You may remember our previous visits to the now out of business, Chatterbox Cafe in Windham. Well, we were in the area and decided to drive by the space to see if it was still empty. Much to our surprise, MaryAnn's Diner decided to open a restaurant in the same spot. Would this be an improved experience over the disaster that was the Chatterbox Cafe?
Unfortunately, we discovered MaryAnn’s after they had closed for the day. Always the sleuth, my wife checked out their Facebook page and read that they had been open for a couple of months. We knew that a visit was imminent. Immediately upon entering it was apparent that they had made a much more efficient use of the space. The hostess station had been moved up closer to the front eliminating a lot of empty area and allowing for more booths to be added. MaryAnn’s theme is that of a 50’s style diner so the décor and music enhanced the feel very well.
The hostess brought us to one of the booths near the front. Interestingly she did not provide any menus. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or if the server does this to let the hostess know when they have been to the table. Either way it took a little longer than normal for our waitress to come over and we had to ask someone else for a menu. They may want to consider having the hostess give out the menus in the future.
Mary Ann's has everything a breakfast fan could want, omelets, French toast, waffles, pancakes, steaks and benedicts. I ordered my usual, eggs over medium, home fries, burned toast and bacon.
This was good, the home fries were just okay and could have used more flavoring.
My wife ordered a veggie omelette and thought it was decent. She also thought the home fries could have used some help. She likes hers crispy and these were lacking crunch and flavor.
Overall, we enjoyed our visit and we plan to make a return visit soon. We’ve dined at their original location on Broadway in Derry but the wait there is generally very long so we were pleased that they thought to expand into Windham. If you’re from this area, you know that there isn’t much around for breakfast options so I think they will do very well in their new spot.