Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Ma's an Mine in Northwood

Earlier this summer as we approached the junction of Routes 4 and 202 in Northwood, my wife noticed some people eating breakfast on an outside porch. We didn't think anything of it at first but decided to Google the restaurant, Ma's An Mine, at a later date to find out about this new spot. Unfortunately, there wasn't much on the internet. Since we travel this road frequently on our trips to the seacoast we decided to drop by on a recent Sunday.

Upon entering the gravel driveway, we parked way in the back so we knew that they were extremely busy. Looking around I noticed a small room in the front with a few tables and the kitchen in plain view to the left. Straight on from the front door there is another longer room with more tables and some booths in the back. There was definitely a homey and small town feel to the place.

Ma’s An Mine serves breakfast and lunch and my wife noticed immediately that they had homemade corned beef hash. She promptly ordered what they call the Mound which is a grilled bagel covered in their hash with eggs on top. I had planned to get my usual (I won't bore you with more pictures of eggs, you have probably seen the same picture of my eggs over easy enough times) but I did ask her if I could sample some.

The mound shown below:

This did look amazing and although it was good it could have been a lot better. It was all corned beef with no onions, potatoes or anything else and that is fine but it was a little dry. My wife asked for a side of hollandaise and the hash was much better with it than without. They may want to consider covering this with a cheese or hollandaise sauce in the future or just provide it on the side.

The food was fine but other patrons made for a lackluster experience. After we sat down we noticed a family at a table behind us with two younger children and they were screaming and yelling for some time. The parents did nothing to quiet these two and seemed to have no problem with their children running amuck. At one point the child that appeared to be about four walked behind the counter where the kitchen is with no supervision. This is not only dangerous for the child but also the staff who are busy bringing hot food and coffee out to customers. I am sure you could imagine what could happen.

One waitress was trying to handle all of the tables by herself and it seemed like it was a little too much. She did a good job trying to keep up despite the many directions she was being pulled. That said coffee cups were not refilled in a timely manner and the food took forever to come out of the kitchen. This probably had nothing to do with her but there needs to be more communication with customers if it is going to take a long time.

Overall we found this to be decent small town restaurant that may not be the best option if you are in a hurry.