Having recently visited the Picadilly on Manhattan in the Ellendale neighborhood near Maplewood and the St. Louis city limits, I decided to visit the Southwest Diner, a brand new establishment that opened up just a few months ago to some pretty good reviews. If you are in downtown Maplewood and head down Southwest Avenue past Schafly's, if you keep going past McCausland you will find it on the corner of Southwest and Abbott. There is no lot but there is plenty on street parking on either street.
First note that it is only open for breakfast and lunch, and when we got there on a Saturday around 11:40 am it was pretty full and very loud. Luckily we were able to get a booth for four fairly quickly since people who showed up just a little later were not so lucky. We did notice the booth seats were hard plastic (not cushioned) and we were located under a poster for "The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery" starring Steve McQueen, which I had never remembered seeing. It was ironic that the bank robbed in that movie was the Southwest Bank.
It was then time to order the food and they had a special of the day for Blueberry pancakes that two people ordered. My son picked the grilled cheese sandwich with bacon, and I was searching for something southwestern to pick! I ended up with the Tostadas which may have been a mistake. They were pretty tasty but were quite difficult to eat without making a mess. The other people in my group all found their breakfast food "okay" but they were not overly impressed. It may have been better if the place were not so busy and crowded, since the service was slow and the drink refills were nonexistent. The waiting staff seemed to be trying but they were overwhelmed and we were "helped" by several different people at different times. The general consensus among the four of us were that we were not coming back, especially not with Schlafly's just up the street, and Picadilly a few blocks away. We like to eat at local independent restaurants, but with so many good ones available in the area, we would rather go elsewhere.
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