WP Diner @ Washington Square
1324 Portage StreetWorking Sunday usually means I get the following Friday off. I trade a one day weekend for a three day weekend. While the one day weekend is annoying, the payoff of a three day weekend is sometimes worth it.
I had a lot to do on my Friday off. B had a day camp in Portage that I had to drop him off at, L had figure skating at Wings West that I had to drop her off at, and I needed to run some errands so I could work on some home improvement projects in the afternoon.
But first, breakfast.
I dropped L off at Wings West a little after 8:30 and didn’t have to pick her up until after 11:00. I needed to run to Lowes and Pearle Vision on West Main at some point but I wanted to get breakfast first. I had some time so I decided to go out of my way a little bit to a place I haven’t been to yet.
WP Diner @ Washington Square is part of KPEP’s (Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program) Hospitality Program. The diner is in Kalamazoo’s Washington Square Neighborhood near the corner of Portage Street and Washington Avenue. The building underwent a pretty major rehab after the building was purchased in 2018. It was last home to Kalamazoo Color Lab.
There is a municipal parking lot behind the building that you can access from either Stockbridge or Washington Court. There are a few parking spots on Portage Street just south of the diner which is where I ended up parking.
The restaurant has three distinct spaces. When you walk in, there’s a lunch counter area with a few tables.
If you go to the left, there is another dining room with booths along the windows looking out on to Portage Street along with some tables for larger groups. There’s also a private party room that can be booked in the back of this space.
I walked in around 9:00 on a Friday morning. The place was empty so I had my choice of seating. I walked in to the larger dining room and sat at a booth. A waitress followed me with a menu then went to get a Coke while I looked it over.
The menu is pretty simple. There’s nothing super fancy but there are the usual breakfast staples. I decided on the Corned Beef Hash which comes with 2 eggs and toast.
The eggs and has come together on one plate. I started with the eggs because I like that egg runniness to spill in to the potatoes. There was a bottle of Tabasco on the table so I added that to the eggs to give them a little more flavor. The Corned Beef Hash was crispy all the way around. Too often, the potatoes are only cooked on the surface and raw throughout. This was not the case with this hash. The potatoes were crispy, the corned beef was crispy and I couldn’t even tell if there were onions in it because the potatoes and the meat were cooked just the way I like it.
The two slices of toast came on a separate plate. There’s really just something about diner toast that I’ve always loved. I can never get the same texture at home. I don’t always order toast because my daughter usually steals it from me but since I was alone and it was part of the meal, I was happy to get it.
WP Diner is a great addition to this neighborhood and Washington Square in particular. The cost of my meal was a little over $10 before the tip. It’s an affordable diner with a great mission of helping people get back on their feet. I stop by Walnut and Park Cafe every so often to grab a sandwich on my way in to work. The WP Diner is a great companion in a neighborhood where there aren’t a lot of diner options.
SW Michigan Dining 