A friend saw Monroe's Deli-Style Eatery while driving through Preston County and was determined to check it out. We ventured out that way until we reached the large, red barn-like building reading "Monroe's steaks, pasta, seafood." I'm not sure exactly what they mean by deli-style eatery, because we just came in, chose a seat, and soon enough, a server handed us a couple menus.

It looked as though it was set up to be a house at one point, but our server assured us it wasn't. There were a ton of dining-room, country-style tables all across the open dining area. They were mismatched, but it was nice in a way. Homey. Lots of little crafty decorations.

They have specials on the wall when you walk in. The menu had sandwiches, pastas and dinners. They had an option to split two dinner meals, so I went with that: the fried fish and crabcake. It came with THREE sides, of which there are a ton of options. But I ultimately went with mashed potatoes and gravy, soup, and broccoli. There are a good bit of options here, but they're all fairly similar. But everything seems homemade, for the most part.

When my dish came out, it was actually kind of smaller than I expected. I paid more to split the two dinners, but I guess I was just paying for the variety. It was more like two half sizes of each dinner. But that was okay. Both things that I had were pretty tasty. The fish was good - fried and greasy. The crabcake wasn't bad either. Though I wish I would have been served with some remoulade. Both were pretty good, homestyle meals. My mashed potatoes were totally killer. Definitely homemade. So tasty. And the soup was homemade chicken noodle - also fantastic. Broccoli was okay - not seasoned much.

But my favorite part was when they brought a dessert tray out. So many cheesecakes, cakes, pies. Gah. There wasn't even another option for me after she said turtle Cheesecake. And I'm not even sure I remember eating it because it was pure euphoria. Caramel, chocolately crust, creamy cheesecake. Heaven. This would have earned them an A, for sure.

... Then I went to Jersey's a day or two later (which I'll be blogging about) and saw they had the exact. same. cheesecake. for sale. My heart broke a little. Not homemade? Total bummer. But, it does taste entirely amazing, regardless.

Grade: B