Colonial Restaurant (CLOSED)
39 Main Street, Plymouth, MA 02360
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Even though Plymouth is often overlooked as a food destination, this historic seaside town south of Boston has its fair share of dining spots, including a number of seafood shacks, upscale restaurants, and family restaurants. And oddly enough, even though Plymouth is an important tourist town that is often jammed with folks from outside of the area, it seems that most of the restaurants in this sprawling community are completely unknown to folks in the Boston area. This may be due in part to the fact that it is so easy to bypass Plymouth on the way to Cape Cod. As a result, a number of eating establishments in Plymouth are hidden gems of sorts, with one prime example being an old fashioned townie joint in the middle of town called the Colonial Restaurant.
Greek-owned, noisy and bustling, and completely unpretentious, the Colonial Restaurant almost has the feel of a diner. The interior is very old-school, with harsh recessed ceiling lights, wooden beams running from the floor to the ceiling, a shiny tile floor, TV and Keno by the counter area, and numbered lights above the kitchen doors that indicate when orders are up. In addition to the squarish main dining room on the ground floor, there is more seating upstairs in a fairly roomy bar area called the Colonial Tavern. Workers at the Colonial Restaurant seem to know many of the patrons, which is really no surprise as it truly does seem like a place that locals go to rather than visitors to Plymouth.
The menu at the Colonial Restaurant includes such standards as fish and chips, burgers, pizza (including Hawaiian and buffalo chicken), hot dogs, pork chops, and an array of seafood dishes, such as a flaky, tender broiled haddock entree. One truly old fashioned meal at the Colonial is the breaded pork cutlet with spaghetti and meat sauce. It is perhaps not the healthiest dish in the world, but the pork is pounded flat and delicious, and the spaghetti and meat sauce, while not North End quality, really is quite good. Appetizers include a hearty chili and some good soups, while desserts include several puddings including a very rich grape nut pudding that is almost a meal in itself.
The Colonial Restaurant probably isn't a destination spot, but it is an excellent option if you happen to be in the Plymouth area and are looking for a local joint that doesn't have much in the way of crowds. Indeed, the cliche "it is what it is" comes to mind here, as the Colonial is basically just a good, solid restaurant with tasty food and prices that won't put much of a dent in your wallet.
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