A fun place to eat - Budabings 50s Cafe
Written: Apr 25 '07
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Pros: Good service, Extensive menu, Low prices
Cons: Wait for a table can be terribly long
The Bottom Line: Budabings is a good place to eat – with a fun atmosphere, an extensive menu, and good service – they have it all
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| jps246's Full Review: Budabing's 50's Cafe |
Billing itself as a 50s café, Budabings is first and foremost a fun place to eat. It offers a wide variety of burgers, sandwiches, pizza and entrees and serves it all up in a kitschy, cozy dining area. The biggest problem about Budabings – the dining room is almost always full and you’ve got to wait to get a table.
The 50s motif comes more from the memorabilia and dining area set up. There’s the standard counter area where you can sit on stools along with the tables and booths that look like they came right out of a diner from the 1950s.
Where do I find this place?
Located at 1060 Main Street in Millis, Massachusetts, Budabings, while in its own building, is located in a small shopping plaza that also includes a subway and a couple of other small shops. There’s plenty of parking for all the businesses, though at the height of breakfast or dinner, the diners at Budabings do a good job at filling the parking lot up.
I’m going inside
If you’re lucky enough to stop in at Budabings when there isn’t a line of people waiting for a table, you’ll enter into the restaurant and have a choice of sitting at the counter or waiting for a table to be ready. The walls are covered in 50s memorabilia – paintings, pictures, license plates and more. It’s fun stuff to look at and I’m sure for some people, will bring back some memories.
If you do have to wait for a table, there’s not that much waiting room, so quite often the line actually snakes its way out the doors and into the parking lot. This is especially true for breakfast, which is the most popular meal at Budabings.
I’m looking at the menu
If you’re at Budabings for breakfast, you’ll find all the traditional American breakfast standbys including various egg dishes, pancakes, omelets, and french toast. I honestly haven’t come across anything I don’t like – but I’m a pretty basic kind of breakfast guy – usually sticking to pancakes with eggs and bacon or perhaps treating myself (and hoping my cholesterol medicine is working) once and a while to steak and eggs.
For lunch and dinner, the menu is quite expansive offering a number of different burgers, pizza, sandwiches and entrees. Everything is quite good – from the wood fired pizzas to the bbq steak tips. Even the fries are good – cut thick like steak fries and fried up to the perfect combination of crispness and softness inside.
I usually go with the bbq steak tips entrée – which comes with the steak tips, a choice of potato (I always go with the fries) and a vegetable. It’s almost always too much for me to eat and I end up having my lunch for the next day! I also like the pizza they have and the turkey dinner is also really good. My partner on the other hand likes the burgers and the sandwiches (with no lettuce and tomato of course). He often gets the bacon cheeseburger or the turkey club. We both usually start out with a small house or Caesar salad, either of which is good.
The appetizers run the gambit of what you find at most restaurants and include nachos, buffalo wings and fried mozzarella sticks. Nothing is really a standout, but nothing is bad either – just sort of standard I guess you could say.
Budabings also runs daily specials that are sometimes just reduced priced versions of their standard menu items, but also includes special items that you won’t find on the regular menu. I’ve run across a few gems this way – so make sure you check out the specials board when you come in.
They do offer desert, but honestly we’ve always been too full to try it out. There’s ice cream along with several different pies and cakes.
Budabings also offers take-out, so you can call ahead and pick up your order if you don’t want to eat there.
What am I going to pay?
One of the pleasant surprises about Budabings is how reasonable the prices are. I think the most expensive entrée is around $12 with the vast majority of the full meals between $8 and $10 with burgers and sandwiches around $7 to $8. With a soda and an appetizer, I wouldn’t expect to spend more than $10 to $12 per person, even less if you all get sandwiches or split a pizza. Breakfast is just as inexpensive.
Service and Ambiance?
Since Budabings is almost always crowded, you can imagine that the wait staff there hustles. They hustle a lot actually and the service is quick, efficient and usually right on the mark. The staff is friendly and pleasant and helps make your visit more enjoyable and help you out whenever they can. They even make sure, in all that hustle and bustle that your sodas and waters stay refilled.
The overall setting when you are eating? It can get a bit loud in the dining area, but I’ve never had a problem there – and while the staff is definitely rushing around, they do make time for individual diners, so you don’t feel left out or forgotten about while you are dining.
Final Thoughts
I like Budabings but I hate waiting, so unless I drive by and don’t see much of a line, I generally won’t stop in most of the time (unless everyone else wants to go too). Those times when there’s no line or not much of one, I will stop and I’ve enjoyed every visit I’ve made.
I’ve had quite a selection of items from their menu and usually fall back on that steak tips meal for lunch or dinner – they do a good job with the steak tips and the generous portions of vegetables and potato really make it a big meal. I’m also partial to the pizza (regular for me, but my friends like the more exotic ones that they offer) and if I’m there for breakfast, they do have good pancakes.
All in all, Budabings is a good place to eat – with a fun atmosphere, an extensive menu, and good service – they have it all. I just wish they’d have a slightly bigger dining area so the wait wasn’t so long at times.
So if you’re in the Millis area, Budabings is definitely worth a stop.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Try to hit the place slightly before or after breakfast, lunch or dinner to avoid the biggest crowds
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