By David Jones

Lin and I have some dear friends we get the pleasure of meeting for lunch and dinner several times a year and sometimes we just get surprised with a place we’ve never been. Krazy Kats is one of those places for us.

Nestled in its own little enclave outside of Wilmington, serving Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, Krazy Kats is familiar and a favorite to many.  We went there recently with our friend Linda for a mid-week lunch and catch up between old friends.

I’ve known Linda for 32 years, but she and Lin go back much longer than that even, some 43 years.  Linda lives in West Chester and really enjoys trying restaurants in the area south into Wilmington and other parts of Delaware. She chose Krazy Kats.

To say the interior is quirky is an understatement. There are several rooms upstairs and down. Some are bright and airy, others are dark and intimate.  All of them are decorated with paintings of Kats in various poses with military and extravagant garb.

We sat in the ‘sunroom’ off the main dining room.  Tables are fairly close together, but there’s no sense of being cramped.  Each chair has a small cushion to assist with what would otherwise be a very uncomfortable seat.

Even with the cushion I was not totally comfortable and kept moving around on my chair.  Each of the cushions is embroidered with a different quote.

The menu came with a soup, sandwich and entrée special.  This compliments an otherwise very nice menu.  Krazy Kats is not cheap, not even close, but there are choices that can make a lunch reasonable if you’re careful.  If that’s not an issue for you then this menu will delight for sure.

They have a very nice soup and sandwich combo for $10.  This is what Lin and I both chose.  Lin had the duck confit on panini with crab bisque.  I had squash soup (the soup of the day) with half of a Rueben sandwich.  Lin raved about the bisque.  Linda also had a bowl of the bisque and enjoyed it immensely.

Lin was not expecting the duck confit panini to be quite the way it came out, but she thought it was absolutely delicious.  Linda got crab cakes (lunch portion) that came with 3 different colored carrots and it was very attractive on the plate.  Once again, the flavors were a perfect compliment to the presentation.

My Rueben had cheese, cabbage, turkey, ham and corned beef.  For a half sandwich, it was huge.  I have to give a shout out to the bread which came in large thick slices and was very good.

Even though we were all quite satisfied following these choices I decided to go for the Tiramisu when I saw how it was described.  Lin and Linda helped me.  Yes, my friends, even I could not put away all this food, especially at lunch.

I would describe the Tiramisu more as a glazed banana bread pudding.  The only thing that made it look a little like Tiramisu was the mascarpone that sat to the side with a wonderful light cocoa ice cream scoop.  There were sliced bananas with a very nice glaze on them to adorn the entire dish.  There was more than enough on the plate to satisfy all 3 of us, for sure!

The service was pretty good, but once again the servers removed our plates as soon as we put our utensils down, so one by one as plates were removed, this puts undo pressure on the one still eating to hurry along.

This is so unnecessary in a fine dining environment where they are not looking to turn the table over once an hour.  It took what could have been a 4 star experience and dropped it down to 3 stars.  That is still a very good rating, but I’m sure they aspire to higher heights.

As I said, Lin and I each had a $10 choice.  The dessert was $8.  Linda’s crab bisque was $8 and the crab cakes $20.  Linda also had an iced tea for $3.

So perhaps you can see what I mean about choices.  With dessert, Lin and I spent $28 for two.  Linda racked up $31 by herself.  With tax and a 20% tip lunch for 3 came to $71.

You can easily get out of Krazy Kats while drinking water for $10 plus tax and tip per person and be very satisfied.  You can also quite easily spend well over $30 per person or even quite a bit more.

Overall, with the exception of removing our plates too soon and giving us a rushed feeling, this was a very nice 3 star lunch.  From Coatesville it took us under 40 minutes each way.  If you decide to go for dinner be forewarned that dinners are much more expensive than lunch.

If it’s in your budget I would recommend you take the trip.

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A native of Chester County and a 1968 graduate of Octorara Area High School, David Jones earned a Masters Degree in Medical Ethics from from Villanova University. Mr. Jones served as CEO of both Mayview and Wernersville State Hospitals and later worked directly with then Governor Rendell to modernize and right-size Pennsylvania’s entire state hospital system. Jones and his wife Lynn make their home in Parkesburg and dine out frequently across Chester County and the Delaware Valley.