Sweet Lou's: Alex's Review

When I stepped inside Sweet Lou's, for all I knew I could have left Northfield entirely and been in a New York restaurant... or a Denver one... or an LA breakfast place. And that is the largest problem of Sweet Lou's. With one very lame exception, Sweet Lou's is completely generic and even less inspiring a place than Blue Monday's.

But first the waffles. They're pretty tasty, and the regular size filled me up without making me feel like I stuffed myself. Being the only one who chose not to have a sweet topping (I had smoked salmon with sour cream), I'm happy that I didn't go the dessert route. Balancing the sweet of the waffle with the salmon and sour cream, I thought the waffle wasn't too bad. I tried a bite or two of Leah's "Garrison Keilor" waffle (my waffle was named after Bob Dylan... You know he's Jewish so he must have loved a knockoff of a Lox and cream cheese bagel?), and I also wasn't dissapointed, but I don't think my stomach would have been happy eating the whole plate because it would have been too sweet. So overall, the food wasn't bad. Considering that any student can make a waffle with random toppings in either dining hall, how much can you screw up a waffle, though?

So if the food isn't going to be the main draw beyond the occasional novelty dessert or dinner, why go to Sweet Lou's? Besides its proximity to campus and the likelihood that it'll be probably less crowded than Blue Mondays, I can't really see a good reason. There is nothing there that begs you to come in. As I said, except for the names of the waffles, Sweet Lou's could be just a single franchise of some national chain. And the bright lights and oddly placed leather chairs may be nice if you need to stay up to study, they certainly don't look very inviting or personal.

And having had waffles at 9:30pm sober, I seriously doubt if I would want to be drunk there at 1:30am eating the Bob Dylan special. I'll take Basil's greasy pizza, low light, and odd musical choice any drunk late night.

So that's what I've got to say about Sweet Lou's.

Rating:





2.5/5 Alexes

N.B.: For more pictures of Sweet Lou's, here's a blog post from Northfield's local blog... yeah they've got one.