Cindy Dee's Family Restaurant
Location:
19112 Keep Tryst Rd
Knoxville, MD 21758
301-695-8181
This place is a real enigma in the area. No
one seems to know how long it's been there; who owned it over the years; why it
still exists.
Of course, the answer to that last question may be
simple: it's a mainstay, and the location is ideal. Cindy Dee's is the
last restaurant in Maryland before one travels across the Potomac River into
West Virginia. It's a small, unassuming little hole in the wall that
serves up what Southerners call "comfort food"; basic eats at a good
price.
I remember eating there before going white water
rafting back in the late 1970's with some of my high school buddies. In
those days you could gas up the car, grab a meal, and even buy a velvet oil
painting scene of the mountains if you were so inclined. It was pure
hillbilly, but it was good and cheap!
Many decades later my wife and I ventured in based on
the recommendations of the locals, and the place hadn't changed very much.
I wish I could say some good things about it at this point, but I have to be
honest: My wife's omelet was a disaster. What should have been a
basic onion and cheese was anything but good. It was buried in an entire white
onion, so much so that the egg was completely smothered. Now, this
wouldn't have been that bad, but the massive pile of onion was literally raw and inedible.
Being a good sport, she scraped most of it away and was met with a runny omelet
with not one, but two long human hairs laced into the mixture.
We decided that we'd give Cindy Dee's a second chance after
the waitress explained that the cook had quit that morning. It was the
current owner himself who was back in the kitchen, and he didn't really know how to cook.
Fair enough, but the food was no better the second time around, and the only
consistency in it was the presence of more hair in our eggs.
But here's the thing...
In this particular case, a couple of bad experiences
just don't matter. Cindy Dee's is a fixture in the area, and it probably
always will be. Most people absolutely love the place. The
Internet is inundated with high praise, even affectionate reviews for
it. The people who hit the area for recreation, rafting and general
sight-seeing tours adore it! Cindy Dee's is just one of those places that
people will continue to hit from now to eternity no matter what.
Try it if you want some authentic grease joint cookin',
but don't say we didn't warn you.
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because of a lousy server, or because the head chef had to head out of town for
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price of the meal, and the service they provided.
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