A worn brick exterior and red and white sign greet you as you arrive at Pegah’s Family Restaurant, 11005 Johnson Drive. Two large windows take up a majority of the storefront and reveal that the inside of Pegah’s is just as you expect.

Simple, almost old-fashioned décor overwhelms the interior. The walls are some sort of tan-ish gray color with a single strip of flower wallpaper border running along the top of the walls. Gray booths outline the single room restaurant while white tables and brown chairs fill the middle. It is bleak and uneventful, to say the least.

The only other ornamentation was the slew of senior citizens that apparently make up the majority of Pegah’s customers. While they paid no attention to me, I still felt like I needed to sit in my seat and behave myself or risk being scolded. An effect that was doubled due to the fact that my mother accompanied because she used to work across the street.

The waitress, on the other hand, made me feel as if I could dance on one of the tables and she would not mind one bit. She was so sweet and attentive that I just wanted to take her home with me. She delivered menus and took our drink order immediately after we sat down and returned less than 30 seconds later with drinks in hand.

The menu itself was simple and based off classic American cuisine. It had both hot and cold sandwiches and “home-style dinners” which consisted of things like chicken and meatloaf and several different varieties of burgers.

I ordered a single cheeseburger, waffle fries and a cup of chili, while my mother ordered the smothered chicken dinner: chicken breast, baked potato and two sides.

Not 10 minutes of awkward senior-citizen-appropriate conversation later, the food arrived. The plates were huge and packed with food. The cheeseburger was served on a Kaiser roll with all of the toppings on the side, something I greatly appreciate because I take my cheeseburgers with lettuce only. The patty was decently thick, by no means large. The cheddar cheese was melted on the top and had odd, but not completely repulsive, bubbles in it. Overall, it tasted good, it was not magical but I would order it again.

The waffle fries were obviously hand-cut with the skin of the potato still attached to some pieces. They came out piping hot and with a perfect balance between being soggy and crisp. A light seasoning made the fries appear oddly orange and gave them a deeper flavor while still allowing them to taste like true French fries.

The smothered chicken lived perfectly up to its name. The single boneless breast was covered in a blanket of cheese, onions and mushrooms. The chicken was cooked well, and the toppings magically stayed attached when it was cut apart. I thought it tasted just a little bland, but then again, I do not care for chicken. My mother, who loves chicken, was more than pleased and ate the entire thing. According to her, the mushrooms and onions added the perfect amount of flavor.

The baked potato was more to my taste. It was as big as two fists and had a light fluffy texture. It taste so oddly good for a baked potato that I continually tried to steal bites of it when my mother wasn’t looking.

Her other two sides, a dinner roll and salad, did not fair as well. The dinner roll was typical and completely unnecessary next to the mountain of food. The salad consisted of pre-cut bag lettuce with several croutons, a large squirt of greenish-yellow dressing and a single slice of tomato on top.

The rest of the tomato was put to good use in my chili. The portion was rather small for the $3.50 price tag, but other than that it was perfect. It consisted of mainly ground beef with beans and of course, diced tomatoes. It was hearty and flavorful without being spicy and in general, just really good chili.

Pegah’s family restaurant is must-hit hot spot for any senior citizen out on the town. For everyone else, the food is decent, the restaurant was quiet and the wait staff extremely helpful. It is not a designation to drive a long distance to, but if you are in the area, it is worth stopping in.