Breakfast Review: Ginger's Cafe

Going out to breakfast on the weekends is one of the small pleasures in life that I enjoy the most.  I know that a lot of you might say that breakfast out isn't that special because it mostly consists of simple items you could prepare at home.  This is true, but sometimes dining out is as much about the experience as the food.  Knowing that I slept in somewhat late on a Sunday, went to an awesome diner  and had someone else prepare for me a hearty meal just really makes my day.  There are a couple of places near my residence that tend to fit that criteria and the one I visited most recently was Ginger's Cafe on Conner St. in Noblesville.

As I walked in on Sunday morning I noticed that while all the tables weren't full business was still brisk for being late morning and past time for the breakfast rush.  This is a true small mom and pop place.  There was no hostess so I grabbed a seat at a small table near the door.  The downside of this was that it took several minutes longer than normal to get noticed by the waitstaff that I was indeed there to eat and had just sat down.  The wait gave me time to look around at the interesting decor.  I found it really interesting that the tables and chairs in the restaurant are all mishmash and unique almost like they were donated or purchased at various garage sales.  Even though it meant my chair was slightly uncomfortable I was a fan.  The rest of the decorations on the walls like various old license plates and knickknacks gave it a very homey feel.  Eventually though I was noticed, and I was hungry and ready to order.

The difference between the biscuits is quite clear even in this picture.

I decided to go with the Ginger's Breakfast which was 2 eggs (over medium for me), home fries, 2 pieces of bacon, and 2 biscuits.  Absolutely everything I wanted and nothing I didn't.  This was not a sweet breakfast kind of morning.  My food didn't take long to come out of the kitchen and I was fairly pleased when I dug in.  My eggs were perfectly over medium, which I was most worried about.  The whites were cooked through and the yolks were the perfect combination of custardy and runny.  The home fries were nicely seasoned and tasted fresh.  I have had bad previous experiences were home fries so I was really glad these were a winner.  The bacon was good, but not outstanding.  It was just a little less crispy than I would have preferred and also a little thinner sliced than what I would consider really awesome bacon to be.  The part of the meal that confused me the most was the part I usually most look forward to, the biscuits.  The two biscuits I was served couldn't have tasted more different.  One biscuit was delicious, fluffy and fresh while the other tasted like a rubbery Pillsbury biscuit that had been sitting out a while then reheated.  One delicious.  One practically inedible.  I have no idea what accounted for the difference, but the lack of consistency was slightly annoying.  Really good biscuits are one thing that I can't make at home so I'm further disappointed when I get let down at a restaurant.

Overall though I have to say I love places like Ginger's.  They're local.  They're cozy.  They're kitschy and they're putting out some pretty good food.  Though there were a few problems here or there I definitely plan on going back and you should go try it out too.  Let's make like a Nascar fan's pickup truck and put some numbers on this bad boy.

Taste 6.8/10  I would definitely consider this place above average taste wise, but because of the biscuit I got and the consistency issues going with that I didn't feel like it deserved a full 7. 
Value 6/10  My meal was one of the bigger ones on the menu and it cost $6.95 cents plus an additional 2 bucks for the Diet Coke I ordered.  It didn't seem like either a really good or a really bad value to me.  It was an adequate price for an adequate meal.