A long time favorite restaurant of mine has been Zebb’s in the Mattydale area. I’ve been going there off and on for about 35 years, and for the most part I’ve always enjoyed everything I’ve had there. When I went the last time it had been almost a year since I’d been there, and now I’m starting to wonder if it’s gotten a bit dated.


pulled pork

When a friend of mine from college came to town for a wedding, I decided to take her and my wife to Zebb’s because we’d been there together back in the day. I thought that it might remind her of how good the meals were, even if it had been decades for her.

We went on a Saturday night, and I have to admit that the first thing I noticed as we were being seated is that most of the people in the restaurant were older. That was never my experience, as I always remembered a pretty mixed crowd based on age. If there were any 20-somethings in our area, they looked pretty old… and I would know!

The second thing I noticed was the menu change. That’s to be expected at almost any restaurant, but some of my old favorites were gone and replaced by some pretty nice looking things. I decided on the pulled pork meal you see above, especially because it came with bacon. What I got… well, you see it. Not much pulled pork or bacon, and the bacon wasn’t cooked quite enough. I had to ask for extra sauce, but at least the pork was tender. I didn’t eat many of the fries because they seemed a bit dry, as if they’d sat around for a while.


key lime pie

After that, I decided to try what for me is a non-traditional dessert at Zebb’s. Usually I go for a box of the chocolate chip cookies, but I saw that they had key lime pie on the menu; I wonder if that’s always been there. As you see, it didn’t look all that bad, but it wasn’t the best tasting pie I’ve ever had. I still ate it though; dessert is dessert after all. 🙂

The servings my wife and my friend got were fairly small also. I started to wonder if, because they seemed to be catering to an older crowd, if they decided to start serving smaller meals, since we tend to eat less as we get older. They both also said they thought the meals were just okay, nothing to write home about.

A big part of me hopes it was just an off night for them, but I haven’t felt the urge to go back, not even for the cookies, and that’s a shame. I don’t even know anyone else who’s been in a while to ask them what they think. I’m sure at some point I’ll give it another try and hope for a return to the type of meals I know they used to serve. For now, I think I’ll be staying closer to home.