Right off the bat, the name “sunnyside” evokes the image of the classic fried egg with a bright yellow yolk smack in the middle just waiting to be dipped in toast. That’s a pretty fitting expectation of the OKC diner that bears its name, Sunnyside Diner. As soon as you arrive at their website, you are greeted by pictures of golden blueberry pancakes topped with lemon butter and whipped cream right next to the smiling cartoon animation of a shining sun that adorns their storefront at 916, NW 6th street.

This new Oklahoma City area restaurant accommodated Harding’s News staff on our February block days, and here recounted are the gustatory details of our visit.

The menu provides a plethora of western-style dishes like huevos rancheros and corned beef with hash browns as well as traditional diner staples like pancakes and french toast. Whatever breakfast dish you are in the mood for, you can probably get it here. As for us, we were in the mood for some classic breakfast food (with one sandwich).

We’ll start off with the odd one out, Kaitlyn Smith’s BLT+Egg sandwich. She ordered a bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with hashbrowns (for $9.99).

“My experience with this sandwich was a tragic one” Smith said. “I asked for a sunny-side up egg (with yolk). Without thinking, I picked up the sandwich and got yolk all over my pants.”

“Despite this, the sandwich was fairly decent” Smith said. “The toast was a little hard around the crust but I LOVED the bacon and has browns. I would order this again, but next time with a different egg choice.”

Next up is Isis Frasier’s sandwich(ish) chicken biscuit with a side of fruit for $7.99, plus a blueberry lemonade for $3.50.

“The sandwich was huge and I wasn’t sure how to eat it” said Frasier. “I started biting it and the biscuit went everywhere so I resorted to using a knife and fork.”

“The biscuit was good and the chicken was cooked well” Frasier said. “The lemonade had an initially bitter/sour taste, but it was pretty good. (The color was pretty too).”

Mrs. Taylor shared in the flaky feast with her own chicken biscuit. “The biscuit itself was much larger than I expected” Taylor said. “It had a different texture. Almost cake-like.”

“The top half of the biscuit was way more than I bargained for” Taylor said. “However, the chicken, oh the chicken. Fried so well, the honey butter was the perfect accompanimentand the house-made bread-and-butter pickles put it over the top.”

People underestimate how perfect fried chicken and pickles are together” Taylor said. “This reminded me of Eischen’s out in Okarche where you just get fried (whole) chicken, pickles, onions, and white bread on wax paper.”

“That honey butter makes me think I’ve been missing out on another part of this delicious equation.”

Along with the theme of biscuits comes Paige Langley’s order of biscuits and gravy with a side of eggs and bacon for $8.99.

“I was craving biscuits and gravy but sadly my high expectations were not quite met” Langley said. “I enjoyed the food but was still left kinda hungry.”

The next closest thing to a biscuit that we had would probably be a dish that Sunnyside calls the “Hangry man.”

I myself ordered this plentiful platter for $8.99 (a pretty good price in my opinion).

It is comprised of two large classic pancakes with all the traditional toppings (drippings?) that comes with pancakes like butter and syrup. Alongside the pancakes come two made-to-order eggs with toast, bacon, and a side of hash browns.

All of the food was pretty good, and I enjoyed the resulting food coma. It was a little much for my small body to contain in one sitting, but it will certainly be enough to satisfy anyone.

Our next dish is a “Western Omelet” for $8.99. Junior Lily Waswo “really liked it” she said. “I enjoyed my food and left feeling satisfied.”

The western omelet is named for its multitude of interesting ingredients. The omelet contains tomatoes, bell peppers, pico de gallo, avocado, pepper jack cheese, and the option of chorizo pork. Certainly one of the most varied dishes we ordered.

The last of the student orders comes in the form of Camila Gonzalez’s “California” Benedict.

“I liked all the ingredients that were used individually” Gonzalez said, “but for some reason they didn’t work well together.”

It was good” Gonzalez said, “but not very flavorful. I liked it enough but it needed a lot of salt.”

Even if you aren’t a huge fan of your meal, there’s more to this restaurant than just its’ fare.

The restaurant’s owner has gotten the restaurant onto the charity scene with their effort to feed those in need.

An article by Lacey Lett of KFOR News, titled “New Diner to feed those in Need” reported that the restaurant offered to give free meals to people who might otherwise go hungry.

When restaurants like this new diner first open, they have to cook all of the meals a few times to get the hang of it.

“We knew we’d have all this extra food and we didn’t want it to go to waste” said Aly Bransetter, co-owner of Sunnyside and the popular burger joint S&B’s. “So we thought we could help out the community.”

They also gave all of the tips from their opening week to an Oklahoma City non-profit called Other Options Inc.

Whether you’re there for a good meal or a good cause, you can visit Branstetter’s newest restaurant from 6AM-3PM Sundays and Mondays, and from 6Am to 8PM every other day of the week.

For more information on this new culinary patch of sunlight, visit the Oklahoma Gazette’s review on the restaurant here, or check out KFOR’s video segment on the diner here.

The restaurant is only a few clicks away by email at [email protected], or by phone at 1-(405)-778-8861.