Most weekend mornings, I'd much rather fork out a fiver than face the prospect of having to clean up my bowl of cereal-and I know I'm not alone. When I go out to brunch, the fact that someone prepared the food for me is almost as scrumptious as the food itself, particularly when my head's a-poundin'. Waltham is well-known for its ethnic restaurants, particularly on Moody Street, but when all you want is some old-fashioned diner eats, Main's the place to go. Believe it or not, this town's got places that can top IHOP any day of the week-including, most importantly, for weekend brunches and all their griddley goodness.And by the way, I eat vegetarian, so I can't tell you if the bacon's good.


Arcadia Restaurant (837 Main St.)

You know that saying, "You get what you pay for?" It's certainly true at Arcadia-but that's fine, when all you want is cheap. The dcor is minimalist at best (if you can even use a word like dcor for this place). From the tabletops to the waitresses to the food, there's nothing fancy about Arcadia.

The only thing warm about my blueberry pancakes (three pretty sizable ones for $4.75) was the massive pat of butter that came with it. Granted, that could've been because I waited five minutes for a bottle of maple syrup before giving up and borrowing one from the neighboring table. Even at room temperature the flapjacks were soft, but the berries were far from juicy. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same type of pancakes in the frozen food section at Hannaford.

The scrambled egg (80 cents) I ordered on the side was standard, except for the little bit of shell that came with it. Last I checked, you're not supposed to get the entire egg-just the insides. All in all, Arcadia's isn't exactly the best food in town, but the food is certainly dirt cheap.


In a Pickle Breakfast & Lunch (655 Main St.)

In a Pickle is the hippest diner in Waltham. None of the wait or kitchen staff could have been over 30 (although without an old woman serving the food, it didn't quite feel like a diner), and the menu was drawn on boards with colored chalk. Fortunately for the owners, the food is fantastic-but that means there's always a crowd, because the seating capacity is small.

The selection is pretty standard: various kinds of pancakes, waffles and omelettes, in hefty portions. My veggie omelette ($6.25) came with five fillings, a pile of home fries and some toast. The potatoes were soft-maybe just a little undercooked-but after I doused them in ketchup it really didn't matter. And the English muffin that came with it-well, you can't screw something like that up. The cheese inside the omelette was somewhere in between gooey and liquidy, and after a few minutes that made the omelette start to fall apart a bit, but neither of these affected the taste, which was nothing short of delicious.

All in all, I'd say that In a Pickle would be much more popular among Brandeis students if it weren't past that most impenetrable of barriers, Moody St. The food is superb (my friend who got a Belgian waffle exclaimed, "It's so much better than Usdan!"), and the atmosphere is fun and funky-nay, funkalicious


Joseph's II Family Restaurant (805 Main St.)

J2's, as I (and the owners) affectionately call it, has been my go-to place for weekend brunch all year. The menu is varied and large, and the portions are also sizable, considering the high(er) prices. The atmosphere is soothing, as if the restaurant was designed to accommodate bloodshot eyes-the restaurant is not brightly lit and not at all garish. It's usually crowded on the weekends, and you can always spot at least a couple of Brandeis students there.

Unless you get a side, every order comes with multiple items. My "two eggs, home fries, and toast or a muffin" (I got an English muffin) cost a very respectable $4.35. With the 85-cent cheese on the eggs and the additional $1.95 blueberry pancakes, I was one bite away from not being able to finish. My only mistake was adding the cheese. It had started to congeal a little by the time I got my plate, as those processed slices are wont to do. But otherwise, the home fries were delicious (with some added salt and ketchup), and the pancakes, while not completely soft, were filled with some of the juiciest berries I've had in a while.

Printed on the awning over the kitchen window are the words "creativity and quality"-quote marks included. While the former didn't apply to my order, for the most part, the latter certainly did.


Dunkin' Donuts (859 Main St.)

Well, this isn't a diner, but it's on Main, and it's definitely the cheapest breakfast in town-in all senses of the word. Service, as should be expected, was quite speedy. Also, as should be expected, it didn't exactly come with a smile. Not that I can blame them. Dunkin' is fast food, after all.

The Egg & Cheese Sandwich on a bagel ($2.09) only had the bagel going for it. The cheese wasn't even completely melted by the microwaving the sandwich received. Furthermore, the premade egg "patty"-for lack of a better word-was not even warm, and I could taste its artificiality. Good thing the bagel was toasted beforehand, or else there would have been no heat at all.

Given that "donut" is in the place's name, you'd expect these pastries to be delicious. Fortunately, my strawberry-frosted (79 cents) one was. Donuts are pretty standard fare-especially in Boston, which is to Dunkin' Dohnuts as New York is to hotdog stands-so it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but it was still sweet and fruity.


The Verdict

And the winner is... In a Pickle! Or it would be, if it wasn't so far away. I'm so lazy in the morning, and even though the food is not quite as good, Joseph's II is closer and the prices are pretty much the same-and that's all I need to satisfy the rumbly in my tumbly.