A reader has informed me that the name of the eatery in Brooklin that I mentioned is called the Morning Moon Cafe and it's open and doing very well indeed!

Although I respect your opinion, Cole Farms is one of those places not commonly found anymore. Everyone feels like a regular there. The food is great, there is nothing like comfort food. And, I don't wear polyester nor have a pot belly. My girlfriend and I make the trek to Gray from Portland when we are in the mood for some good old home cooking Cole Farms is a tradition in many Maine families. Let it be.

I've never heard of you before despite the self promoting introduction at the top of the page (which is really swell by the way) - Cole Farms does provide a lot of fond memories for Maine Families and the food has never changed, everyone who goes there knows what to expect. The tone of your diary entry digresses from what appears to be a review to a childish, insulting low blow. I also particularly enjoyed from one of your other blogs the excerpt "My list of restaurants that I favor in the Portland area has until recently fit on one 8-by-11 sheet of paper that I have hanging on a bulletin board in my office. " If writing about food is what you do for a living, and you feel this way about the local scene, why dont you just leave?

This is a mean spiteful review of Cole Farms. We love it and have family from out of state who look forward to a meal at Cole Farms -- one granddaughter from PA thinks their fried Maine shrimp is to die for.

I hear all your comments loud and clear. But let me say that compared with similar places like Moody's, Stone's, Spurwink Country Kitchen and countless others around the state, Cole Farms does not, in my opinion, rate as highly.

Yet indeed it's an institution and a beloved place to be for many. If I knocked it I tried to do so ever so gently.

And no I don't do this for a living anymore and haven't since the 1980s. But my love, if not knowledge, of food remains just as high.
And I do write for some nonfood publications on very different topics.

My real line of work for the last 20 years is far more
controversial.

The place may be beloved, but the food really does stink. There are lots of reasons to go to a restaurant, and great memories are as good as any. But bad food is bad food.

Hey, Taxicab1--You're absolutely right. I tried myhand at diplomacy. But truly the food is awful. Good family recipes perhaps that have gotten into the wrong hands.

I don't quite get what "being a regular" or "the food has never changed" has to do with how it tastes?????
If the food is not up to par I don't care about tradition etc.. especially if it's traditionally bad food. i eat out often at all kinds of restuarants, If I spend even 5 bucks for a meal it better be worth it. To Ryan and city123 if you want to hear only positive comments go to the sunday taste and tell. They do an excellent job of sugar coating and never saying how they truly feel. All the restaurant are 3 to 5 star. you should enjoy

My two cents...Growing up in the L/A area in the 70s and 80s, Cole Farms was something of a legend, I particularly remember a scandal of some sort or another with the owner sometime back in the early 80s, I don't remember what it was but I think it was scandalous and it was all over the news. But I digress, the restaurant has always been somewhat famous in the area, but I never ate there until after I had left the state to go to college and had come back for Christmas break.

My mom was driving me back to the bus station in Portland when we decided to stop for lunch on the way down. We drove past Cole Farms on Route 202 and thought we should give it a try after all those years. Even though this was way back in the early 90s, what I remember is one of the worst lunches I've ever had. I want to say I had fish, which tasted about half as good as frozen fish sticks, and french fries, which were equally as inferior to a frozen store-bought product.

I remember my mom and I getting in the car and saying to each other "what was THAT?" We were by no means food snobs, and in fact our favorite restaurant was Sam's, a very pedestrian pizza and sandwiches chain in the Lewiston area. We just couldn't believe that a restaurant with this kind of legend would serve this kind of food.

That said, I'm sure it retains business by having a long-standing loyal customer base, a generation of people who's parents and grandparents patronized Cole Farms. They probably find something they like, whether it be salisbury steaks or mashed potatoes, and order it every time. Otherwise, I can't figure out their long-standing popularity.

When I lived in NYC, there were a couple places I ate at that I thought were horrible, such as the diner Ben Ash on 7th Avenue, that seemed to be doing a thriving business.

Speaking of Ben Ash, I too would like to see the Miss Portland Diner be given the royal treatment and open up as a real diner serving quality food.

And John, you've got me wondering, what's the controversial occupation? CIA? FBI? Lobbyist for the fast food industry?

I am glad you panned that place. One of the (ex)owners was a pedophile and the name of that place brings some pretty nasty memories to people. They honestly did not even deserve the negative attention they got. There are plenty of other bad restaurants that are still fun to go to.

Wow! Some pretty interesting stuff is coming out about Cole Farms.

Oi Ben Ash!

That has to be the WORST dining experience I've ever had. Anytime you have to call the cops on your waiter, it's a bad meal.

Maybe MJH meant the "food police"

MJH - you can't just say call the police on your waiter on not expound in it! What the hell happened?

I could have called the police when I ate at Ben Ash for highway robbery! If they'd seen what I was served and what I was charged they surely would have made some arrests!

Speaking of diners, the Portland Street Diner is great.

The article you wrote about Cole Farms that was featured in the entertainment section on the MaineToday website has been brought to my attention. I debated whether to respond or not, but after numerous telephone calls to me concerning your article, I feel I at least have an obligation to my customers and employees. So, I am giving you my response. Please keep in mind I am not as articulate as some.

I am sorry your experience at Cole Farms was not a pleasant one. We are a large restaurant and serve on the average 2,000 people a day. This includes a customer getting a cup of coffee to a customer getting a full meal. Cole Farms started out in the '50's as a small diner type place, has grown over the years, and 53 years later it is a challenge to keep up with the changes, the choices, and the different types of foods, but we feel we are doing our best to maintain the trends the public demands today and still not alienate the people that have been with us for many years. As far as the food selections that you had mentioned as either "awful, lifeless, un-inspired, drab, synthetic, towering, over wrought molecules, fattened, tasteless, dreadful, acidic, standard, frozen," I am aware that you can't please everyone's taste.

However, I can address how we prepare our foods here. We try to set ourselves apart from other restaurants by being somewhat of a "scratch" house although it would be much easier to buy frozen or pre-done foods. The majority of our food is prepared here on the premises. We buy fresh chicken tenders, bread the tenders by hand and fry them. The breading isn't spicy, but we feel it is what people like. This is an item that customers can spice up by adding barbecue sauce, honey mustard, ketchup or other condiments that are available to our patrons. The spaghetti sauce, added to our menu in 1994, has been prepared by one person in their licensed home with upscale ingredients. The meatballs are made with fresh ground beef, they could have been over-spiced. Yes, things like that happen at Cole Farms. You comment on our chicken pot pie as awful. The pot pie is a special only on Wednesdays. We cook and pull the chicken meat off the bone, use the renderings to make gravy, and make the crust topping by hand. We consistently sell between four hunderd to six hundred pies on that one day. I am sorry you don't like the desserts here. Most of the pies, puddings, and even ice cream is made on the premises. Yes, there can be times when they are over cooked, undercooked, etc., but for the most part they are consistent using quality ingredients.

I thought it interesting that you had a need to criticize not only the food, which is fair game, but the patrons of this establishment. Mr. Golden you were here on Sunday. Yes, the senior citizens were here, middle-aged people, people with young children, in fact, there were nearly 2,000 people visiting us that day despite the flooded roads, but to make an inference that Cole Farms is a breeding ground for the obese, your cheap shots at pot-bellied customers and what people wear for clothing is just plain insulting.

I will close by saying yes, we are far from being perfect! We do however, try to have our 150+ employees, made up of young and old, take pride in the occupation they have. As for management, we do our best in providing them the tools to achieve our goal......good food at reasonable prices.

Mr. Pollard - Clearly your restaurant fills a vital niche in the greater Portland area. That still doesn't make the food good or healthy.

The job of a restaurant reviewer is to help people find restaurants and meal that they will enjoy. Good reviewers, like John Golden, do the work (sometimes dirty and sometimes sublime) so that the rest of us can make more informed choices about where we spend our time and money when we eat out.

Lots of people love Cole Farms. Others don't. Those whose tastes run along the same lines as John's now can avoid a meal that they won't like (a service to you because you'll have fewer dissatisfied customers). Those who like the kind of food that you serve, can enjoy what you have to offer and be great ambassors for you.

I hope the gist of my thoughts on Cole Farms was to point out that I'm generally disappointed by the blandness of the food. It's the type of food that is comforting to eat when it's done well. Every establishment needs a jolt occasionally if only as a reminder not to rest on one's laurel's.

Cole Farms is a great neighborhood place, serving a definite niche in the market. I tried to point out that the fare is better elsewhere, and there's no reason why it can't be notched up to the level of others. I'd become a regular if the food was better.

The ingredients may be first rate and the intention to do it well present, but, in my opinion, it's falling short. I don't think my remarks were diparaging. Rather they reflected my dining experience.

I have read your reviews before and usually find your writing to be insulting. I don't want sugar crap, but you are talking about someone's business, someone's place of employment, someone's
cooking...all very personal things.
IF you just wrote about the food that would be one thing, but you always seem to add some personal insult.
I have seen very large people in truck stops, diners, and 5 star resturants. The size of the clientel have NO place in a food reveiw.
Maybe we could get an actual photo of you....we could then see what you are comparing all of us'ms too.
John, review the food in a way that you would want someone if it was your business. Honestly but not insulting. Most people respect someone's opinion...we are all entitle to that...but insults don't fair well here in Maine......

I'm sorry that I messed something up....I posted the above comment

Press Herald...time to get a writer who will give a food review without all the other"garbage" . I cannot believe your editor allowed Mr. Golden space for this attack on Cole Farms and it's patrons. I hope the owner of Cole Farms takes this straight to his attorney. And I hope all the polyester wearing, pot bellied customers do, too. A class action maybe? Mr Golden is definitely not a class act and you would do your readers a service by finding someone who is..
Cole Farms has been around a long time, it is always packed with all types of people, repeat customers, no less !! They must be doing something right.
As adults we all have power over what goes into our mouths. Ever hear of MacDonald's Mr Golden? Over a zillion billion served. They don't force feed passers by. People seek them out. We eat what we want. That is the cause of obesity, Mr Golden. Not MacDonald's , NOT COLE FARMS.
Your article was not in-formative , it was down right in-sulting.
Yes, we all chose what we put in our mouths...and long about mid-June, I will be putting a big bowl of fresh biscuits, fresh strawberries, and real whipped cream into mine. And by the way, Mr Golden, do not start writing fashion reviews...polyester is back in! Cole farms...where all the fashionably dressed people go to eat by the droves !!!!!

YOu're certainly right about the polyester. I wore black polyester pants that I bought at Prada in NY last night paired with an equally shiny jacket, all to much acclaim.

I have obviously hit a very sensitive note about other topics besides food.

I don't know how I can make it any clearer. But all I was saying was that Cole Farms' food is, in my opinion, not as tasty to me as similar fare that I've had at other places in Maine. I love that kind of stick to the ribs food.

But not all home cooking is wonderful. My mother was a terrible cook. And she admitted to it freely.

You are so missing the point John.
From what I'm reading and feeling is that you WAY out step your review by insulting people. END OF STORY. Stop defending yourself. You were and are very quick to make personal remarks that are not related to food. Stick to writing food reviews and I'll stay off your backside. But you owe EVERYONE who has read this or any of your reveiws an apology. Not excuses..but a true I was WAY out of line and.....I know this will be very hard for you....sorry

Mr Golden, if all you were trying to say was that you did not enjoy the food, then why didn't you leave it at that? I would have diagreed with you butrespected your opinion. Your attack on the patrons was insulting. I bet whereever you went in your Prada suit last night in NY there were plenty of other pot bellied , polyester wearing people in the same room, and it wasn't Cole Farms . And I bet they all didn't eat healthy dinners. Suck it up. Be a man, stop avoiding the real issues.
Better yet, eat in NY.

I think that John has made a daring attempt to review all types of restaurants that Maine has to offer. Maine has its share of great restaurants. There are many people in Maine that associate restaurants such as Coles and other "diner" type restaurants as being truly unadalterated Maine. Many Portland restaurants don't qualify. But, as John says, some are good and some are bad. I feel that some of the contempt from the review comes from the belief that John is attacking Maine's local culture. Its too bad that Mainer's have to be associated with only liking diner food. Its too bad mediocre is a Maine tradition. Apparently the food isn't that bad because Brad pollard wrought in to say it wasn't, right. So, when you vote for Maine's best diner, vote for someplace that's truly good. Cause real Mainer's know what's good and what's not. Maine's the best.

I guess artistic license went somewhat astray for you. I really don't think I criticized the food mercilessly. I see it, eat it and then post my thoughts. Nothing wrong with poking fun at waistlines. I've got one of my own that's on the rise.

I see you have changed your original article. Well, I guess that is one way of admitting you were wrong. Not very direct but if it is the best you can do.........Although anyone tuning in now, will not be able to see the original. That is not really fair...oh well, neither was the original.

No one wants to say disparaging remarks about any concern here. But I still stand by what I said, without reservation whatsoever, but removed what some thought were off-handed remarks, which, quite frankly, they weren't, other than intended as quick references to manners and style of a wide ranging cross section of patrons.

As this is getting somewhat tiresome, why don't we just move on...

Someone recommended Cole Farms to me when I asked about a "good place to eat" which, it appears from the above comments, it is. I should have asked about "a place with good food" and I may have gotten another answer. I never did actually eat there - barely got through the door- I turned around and left...it smelled like Howard Johnsons..there were no "real" food smells..more like hospital cafe..I just couldn't will myself to get beyond that association. Had I stayed, I think that I would have felt about it much like John does.

I am several months late with a comment but just read the article. I've been going to Cole Farms since 1958 when I was a student in Lewiston. It was an inexpensive place to take a date. I didn't care much for the food, but my girlfriend loved the cole slaw and tuna rolls so we went. I did like one particular dessert however - grape nut ice cream topped with peanut butter sauce but that has been gone from the menu for decades. Now my girlfriend is my wife and we still stop at Cole Farms for lunch when getting off the pike at Gray. I still don't like the food there but my wife forces me go so she can have her tuna roll and slaw. At least I feel more at home with all the other senior citizens. Just wish they'd bring back the grape nut ice cream and peanut butter sauce.

I might be a little late on reading this actile but I found it to be a horrible degrating peice of trash

My family has worked at cole frams for god knows how many years now as both wait staff and cooking staff. And no matter what we still eat there on a regular basis. Now as with most people I have a little padding around the middle but I NEVER blame that on any single sorce. And your statement that the patrons of Cole Farms are all beer bellied is an insult to a great many people. Any one concerned about their size can still eat at Cole Farms. We have a good sized salad menu with varying choices to pick from and you can always chose mash potato over french fries.

This article brought some powerful words to mind but I chose to use more tasteful words for a public forum

And I realy hope you get fried for this article because no selfrespecting newsprovider would allow such a hatefull article or writer anywhere near there publication

~~~~~~~~~~MyketheBear~~~~~~~~~~~

oh and on one last note if you don't like the food then shut up and go down the street and fill your arteries with some Mcy D's....I guess that you don't care about how you get your food and what it will do to you

Cole farms is a great place to go if you like child molesters. Remember, the first owner, who is related to the current ones, (and blood is thicker than water) was a pedophille that shouldve gotten the chair for what he did. I'd be ashamed to spend a nickel in that dump. Before the state of Maine learned about the real Warren Cole, i'd been there two or three times, once i found a cockroach in my dessert, the other time, the waitress was eating gum as she took my order, and they are always so fat and sloppy and uneducated. I guess they hire the ones they don't expect to pay a lot of money for. Trust me, stay AWAY from this place unless you like giving your money to the likes of old man Cole, after raping all those little boys.