Harvard Tipping Society review - Aram's Coffee

As some of you know, I am part of an elite group known as "The Harvard Tipping Society".   The HTS is a group of individuals who are committed to sharing dining experiences and feedback with other diners.   I submit reviews there every so often.   They accept reviews online as well.   The url is:  www.harvardtipping.org , definetely worth a visit.

 anyways, here's the review!

Date: July 21, 2007
Establishment: Aram’s Coffee Cake, 85 Trapelo Road, Belmont, MA 02478
Time: 10:00 AM
Server: unknown

One morning, before a weekend excursion to the beach, 2 members of the HTS stopped in at a nice little breakfast place - Aram’s in Belmont, MA. Breakfast places in the metro Boston area can be somewhat hard to come by, unless you’re looking for a chain such as IHOP, Bickford’s, or Denny’s, and often we prefer to visit the small, family owned establishments as they are much more unique, and usually the food is prepared with more care and attention.

We walked into Aram’s, and the place was brimming with patrons - always a good sign. We were a little bothered by the fact that the only two empty tables were both covered in dirty dishes, but when the cook saw us come in, he had someone clean off a table for us, and we sat down. Our waitress (name unknown, - none were wearing nametags) quickly came to take our order, and we each went with meals of french toast, bacon, and eggs - along with coffee/orange juice, respectively, and a side of home fries for me. We were given our beverages and we sat back, taking in our environment.

Aram’s is a very small place - 4 booths, 2 small tables, and a bar area which also serves as the payment counter, and the wall between the cooking area and the dining booths. Thus, we were able to watch the cook as he prepared the food, which is always nice. We also checked out the front bakery area to the left side of the counter, which was full of freshly baked muffins that looked delicious.

We waited about 10 minutes for our food, which was brought out in parts, rather than all together. This was a little odd, and although my companion hungrily dug into his food as it came along in this manner, I waited for my entire meal to come out so that I would be able to photograph it. Although I was starving, I waited for the rest of the food, and it took about 5 extra minutes for the rest of it to come out. I also had to remind the waitress about the homefries, which had not been given to me.

Minor issues though, as once the photos had been taken, and I was able to dig into my food, it was absolutely incredible. Really, one of the best breakfast’s I’d had in a very long time, that rivaled even the best IHOP experiences. (this should come as no surprise however, like I mentioned previously, family-owned establishments almost always have better tasting food than chains)

mmmmmmmm.

The eggs, french toast, and homefries were all cooked with delicious spices. The food was very fresh. We were quite pleased. I put what I couldn’t finish into a container and we went over to the cash register. I was mildy surprised when she gave me the total - $18. Almost 20 bucks for breakfast?! That was certainly more than we would have spent at IHOP or Denny’s. oh well - the food was probably worth that. I also got a marble/coffeecake muffin as a snack for later, which did bring the total to $20.

We left, with our stomachs happy, and food in hand… and headed off to our destination. We later on split up the muffin, which was pretty tasty - nothing amazing, but good.

Thus sums up our experience at Aram’s Coffee Cake in Belmont - a nice little place to go if you want a homecooked breakfast (before 3pm only!) and if you don’t mind paying a little extra buck for your meal.

Server performance: 10/10
Quality of food: 10/10
Cleanliness of environment: 7/10
Overall dining experience: 9/10

Until next time!