This year for my birthday dinner, we wanted to try a new restaurant. Brian had heard good things about the Waterbury Coach House in Lakewood, so we were excited to try it. I checked it out online first of course. Brian and some online comments mentioned the Tomato Monteray, so I knew I would get that, but their menu isn't online, so I figured I'd wing the rest. The prices are reasonable with the highest priced item being $17 for the filet. Wine by the glass was quite reasonable as well.
But back to our dinners! We were shown to a booth all the way in the back, just where I like to sit. But we still had a view of part of the bar for people watching. I'm gonna say we were the youngest by probably 2 decades. I certainly didn't mind. While we ate, there was live jazz in the background. It was very nice! Upon reading an actual menu, we realized the Tomato Monteray was an appetizer, so we ordered that to start. This is mine after I ate some-sorry! So the 'monteray' is monteray jack cheese melted over the top. (They also have an eggplant monteray entree, which by the way, is the only absolute vegetarian option on the menu if you are not pescatarian. Although I'm sure they could whip up some sort of pasta dish.) The tomato was breaded and fried and I know I tasted mayonnaise, which I thought was odd, but not entirely unpleasant. We each had two. My entree came with a salad, but I won't talk about that. Moving on.
For my entree, I ordered the scallops. When I got the dish, I thought, oh my-that doesn't look very good. Is that a brown sauce? With scallops? But I tell you what, it was delicious. The scallops were really good. They were dredged in flour and then sautéed. I've never had them like that. It was different. Whatever that sauce was was really good. I ordered a side of angel hair pasta and it went together perfectly. Including when I stood over the sink the next day and ate it cold out of the container.
Brian, in true Brian fashion, ordered the stuffed pork chops with mashed potatoes. And again, in his true fashion, he moaned in agony after eating all that meat. I do recognize its my fault. The stuffing was delicious and he deemed the chops 'perfect'.
We ordered dessert to go and was pleasantly surprised that the bill was only $60 for and appetizer, 3 glasses of wine, entrees & 2 desserts. Not bad, I think.
I've heard this place is a hidden gem. I have to agree. If you want some no nonsense comfort food, I would definitely recommend it!
