Eating at a diner located inside of a drugstore is an American tradition. Unfortunately, Miami isn't big on American traditions unless you count destroying beautiful architecture to put mini-malls up in their place.
But we digress. Speaking of the dime store or drugstore diner, we only know of two such throwbacks in Miami proper, one which is S&S Diner on Bird Road (previously reviewed here). The other is Royal Palm Grill in downtown Homestead.
The old time-y art on the walls (mainly reproductions of old Coca-Cola promotional materials) and the customers sipping coffee while reading the paper are not the only visuals which seem to hark back to a simpler time. The prices are so low that when you walk up to register, you wanna ask, "Are you sure?"
Royal Palm offers breakfast all day in addition to lunch and dinner, as well as daily specials. We've been there about a dozen times now, and it has never disappointed.
Breakfast comes in many forms, from the corned beef hash and eggs platter ($5.99) to the veggie omelet ($5.79). Most breakfast dishes come with your choice of grits or home fries and toast or biscuit. The portions are normal - like the rations which we should eat, instead of what we normally eat -- so you're never left hungry, but you don't feel like you need to throw up to make room to breathe either.
There are some great deals for lunch, but we are in love with the hamburger on a Kaiser roll ($4.99) which comes with regular fries but you can upgrade to sweet potato fries ($1.75). The sweet potato fries are insanely good. The amount of soft potato inside and crunchy potato outside are in perfect harmony. We know this sounds crazy, but we don't care. Those fries are good. They also go great with Royal Palm's sliders ($0.99 - $1.24).
We haven't tried dessert yet - we're usually too full after sharing a chili ($3.29 and phenomenal) and then eating our individual orders. Actually, I lie. We have dessert, just not traditional dessert. The Royal Palm Grill serves the best waffles ($3.99) we've ever tasted - and we've tasted plenty. Perfectly soft with a bit of crust, buttery, sweet, yummy.
One of the coolest things about eating at Royal Palm Grill is the diversity of the clientele. Blacks, whites, and browns all co-exist peacefully at the diner. That's the power of a really good waffle.
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