Kitchenette

Kitchenette
156 Chambers St, New York 10007
212 267 6740

Food 4
Ambiance 4
Service 4
Overall 12
Good for heavy greasy leaden diner inspired brunch
So I realized when arriving here last Sunday, that I have visited the Morningside Heights branch of this establishment many times before. However, the Morningside heights branch has  never left me so sorely disappointed. We arrived there fairly late, my husband, sister and my mother around 3 pm. We were quickly seated at a small corner table ,with a window to the super cramped kitchen. When you enter this place you are reminded of country diners gone awry. To your left, is glass area of  baked goods , cakes, cupcakes and cookies that look fresh and delicious. The rest of the decor is a mishmosh of garage finds and colors. Pinks,red,yellow and greens. Well battered and used kitchen items. The menu is fairly priced, most brunch items starting in the  ten dollar range with some in the early teens. The food is basic with some attempted creativity thrown in. Plates come heavily loaded and and the food is just plain heavy. My sister had the  $11.50 sweet potatoe waffle, my mom the  $12 chicken cobb salad, my husband  $11.50 blackberry and cherry pancakes   , and I had the $10.25 Turkey sausage, cheddar and potatoe omelet.  All of our food came out within about 15 minutes, which made me a little suspicious as to how fresh everything was. The plates looked large and potentially appetizing, though clearly this kitchen is not about finesse.  Food was just plopped on the plate, diner style. Where to begin on this journey of sublime disappointment. I will start with my mother's skimpy Cobb salad. The thing about Cobb salad is it should be very hard to screw up. Load up the plate with onion, bacon, cheese, tomatoe, avocado and chicken. And voila you have salad. However, when my mom's salad arrived all ingredients were barely there. 4 pieces of tiny chicken, a few tomatoes, smattering of onion, no celery and very little blue cheese . It was amazing that compared to all other brunch items they were so pathetic in the salad. Aside from the general paucity of ingredients, the dressing and taste just were plain not too good. On to my omelet. Greasy and heavy. Like coal landing in my stomach. Some foods are greasy bits of heaven. This wasn't one of them. Barely seasoned, poor quality cheddar. The biscuit was even worse. I knew there was a problem when I picked it up and could sense its weight. Problem No 1. Problem No2 is it tasted as leaden as it looked.  My husband's pancakes continued the theme of leaden food. No air or fluffiness is these pancakes. Just wood. My sister fared almost worse than all of us. The waffle, which had not taste of sweet potatoe just the orange color, was denser than both of our brunch entrees. Service was barely present most of the brunch. I noted that when were leaving we were the last in this place and the waitstaff looked ready to go with us.
Needless to say we left with all of our plates half full. Our stomach's questioning the wiseness of the decision to eat even that amount.
I would definantly caution anyone searching for a satisfying brunch to avoid this place.
The Quest continues.....