Affordable lunch in Princeton for Saturday.

[Spaetzle75]

Going to Princeton for lunch on Saturday and looking for a great affordable lunch in town. Any ideas?

[menton1]

Where did you wind up at, Spaetzle?

[Spaetzle75]

PJ's Pancake House, it was excellent.

[menton1]

Wow, could you give us a full report? I knew the pancakes and breakfasts were great, but always heard that lunch and dinner there were rather ordinary, of the order of Friendly's...

[Spaetzle75]

The table ordered mostly breakfast items. I had a 4 oz bacon cheese burger. There was a choice of 8 oz or 4 oz which was nice. Sometimes a 8 oz burger is too much meat. Asked for med rare closer to med well but they tried. Fries were not homemade but good.
The atmosphere is great real "old school". The tables are all carved up with intials which I thought was fun. The dining room itself was contemporary with great old pictures of Princeton.
Yes, the food is similar to a Friendly's in the way that they are similar types of service restaurants. That is the only similarity much more character and charisma than a chain restaurant.

[menton1]

Yes, for breakfast food this was a good choice. Lunch, well, probably lots of better places...

[Spaetzle75]

Depends what you are looking for.

[glutton]

I'm not so complimentary of their food, breakfast or otherwise. I've been there three times and each time something lousy has been served -- undercooked pancakes, cold coffee, etc. I find the long lines on weekends for brunch to be entirely inexplicable.

[menton1]

Well, the thing that threw most of the responders here off is that the OP stated they wanted a lunch place, and wound up at a breakfast place. Most of the recs above would have proven a far superior lunch choice. No pancakes, though...

[Spaetzle75]

For the price, I was happy with I got. The keyword was affordable. Menton, if you want to buy me lunch at one of your superior lunch choices be my guest. Everyone knows what opinions are like and everyone has got one.

[fletchphil]

Affordable and Princeton do not necessarily work well in the same sentence. I attribute 'worth it' to affordable... If you are looking for good cheap eats, hit up The original soup man on palmer square or hoagie haven (best sandwiches anywhere). If you are looking for something that might be a bit more than, say $10 a head, try Teresa's. If your idea of 'affordable' is like mine, I would go about 2 minutes north and visit elements. They do a wonderful job, but definately not in the affordable category. I have been consistently dissapointed at Witherspoon Grill with both service and food. The last visit was for brunch and at 11:30am, they were out of hash browns, really folks? Mediterra is pretty good, Triumph has gotten a lot better food wise if you can handle the overwhelming smell of a brewery. Sadly, Blue Point does not serve lunch, but if you can hold out till 4:30, I would go there for reasonable, consistent and delicious. Hard to believe that it is owned by the same guy as the Witherspoon Grill sometimes, the two places are polar opposites.

-----
Mediterra
29 Hulfish St, Princeton, NJ 08542

Witherspoon Grill
57 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08540

[ambrose]

Fletchphil, I thought the soup man in Princeton had closed. Perhaps it was some other location.

For the OP - there have been numerous threads about lunch in Princeton so you may want to do a search. Here's a reasonably recent discussion, also about lunch on a Saturday, that may be of interest:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/695428

[foodISlove]

Bluepoint Grill on Nassau Street has wonderful seafood. Triumph Brew Pub is also great; beers even better.

[tom246]

Bluepoint Grill does indeed have great seafood but they don't serve lunch.

[glutton]

But the fish market next door does serve lunch. there's a counter in the back where you order soups, sandwiches, etc. Eveyrthing is very good -- I'm a fan of the shrimp po'boy. Once your food is ready, you can eat at the tables outside Bluepoint Grill or even walk inside the restaurant and use their tables. We do it all the time.

[tom246]

Your absolutely correct. I was only speaking about the actual Blue Point Grill restaurant.

[madgreek99]

Never had a good meal at Triumph. Been there a few times, because I really want to like it, but I just can't. Bad food. Bad service. Good beer.

[madgreek99]

Witherspoon Grill and Mediterra have decent lunches.

-----
Mediterra
29 Hulfish St, Princeton, NJ 08542

Witherspoon Grill
57 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08540

[arpad]

Teresa's on Palmer Square .

[Foody4life]

^ then Bent Spoon for gelato (also on Palmer Square) and Small World Coffee on Witherspoon for the best local coffee experience. All within a few blocks of each other.

-----
The Bent Spoon
35 Palmer Sq W, Princeton, NJ 08542