A good old-fashioned country diner may seem a wee bit out of place on the modern suburban thoroughfare of Lake Mary Boulevard, but that hasn’t stopped families from tolerating Appleton’s fruity decor (a decor that gets ridiculously kitschy once Halloween and Christmas roll around) and gorging on heaping plates of hearty, greasy goodness. Maybe it’s because the Old South vibe here isn’t uncomfortably Old South – it’s relaxed, friendly, even a little dowdy, but it’s got a distinct charm, and it offers a pre-noon alternative to the Heathrow housewife scene at the Peach Valley Café a couple of miles down the road.

The waitresses at Appleton’s are delightfully old-school and defiantly pleasant in the face of sluggish and disinterested diners. And they can certainly perk up the senses with comments like “I wouldn’t recommend the fruit today,” which, while somewhat off-putting, had me in stitches nonetheless.

So, forgoing the cup of fruit ($2.95), we dove headfirst into one of their “hearty breakfasts,” namely the country-fried steak and eggs ($7.95), which lived up to all expectations. The crunch of the pounded steak was perfect, and the thick sausage gravy that smothered it added a nice kick. Interspersing each bite with eggs over easy sopped up with a homemade country biscuit just made the meaty morning meal all the better.

“Grits,” my dining partner remarked, “are a serious personal choice.” The ones served here are on the thicker side, in need of quite a bit of butter and salt to give them the desired consistency and flavor. On the potato front, I preferred the home fries over the hash browns, though, really, both were good. From the griddle, both the thick French toast ($5.95; short stack, $4.25) and the pillowy pancakes ($5.95; short stack, $4.25) were flawlessly cooked. In keeping with the café’s theme, warm apples and cinnamon can be added to your hotcakes for a couple more bucks. My only complaint, and it’s an oft-cited one with me when it comes to breakfast joints, is that pure maple syrup isn’t offered, even as an upgrade.

All omelets are prodigious three-egg envelopes with enough sides (your choice of home fries, hash browns or grits and your choice of toast, homemade biscuit or English muffin with plain or cinnamon-raisin bagel) to keep you going until dinner. The Greek omelet ($7.95), however, was just too dry to fully enjoy. The cook was likely distracted from all the other dishes he was cooking and left it in the pan a few minutes too long, a shame considering I was looking forward to downing this eggy number with gyro meat, pepperoncini, black olives and crumbled feta.

Coffee snobs need to leave their java judgments at the door – the cup of joe served here is dark, strong and not for the faint of heart. A lunch menu is also offered (the place is open until 3 p.m.) with a variety of comfort food and greasy-spoon fare.

“The Next Best Thing to Mom’s Cooking” is emblazoned on their menu, and while that may be true, their furnishings, particularly in the screened-in back porch, are the next best thing to a Motel 6. Then again, I wouldn’t have expected anything less from a place that celebrates its Old Florida character. Biscuits to bacon, Appleton’s is down-home to the core.

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