South Side Soda Shop and Diner

When you think "authentic diner" you think of mounds of home cooked food for a great price, right?

So what do you get for $38 at Southside Soda Shop and Diner in Goshen, Indiana, you know, the one sporting the AS SEEN ON FOOD TV sticker on the door and a nook full of South Side mugs and sweatshirts and Food TV books and pictures of the owner posing with the fruity host of said show?

Two meagerly filled warmish "steak" sandwiches on barely toasted buns, one with cheese, one without
One order of fries and small cup of cole slaw scooped from some giant tub
One cup of "best in Michiana" chili (it wasn't)
One bowl of "best in Michiana" chili (it still wasn't)
Five mozzarella cheese sticks
Five waters, never refilled
Two individual scoops of ice cream on little silver platters
One small slice of cherry pie advertised as Cherry Raspberry pie, meagerly filled and with mediocre crust
One small slice of chocolate pecan pie, nicely filled and quite good in taste but with the same mediocre crust
Ambiance

I don't know if they jacked up their prices after being "featured" on that show or what but it was worth about half of what we paid.

About a year ago we went to the Barbie-Cutie restaurant when it opened on Washington and found it to be completely disappointing despite there being corporate honchos there to ensure we had a great meal. They are now closed. We also have visited the Moosewood BBQ off St. Joe and found it dismal. Again, the food was barely warm, the portions tiny, the booths rickety (plus they did our pet peeve of squeezing us into a booth between the only two other groups in the restaurant despite us having two kids and a baby), and the food only so-so. Surprisingly they are still open.

It's not that we LIKE to go to crappy restaurants. We like to try new things and often those new things just don't have their act together. I've yet to find good BBQ in Fort Wayne, especially pulled pork. Timmy's Pizza & BBQ in Garrett has the best I've tasted in a sixty-mile radius and well worth the drive, as is their Chinese restaurant which uses fresh vegetables that, surprisingly, don't leave you feeling hungry an hour later. And of course if you're in Evansville you MUST stop at Wolf's BBQ, the Mecca of BBQ. When my brother-in-law heard they had a buffet he fell on his knees and thanked God.

I'm open to suggestions for good BBQ in the Fort Wayne area. Anyone? Anyone?