be fully staffed so that you can enjoy the evening as much as we did. We will definitely pay them another visit in a few weeks. Hopefully they will have had time to tweak a few problems and get things running a little smoother. Do keep in mind that their restrooms are not handicap accessible. You have to go down a steep set of stairs to reach that area, but once you get there, they appeared clean. Applause to the new business, Applause to the waitresses for keeping their cool and doing their best and Applause to the patrons for being patient and just taking the extra time it took to get everything ordered and served to just sit back and relax and let the stress roll off.  Please try to support new and old local businesses, usually it is just the little guy trying to make a go of it, not a big corporate conglomeration where you are just a number. Remember there is always room in the peanut gallery. Reporting from the peanut gallery, Peanut

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