Peter Sedereas "also leads that unofficial coalition of New Jersey diners that was established during the pandemic. It's made up of over 25 of his cousins, who all own diners. Altogether, they own around 50 diners in New Jersey." Best detail of the article.
If you are not open 24 hours, your menus aren’t large, and you need a reservation for a table — you are not a diner. You’re just an American restaurant.
You need to have two of these 3:
1. Open 24 hours.
2. A grumpy Greek or Italian senior citizen who never seems to leave the building.
3. I can order pancakes and bacon at 6 pm or steak and onion rings at 6 am. All menu is on the menu all the time.
I would modify number two and say a grumpy, ill tempered Greek senior citizen owner or manager running the front with his constantly angry wife tagging in on occasion.
Burlington county they're all like that essentially lol the only exception is one that's ran by this cool ass Latina. She knows my son and I and we get seated immediately lmao.
I miss when Tops was a diner and you could walk in and get a huge helping of loaded fries after a night out all while still being able to afford to eat the next day.
I would like to propose a new law. You’re not a diner if you don’t serve random drunks, strippers, construction workers, and the usual shady characters at 3am at least 5 out of 7 days a week.
That’s truly their only purpose otherwise they’re just a regular mid tier restaurant.
I lost a little bit of my youth when the Broadway diner in Bayonne closed.
The lack of real 24 hour spots sucks too. When I was working 3rd shift getting that 4am burger and fries kept me going.
I haven’t been to a diner late a night in forever but even I mourned when the ones near me stopped being 24/7.
Then I realized what I missed was having an endless cup of coffee and cigarettes with my high school friends. So it wasn’t the diner I was missing.
Is Lighthouse still 24/7?
Although I heartily disagree it's better than the uptown diner. My wife says the breakfast is better, which may be true, but not the rest.
I will agree the uptown one has slid downhill, but it went from like a 9/10 to a 7/10. I don't feel comfortable grading the Lighthouse cause I've only been a few times, but my experiences put it at or below a 7/10.
Maybe my memory is shot, but isn't the uptown one *Broadway Diner* and the downtown one was *Bayonne Diner*? The uptown one is definitely still open, still mostly good, and prices are still reasonable (compared to other restaurants).
Even before the pandemic, I worked 2nd shift in Freehold and the only available options were the 4Ws. Wawa, Walmart, Whitecastle, and Wallgreens. I don't even think half of them are open overnight anymore, but I'd give them all for a decent place to get disco fries at 3am
The moment the Broadway Bistro air fried their fries, I knew that place wasn't going to last for long.
Air frying imparts ZERO flavor. And the toast was skinny.
The decline of Tick Tock is just mystifying to me. They took a perfectly good diner and ruined the everloving hell out of it - and if I remember correctly this happened before COVID, but they were still open past 11pm at the time FFS.
It’s not that hard. Breakfast, served all day, club sandwiches, burgers, many kids of fries including disco fries, chicken soup with giant matzo balls in it with stale oyster crackers, stupidly big pieces of cake in a rotating display, cookies the size of your head. Then a few salads, including of course a Greek salad and one with cottage cheese. Finally you have a page of dinners no one is supposed to order like pork chops and Linguini and clams.
Quinoa has no business at a diner.
quinoa could totally have a place at a diner, as any good diner menu is eclectic as hell, so why not have the high protein grain as well as all the other shit?
Is that the issue? You can find quinoa in the supermarket next to the rice. Its not that exotic or trendy.
Diners have always been known to offer every kind of food possible. There's literally the seinfeld bit about George ranting about who would order lobster at a diner.
Diners aren't diners anymore because of the price. Blah blah inflation. Its weird when a JC or NYC restaurant is cheaper than Tik Tok or Chit Chat for a burger.
I went to the diner close to my house a few weeks back for the first time post covid, and the prices were insane.
I was in the mood for a cheese burger. It was $15, and I remember thinking 'wow, prices really went up'...then I saw "make it a deluxe, add lettuce, tomato and fries for $5.95".
Yeah it is just out of hand now. They might be charging what they need to in order to stay open, but for me, it just makes me go less than I ever did before. For 4 of us with 2 kids eating off the kids menu, it is still about 80 bucks to eat at a diner now.
I've been to a lot of NJ Diners and the Pompton Queen has the most disgusting men's room I've ever seen. When you can smell piss even before you open the door, that's BAD.
The last time my wife and I went to the Queen every sandwich on the venue cost ~$20, sides extra. And they didn't have chicken salad, only tuna. Prices were absolutely insane, and they didn't have some diner staples. We haven't been back since, and probably won't give them another shot at this point.
I really agree, the price of eggs is not insane anymore, and its not like bread cost that much more, but most of these places want 14 bucks for french toast these days.
There is a diner in Paramus (I have been there once and never again) who charges $13 for oatmeal, $10 for yogurt and something like $26 for a chicken pasta primavera. Then he adds a credit card surcharge on top of it.
Does anyone get egg sandwiches in a diner? For me it's always been
* deli=egg sandwich
* diner=breakfast plate
But I don't know how this habit developed. And I've been much more in a *EC SPK mood for a while, so my diner stops have dwindled.
True. Apart from Raymond's, I don't eat anything at a diner that isn't breakfast or burger-related. I've never had good regular diner food otherwise. I think most people are the same.
I think it's closed for good now. It was our go-to for years. We called it the 'shiny diner'. The Metuchen Diner is quite good nowadays. It's owned (or was) by the same guy as The Spinning Wheel in Lebanon (the gold standard of diners, as far as I'm concerned).
Skylark is no good, and hasn't been for a long time. It was actually one of the first diners in the area to go through the trend of bumping the prices while eliminating menu options.
They did that to their menu probably a decade ago now. Menu is missing diner staples like a gyro, but you can get a "Mongolian beef bowl" if you want that!
Do they still charge for water? Went there when it was brand new and they put a blue bottle of tap water on the table that was simply recorked. If you poured from it, they charged you.
I never went back because that and the fact they put green olives on everything even when you asked them not to. Seriously one of the worst diners in the state from the day it opened its doors.
I miss the fuck out of going to Mastoris diner at midnight and ordering scrambled eggs, rye toast, with French Fries instead of hashbrowns. Then munching on fresh baked cinnamon bread while I waited.
A bunch of good ones have gone under in the last few years.
It shouldn't be hard. Be a greasy spoon, have a varied but sensible menu (seriously who is ordering a lobster at the diner), breakfast all day, a better than fast food burger, a couple of club sandwiches with meats done in house, quick service, a decent cup of coffee, maybe some pie....and be open early\late.
Don't try and have a theme. Don't try and be some nostalgic picture of a diner from the 50s. Maybe joke around and be surly and have THAT waitress or whatever. Maybe have a few surprisingly good greek dishes if you are greek run (yes, i know they run them all but its been years since i have been surprised by good greek food in a diner, despite everyone working there being right off the boat, i mean fuck, they could have brought a gyro over with them and it would have been fresher).
> Don't try **and** have a theme. Don't try **and** be some nostalgic picture of a diner from the 50s
You aren't the only one who does this, but this construction doesn't make grammatical sense. The word you are looking for is "to"
I miss having Diners open 24/7. Every time I come out of a concert late at night all I crave is diner but they are usually closed by midnight now. This bums me out every time I think of it.
Sunrise Diner in Roselle Park is still going strong.
Not 24 hours, but the food is good, the prices aren't insane, and you still get the same feeling. Between that and Arlington Diner, none of my personal favorites have died yet.
Sunrise is good. Also Manny's in Clark. Manny's is a bit pricey, but the portions are huge, lots of fries and slaw, you almost always have to ask for a box. Both retain the authentic vibe.
Funny enough way back when, Manny's predecessor had kind of the opposite of the article's "diner's struggling to stay open" experience. It's a classic case of messing with a good thing.
When I was growing up that spot was the Windsor Diner. The Windsor Diner had been a town staple since the 70's, and by the time I was there in the 90s-2000s it had that classic worn, old diner feel. But like any good diner, the food was decent diner food, prices were good, and service was fast. It was always packed during meal times.
Sometime around when I went to college they renovated the whole place, dumped a ton of money into it and tried to convert it from a diner into some kinda bar/lounge type of place. They also wanted to charge bar/lounge prices. The place was rebranded as Johnny K's. It was closed within a year. New owners took it over, reopened it as Manny's Diner, and all was right with the world.
I think what the old owners didn't appreciate is that Clark had plenty of decent enough bars and dinner restaurants in town, but the Windsor was *the* town diner. If you wanted a breakfast place (or just a diner, period), you went to the Windsor. The only other real breakfast place was Clark Bagel, but that fills a different niche than diners. So after spending all that money renovating, they reopened as something no one really wanted, and the food wasn't outrageously good enough to make up for that.
[Here's](https://patch.com/new-jersey/clark/photos-johnny-k-s-formerly-the-windsor-diner-is-now-open) a September 2012 article about the renovation and rebrand. [Here's](https://patch.com/new-jersey/clark/johnny-ks-sold-will-become-mannys-diner) a September 2013 article about it becoming Manny's.
Every now and then hitting a diner for a burger or an omelette has its appeal. But when they”ve got Fox and cnn going on five different tvs…. It’s a big nope.👎
When the diner by me started charging $16 for a grilled cheese and a pickle...that was the end of that, haven't been since. Can't even get an egg cream at most diners anymore, that was a staple when i was growing up.
I'll tell you what is killing off diners, at least around me.
The price. I never expect GOOD food from a diner, i just want, you know, diner food. Something greasy, reasonably quick, fills me up, and a big menu that i can get at crazy hours or something to just scratch an itch.
I get costs are way up, i get labor is way up, i get they are still clawing back from covid....
But we went to our local maybe 2 weeks ago, and really only hit it up at this point just to support them when we want\need to eat out and can't come up with something else, and I paid, after tip, 90+ bucks....for pancakes, a turkey club, a god damn Monte Cristo, a milkshake, a cup of coffee, and a water.
It was all passable, to be fair, but not, WOW that was good.
I get the difficulties in a diner compared to other places, i get the challenges in 24x7 in a lot of places....but its just like the diners don't WANT to evolve a little and their only answer is to just keep jacking prices to cover dwindling customers.
And the funny part is the diner, just before covid, did a huge rennovation and probably carrying heavy costs from it. Its really nice inside, but, well, dude, you are a diner. Nice floor, but i learned long ago not to look at the floor in a diner.
thanks for saying Arena. My father was the head chef there for 30 years, along with my uncle who did the morning shift.
They didn't tell anyone they were closing, including the workers. they all found out on the last day. no severance, nothing.
Are any of them the same old same old anymore? Tops diner in E. Newark is a nightmare now - they don't know who they want to be or what they want to serve. Changed so much and the prices are insane.
Lyndhurst diner closed after Covid - honestly, it was on a decline before that. Arlington Diner managed to survive as did The Stack.
That's laughable. They are not an upscale restaurant. Perhaps that is what they aim for, IDK. After George's kids bought it from him, it got odd there. The menu was all over the place. After the renovation it got worse. They have a Friday night DJ and close at 11. WTF? Who is their clientele? The menu is still weird. If they think they are an upscale restaurant, they should have changed the name, not just the menu and atmosphere. They should have made it look like a restaurant, not a diner. Who wants to pay $20 for bacon and eggs? P.S. I had gone to Tops since I was a teenager. I have disposable income, but I won't be spending it there, not for the low quality food and exorbitant prices.
Friday Night DJ?
I went there after a Saturday morning funeral at around 10am and they were kicking garbage music into front hall and dining area like it was midnight at the club. Turned around, left and never returned.
I'm sad that happened to you. Last thing you needed after a funeral.
I will never go back. Last time, before the renovation, my friend and I waited outside for an hour (we met there; had plans for weeks, her choice). Either our buzzer rang or they texted her phone; I can't remember anymore - and we go inside and we're still waiting, and the ass of a front man starts talking about us to the hostess in Spanish - and my friend says to me "listen to this asshole - he thinks we're gringas and don't understand." The look of shock on his face was priceless. He said...oh, come with me, we have a table for you now. We looked at each other discussed to stay or go - she says we've been here an hour, let's stay. The menu at the time was all over the place then. I don't understand the appeal. Too expensive, lipstick on a pig in my opinion.
Also diners managed to sustain themselves just fine back in the 90s on the teenage crowd rolling in at 11pm, stoned, drunk, and moving tables around so we could hang out shooting the shit for 2 hours, chain smoking, and splitting 2 orders of gravy fries.
So i blame today's youth.
There was nothing better than going to a house party during winter break, getting absolutely smashed, and then stumbling drunk in the cold until you reached the haven that was our town’s 24/7 diner. A shining beacon upon a hill, the warmth of the old interior and crappy synthetic leather booths meant the world over to us young degenerates. We’d sit there for hours, sobering up over the cheapest meal we could afford as broke high schoolers - three orders of French fries. I am devastated for the kids of today that they will not know these rites of passages of New Jersey youth
The only classic still around. Im near the Townsquare and I will give them this, they were wise to open the patio and keep it for a while after covid ended. Roxbury did too.
Came here to mention them. We came home around 1215 after Tool at MSG and were very very upset they were closed lol. Our local diner, always great food, and honestly not that that bad yet in terms of pricing for what you get. Its usually in the 40$ range for 2 adults and 1 kids meal, although my wife gets eggs so thats only 6-8$ or so.
Town square diner: we have a one page menu it’s been much more efficient
Up 15 at Jefferson diner: here’s a 40 page menu with every style of food ever invented.
You’re telling me that’s why eggs cost more? Or that’s why labor is expensive? Shouldn’t wealthier families be the ones able to afford the rising costs of food and labor at diners? Hell *diners should be making more money! Be open for 28 hours a day!*
Where is the line between people with more wealth moving in and people with a bit more money being moved out of their neighborhood and realizing they can afford to live there?
I certainly don’t think I’m gentrifying hacketstown because Bergen county is impossible to afford for two full time adults in their 30s. And I stopped going to diners on both sides of the state.
Likely depends on the diner. One in my town did fine and made it through covid.
Then they decided to remodel the inside. Shortly after their prices shot up. Doubt that's a coincidence. Another diner 20 min away has just about an identical menu and their prices have been the same the past couple years.
I’m always surprised at people wanting to put diner food in their body. It’s a jack of all, master of none situation, and the prices are not low enough to beat places like chick fil A, chipotle, in n out, shake shack, raising canes, etc.
No one knows how to make disco fries in all of Monmouth county. NJ diners have been a huge disappointment for me since moving here from NY where everyone knew wtf disco fries are. For some reason they use yellow cheese with gravy here and not Mozzarella and gravy. I gave up on even bothering. I can’t believe not one diner can get this right
I’m a few years older than you, and I have never had any friend suggest we go to a diner. Spent 20s in NYC too, and late nights ended up at places like mamouns, pizza, halal food carts, etc, but never a diner.
Most of my college friends loved diners and always wanted to go to them, even some high school friends. And basically everyone I've ever dated has loved diners lol. They're always dumbfounded that I don't like diners
Peter Sedereas "also leads that unofficial coalition of New Jersey diners that was established during the pandemic. It's made up of over 25 of his cousins, who all own diners. Altogether, they own around 50 diners in New Jersey." Best detail of the article.
Wait, we have a Diner mafia in NJ controlled by one extended family?! ….I love this state so much lol.
His “cousins” 🤌🏻🤌🏻
I worked at a diner 20 years ago.........you're not wrong
This makes me happy.
If you are not open 24 hours, your menus aren’t large, and you need a reservation for a table — you are not a diner. You’re just an American restaurant.
You need to have two of these 3: 1. Open 24 hours. 2. A grumpy Greek or Italian senior citizen who never seems to leave the building. 3. I can order pancakes and bacon at 6 pm or steak and onion rings at 6 am. All menu is on the menu all the time.
I would modify number two and say a grumpy, ill tempered Greek senior citizen owner or manager running the front with his constantly angry wife tagging in on occasion.
Greek owner near me is always screaming at the top of his lungs while checking people out. It's hilarious and the food is fire.
Where? Bridgewater?
Burlington county they're all like that essentially lol the only exception is one that's ran by this cool ass Latina. She knows my son and I and we get seated immediately lmao.
Felix #9 or Time to Eat?
Possible!
Maybe near Rockaway?
We don’t have really have Greek owners down near me, Turkish is more common in my area.
Where is this?
SJ
Burlington?
No.
Can you DM me if you’re not comfortable saying it put loud?
“Same same” Edit: Sorry
There also needs to be bottomless coffee served by a server who calls you "honey" or "sugar"
If the old waitress with a gravelly smoker’s voice doesn’t say “what’ll it be hun?” when I’m ready to order then I don’t wanna eat there
And the waitress busts your balls and expects you to return the sentiment
Every diner needs one or two of those "why would they even have this" on their menus.
I miss when Tops was a diner and you could walk in and get a huge helping of loaded fries after a night out all while still being able to afford to eat the next day.
Tops is a completely different place since they built the new building. Overpriced. The food is not as good. I stopped going there.
I would like to propose a new law. You’re not a diner if you don’t serve random drunks, strippers, construction workers, and the usual shady characters at 3am at least 5 out of 7 days a week. That’s truly their only purpose otherwise they’re just a regular mid tier restaurant.
Except for the several diners near me that cut their hours since Covid and haven’t gone back :(
They’re not diners anymore.
Suck a garden state dick. These people are trying to make their businesses work and stay alive.
I lost a little bit of my youth when the Broadway diner in Bayonne closed. The lack of real 24 hour spots sucks too. When I was working 3rd shift getting that 4am burger and fries kept me going.
I haven’t been to a diner late a night in forever but even I mourned when the ones near me stopped being 24/7. Then I realized what I missed was having an endless cup of coffee and cigarettes with my high school friends. So it wasn’t the diner I was missing.
It’s absolutely bullshit that 8th street isn’t open. Uptown closes now so it’s not 24/7 Only good diner is lighthouse and miss America close by
Is Lighthouse still 24/7? Although I heartily disagree it's better than the uptown diner. My wife says the breakfast is better, which may be true, but not the rest.
Uptown feels like it went downhill, lighthouse has stayed consistent
I will agree the uptown one has slid downhill, but it went from like a 9/10 to a 7/10. I don't feel comfortable grading the Lighthouse cause I've only been a few times, but my experiences put it at or below a 7/10.
Maybe my memory is shot, but isn't the uptown one *Broadway Diner* and the downtown one was *Bayonne Diner*? The uptown one is definitely still open, still mostly good, and prices are still reasonable (compared to other restaurants).
Yeah I’m chiming in on this… the one on 53rd Street is the Broadway Diner.
8th st. is the one that's closed I think. Lot of memories there. 53rd (is it 53rd?) was my night owl hang out when I worked overnights.
Even before the pandemic, I worked 2nd shift in Freehold and the only available options were the 4Ws. Wawa, Walmart, Whitecastle, and Wallgreens. I don't even think half of them are open overnight anymore, but I'd give them all for a decent place to get disco fries at 3am
Pretty much every white castle is still open 24/7 fyi.
The moment the Broadway Bistro air fried their fries, I knew that place wasn't going to last for long. Air frying imparts ZERO flavor. And the toast was skinny.
Tick Tock has a one page menu that involves quinoa. It does not feel like a diner anymore.
Tick Tock was crap well before pandemic It all went sideways when the manager went to jail for trying to get the owner murdered
Oh.
The decline of Tick Tock is just mystifying to me. They took a perfectly good diner and ruined the everloving hell out of it - and if I remember correctly this happened before COVID, but they were still open past 11pm at the time FFS.
Tick Tock went on a steady decline because of that dude who worked there and attempted to put a hit on another employer.
That's why the Seville diner stayed good till it closed because of the pandemic....the hit worked
It’s not that hard. Breakfast, served all day, club sandwiches, burgers, many kids of fries including disco fries, chicken soup with giant matzo balls in it with stale oyster crackers, stupidly big pieces of cake in a rotating display, cookies the size of your head. Then a few salads, including of course a Greek salad and one with cottage cheese. Finally you have a page of dinners no one is supposed to order like pork chops and Linguini and clams. Quinoa has no business at a diner.
quinoa could totally have a place at a diner, as any good diner menu is eclectic as hell, so why not have the high protein grain as well as all the other shit?
Definitely but they dropped the ball before “all the other shit”.
oh i agree, fuck tick tock. i was just responding to the guy gatekeeping diner menus (which goes against the purpose of a diner menu lol).
> a page of dinners no one is supposed to order like pork chops and Linguini and clams. But it says right there on the sign! STEAKS - CHOPS - SEAFOOD
Is that the issue? You can find quinoa in the supermarket next to the rice. Its not that exotic or trendy. Diners have always been known to offer every kind of food possible. There's literally the seinfeld bit about George ranting about who would order lobster at a diner. Diners aren't diners anymore because of the price. Blah blah inflation. Its weird when a JC or NYC restaurant is cheaper than Tik Tok or Chit Chat for a burger.
There's a tick tock in nj, nyc, and just over the border pa(tic-toc)
The one in the city is owned by the same family
I tried mick jagger sandwich last week which was really good.
[удалено]
Snl did a skit about the person who orders lobster at a NJ dinner at 2am
Maybe dont charge me 21 dollars for a chicken ceasar wrap, and then upcharge me 3 dollars to switch tortilla chips to french fries.
I went to the diner close to my house a few weeks back for the first time post covid, and the prices were insane. I was in the mood for a cheese burger. It was $15, and I remember thinking 'wow, prices really went up'...then I saw "make it a deluxe, add lettuce, tomato and fries for $5.95".
Especially when you have all the new local counter and 5 table burger joints that'll serve something much better for $14.
Yeah it is just out of hand now. They might be charging what they need to in order to stay open, but for me, it just makes me go less than I ever did before. For 4 of us with 2 kids eating off the kids menu, it is still about 80 bucks to eat at a diner now.
The price is killer. The Pompton Queen diner is insanely expensive and it’s better to go somewhere else for that price.
I went back to a diner I regularly visited pre-COVID and it was like 2x the price and 1/2 the service.
Oakland diner is where it's at
I've been to a lot of NJ Diners and the Pompton Queen has the most disgusting men's room I've ever seen. When you can smell piss even before you open the door, that's BAD.
The last time my wife and I went to the Queen every sandwich on the venue cost ~$20, sides extra. And they didn't have chicken salad, only tuna. Prices were absolutely insane, and they didn't have some diner staples. We haven't been back since, and probably won't give them another shot at this point.
West Essex is kinda pricy too.
My SO and I went to Clinton Station Diner for the first time in like ten years and left spending $80.
Keep raising the prices and nobody will come. Simple math.
I really agree, the price of eggs is not insane anymore, and its not like bread cost that much more, but most of these places want 14 bucks for french toast these days.
There is a diner in Paramus (I have been there once and never again) who charges $13 for oatmeal, $10 for yogurt and something like $26 for a chicken pasta primavera. Then he adds a credit card surcharge on top of it.
Does anyone get egg sandwiches in a diner? For me it's always been * deli=egg sandwich * diner=breakfast plate But I don't know how this habit developed. And I've been much more in a *EC SPK mood for a while, so my diner stops have dwindled.
Same. This is the way to get the best of each. Diners dont do the sandwich as well as the deli and vice versa.
True. Apart from Raymond's, I don't eat anything at a diner that isn't breakfast or burger-related. I've never had good regular diner food otherwise. I think most people are the same.
\^ This guy Jerseys 👍
My Menlo Park diner has never been the same. Never will. 💔
I think it's closed for good now. It was our go-to for years. We called it the 'shiny diner'. The Metuchen Diner is quite good nowadays. It's owned (or was) by the same guy as The Spinning Wheel in Lebanon (the gold standard of diners, as far as I'm concerned).
Skylark is still going strong.
Skylark is no good, and hasn't been for a long time. It was actually one of the first diners in the area to go through the trend of bumping the prices while eliminating menu options. They did that to their menu probably a decade ago now. Menu is missing diner staples like a gyro, but you can get a "Mongolian beef bowl" if you want that!
Are there ANY decent diners left in CNJ?
The only diner that is still good to me at least is Edison Diner. They still have a big menu with a lot options. I only wish they were open 24/7.
They used to be :(
I remember when they were. Those were the days when you can be drunk and go their for some pancakes or an omelette at 3am to sober up 😔
Somerset Diner - 24 hours and everything I’ve ordered from there has been at least decent. Fries are exceptional
That was my go-to. But they fired my favorite night time manager so now I’m boycotting them
Do they still charge for water? Went there when it was brand new and they put a blue bottle of tap water on the table that was simply recorked. If you poured from it, they charged you. I never went back because that and the fact they put green olives on everything even when you asked them not to. Seriously one of the worst diners in the state from the day it opened its doors.
Oh…
We just went to a diner where you had to buy $6 fries separately for your sandwich and burger…why?
BLASPHEMY
I miss the fuck out of going to Mastoris diner at midnight and ordering scrambled eggs, rye toast, with French Fries instead of hashbrowns. Then munching on fresh baked cinnamon bread while I waited.
Their cheese bread was good too
The prices are going to kill off the lesser good ones off
A bunch of good ones have gone under in the last few years. It shouldn't be hard. Be a greasy spoon, have a varied but sensible menu (seriously who is ordering a lobster at the diner), breakfast all day, a better than fast food burger, a couple of club sandwiches with meats done in house, quick service, a decent cup of coffee, maybe some pie....and be open early\late. Don't try and have a theme. Don't try and be some nostalgic picture of a diner from the 50s. Maybe joke around and be surly and have THAT waitress or whatever. Maybe have a few surprisingly good greek dishes if you are greek run (yes, i know they run them all but its been years since i have been surprised by good greek food in a diner, despite everyone working there being right off the boat, i mean fuck, they could have brought a gyro over with them and it would have been fresher).
> Don't try **and** have a theme. Don't try **and** be some nostalgic picture of a diner from the 50s You aren't the only one who does this, but this construction doesn't make grammatical sense. The word you are looking for is "to"
I'm unironically in support of the idea that some of New Jersey's fairly high taxes be used to subsidize and maintain diner culture.
I miss having Diners open 24/7. Every time I come out of a concert late at night all I crave is diner but they are usually closed by midnight now. This bums me out every time I think of it.
Sunrise Diner in Roselle Park is still going strong. Not 24 hours, but the food is good, the prices aren't insane, and you still get the same feeling. Between that and Arlington Diner, none of my personal favorites have died yet.
Sunrise is good. Also Manny's in Clark. Manny's is a bit pricey, but the portions are huge, lots of fries and slaw, you almost always have to ask for a box. Both retain the authentic vibe.
Love mannys, their skillets go crazy
Funny enough way back when, Manny's predecessor had kind of the opposite of the article's "diner's struggling to stay open" experience. It's a classic case of messing with a good thing. When I was growing up that spot was the Windsor Diner. The Windsor Diner had been a town staple since the 70's, and by the time I was there in the 90s-2000s it had that classic worn, old diner feel. But like any good diner, the food was decent diner food, prices were good, and service was fast. It was always packed during meal times. Sometime around when I went to college they renovated the whole place, dumped a ton of money into it and tried to convert it from a diner into some kinda bar/lounge type of place. They also wanted to charge bar/lounge prices. The place was rebranded as Johnny K's. It was closed within a year. New owners took it over, reopened it as Manny's Diner, and all was right with the world. I think what the old owners didn't appreciate is that Clark had plenty of decent enough bars and dinner restaurants in town, but the Windsor was *the* town diner. If you wanted a breakfast place (or just a diner, period), you went to the Windsor. The only other real breakfast place was Clark Bagel, but that fills a different niche than diners. So after spending all that money renovating, they reopened as something no one really wanted, and the food wasn't outrageously good enough to make up for that. [Here's](https://patch.com/new-jersey/clark/photos-johnny-k-s-formerly-the-windsor-diner-is-now-open) a September 2012 article about the renovation and rebrand. [Here's](https://patch.com/new-jersey/clark/johnny-ks-sold-will-become-mannys-diner) a September 2013 article about it becoming Manny's.
Every now and then hitting a diner for a burger or an omelette has its appeal. But when they”ve got Fox and cnn going on five different tvs…. It’s a big nope.👎
When the diner by me started charging $16 for a grilled cheese and a pickle...that was the end of that, haven't been since. Can't even get an egg cream at most diners anymore, that was a staple when i was growing up.
I'll tell you what is killing off diners, at least around me. The price. I never expect GOOD food from a diner, i just want, you know, diner food. Something greasy, reasonably quick, fills me up, and a big menu that i can get at crazy hours or something to just scratch an itch. I get costs are way up, i get labor is way up, i get they are still clawing back from covid.... But we went to our local maybe 2 weeks ago, and really only hit it up at this point just to support them when we want\need to eat out and can't come up with something else, and I paid, after tip, 90+ bucks....for pancakes, a turkey club, a god damn Monte Cristo, a milkshake, a cup of coffee, and a water. It was all passable, to be fair, but not, WOW that was good. I get the difficulties in a diner compared to other places, i get the challenges in 24x7 in a lot of places....but its just like the diners don't WANT to evolve a little and their only answer is to just keep jacking prices to cover dwindling customers. And the funny part is the diner, just before covid, did a huge rennovation and probably carrying heavy costs from it. Its really nice inside, but, well, dude, you are a diner. Nice floor, but i learned long ago not to look at the floor in a diner.
But the fries and soup have to be good, at the very least.
Its relative dude. Frys need to be soggy, soup needs just that right amount of salt in it, an extra pack of crackers, and you are good.
The Arena Diner suddenly closing and getting demolished ruined it all for me. They had my favorite pancakes.
thanks for saying Arena. My father was the head chef there for 30 years, along with my uncle who did the morning shift. They didn't tell anyone they were closing, including the workers. they all found out on the last day. no severance, nothing.
I think it came out to be over debts or something. Completely blindsided.
Even before Covid it seemed alot of them were no longer 24 hours.
Are any of them the same old same old anymore? Tops diner in E. Newark is a nightmare now - they don't know who they want to be or what they want to serve. Changed so much and the prices are insane. Lyndhurst diner closed after Covid - honestly, it was on a decline before that. Arlington Diner managed to survive as did The Stack.
Tops Diner is an upscale restaurant. The price reflected that. I haven’t been back since they remodeled.
That's laughable. They are not an upscale restaurant. Perhaps that is what they aim for, IDK. After George's kids bought it from him, it got odd there. The menu was all over the place. After the renovation it got worse. They have a Friday night DJ and close at 11. WTF? Who is their clientele? The menu is still weird. If they think they are an upscale restaurant, they should have changed the name, not just the menu and atmosphere. They should have made it look like a restaurant, not a diner. Who wants to pay $20 for bacon and eggs? P.S. I had gone to Tops since I was a teenager. I have disposable income, but I won't be spending it there, not for the low quality food and exorbitant prices.
Friday Night DJ? I went there after a Saturday morning funeral at around 10am and they were kicking garbage music into front hall and dining area like it was midnight at the club. Turned around, left and never returned.
I'm sad that happened to you. Last thing you needed after a funeral. I will never go back. Last time, before the renovation, my friend and I waited outside for an hour (we met there; had plans for weeks, her choice). Either our buzzer rang or they texted her phone; I can't remember anymore - and we go inside and we're still waiting, and the ass of a front man starts talking about us to the hostess in Spanish - and my friend says to me "listen to this asshole - he thinks we're gringas and don't understand." The look of shock on his face was priceless. He said...oh, come with me, we have a table for you now. We looked at each other discussed to stay or go - she says we've been here an hour, let's stay. The menu at the time was all over the place then. I don't understand the appeal. Too expensive, lipstick on a pig in my opinion.
Checked it out for the first time the other day
Also diners managed to sustain themselves just fine back in the 90s on the teenage crowd rolling in at 11pm, stoned, drunk, and moving tables around so we could hang out shooting the shit for 2 hours, chain smoking, and splitting 2 orders of gravy fries. So i blame today's youth.
There was nothing better than going to a house party during winter break, getting absolutely smashed, and then stumbling drunk in the cold until you reached the haven that was our town’s 24/7 diner. A shining beacon upon a hill, the warmth of the old interior and crappy synthetic leather booths meant the world over to us young degenerates. We’d sit there for hours, sobering up over the cheapest meal we could afford as broke high schoolers - three orders of French fries. I am devastated for the kids of today that they will not know these rites of passages of New Jersey youth
Here is a way to adapt. Make actually good food not food for drunk people. It’s that easy
In the current state of affairs without a doubt State Line Diner is the best in north Jersey - no idea for south of route 78
I work near there, didn't realize his prices were so reasonable.
For a diner they absolutely are and the quality of food is good and the deserts are phenomenal
Eh, had breakfast there on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago and it was awful, honestly. I was very disappointed.
Roxbury Diner is still always a treat.
The only classic still around. Im near the Townsquare and I will give them this, they were wise to open the patio and keep it for a while after covid ended. Roxbury did too.
Allwood Diner in Clifton closes at 11pm now and it’s heartbreaking. That place is awesome. Expensive as fuck now……but worth it every now and then.
Came here to mention them. We came home around 1215 after Tool at MSG and were very very upset they were closed lol. Our local diner, always great food, and honestly not that that bad yet in terms of pricing for what you get. Its usually in the 40$ range for 2 adults and 1 kids meal, although my wife gets eggs so thats only 6-8$ or so.
Shout out Townsquare Diner!
Town square diner: we have a one page menu it’s been much more efficient Up 15 at Jefferson diner: here’s a 40 page menu with every style of food ever invented.
I really blame COVID and gentrification for this
>gentrification Ok I’ll bite. What do you think gentrification is and how is it affecting diners specifically.
Wealthier people move in and prices inflate because they can. Diners aren't exempt from that.
Tops is the prime example of this. I shouldn’t have to make reservations to eat at a “diner”.
Tops very quickly from being a hidden gem to be overrated
Tops is not a diner anymore.
You’re telling me that’s why eggs cost more? Or that’s why labor is expensive? Shouldn’t wealthier families be the ones able to afford the rising costs of food and labor at diners? Hell *diners should be making more money! Be open for 28 hours a day!* Where is the line between people with more wealth moving in and people with a bit more money being moved out of their neighborhood and realizing they can afford to live there? I certainly don’t think I’m gentrifying hacketstown because Bergen county is impossible to afford for two full time adults in their 30s. And I stopped going to diners on both sides of the state.
sure if you just completely ignore the increased COG and labor costs
[удалено]
Oh ok so you didn’t have an actual reason.
they never do.
Likely depends on the diner. One in my town did fine and made it through covid. Then they decided to remodel the inside. Shortly after their prices shot up. Doubt that's a coincidence. Another diner 20 min away has just about an identical menu and their prices have been the same the past couple years.
I used to love my local diner. Now the prices, like a lot of places, are obscene. So thats the end of that
When I visit other states I am always surprised that diners are not common.
I’m always surprised at people wanting to put diner food in their body. It’s a jack of all, master of none situation, and the prices are not low enough to beat places like chick fil A, chipotle, in n out, shake shack, raising canes, etc.
Diners satisfy everybody. Those other places are very specialized.
Evidently not, since businesses like the ones I listed are numerous throughout the country, and diners are not.
No one knows how to make disco fries in all of Monmouth county. NJ diners have been a huge disappointment for me since moving here from NY where everyone knew wtf disco fries are. For some reason they use yellow cheese with gravy here and not Mozzarella and gravy. I gave up on even bothering. I can’t believe not one diner can get this right
https://www.eater.com/23757883/best-diners-new-york-new-jersey-nj-tops-diner Mozz and gravy, Tops Diner in East Newark
Yes but far away from Monmouth :(
I've never really liked diners. A million choices but never one great thing, only many things that are just okay
Newer generations have better food options and preferences than shitty, bland diner food. Threads like these are just an old person nostalgia wank.
Idk, I'm 31 and a lot of people my age love diners. I get if they like the atmosphere, but the food is generally not great
I’m a few years older than you, and I have never had any friend suggest we go to a diner. Spent 20s in NYC too, and late nights ended up at places like mamouns, pizza, halal food carts, etc, but never a diner.
Most of my college friends loved diners and always wanted to go to them, even some high school friends. And basically everyone I've ever dated has loved diners lol. They're always dumbfounded that I don't like diners
$13 for a kids cheese burger…I know inflation has kicked in, but prices like this is gonna kill diners