Miss Florence Diner — Local services in Northampton

It sucks that I’m writing this :( I am not one to ever review if I have a poor experience, but I have never once been treated so poorly by waitstaff at any establishment in my life. The waitress, who’s name on the receipt was Leah C(dark hair, red lipstick, late 40s-early 50s), treated us noticeably worse/differently than every single other customer the entire time we were there. She happily spoke to other customers and made friendly conversation to everyone but us. She sounded annoyed to tend our table and prioritized other customers in a way that we noticed a difference. We weren’t checked in on the entire time we were eating and We waited 15-20 minutes after* we finished eating before she checked in on us or brought the check. This would’ve been understandable if it was busy, but there were only about 5 tables taken at the time. She had also taken orders of several people who just sat down before checking in. We almost stood and got our own boxes to leave because of the time we waited. I study body language and there was a massive difference in how she interacted with us compared to every other customer. I went through every single possibility of maybe we were reading her wrong, but She continued to treat us poorly until she saw a wad of cash in my wallet at the end and she immediately tried to make positive conversation in hopes to redeem her service. It was an immediate change in tone and body language. I have a suspicion she treated us different because we are a young autistic queer couple with different clothing styles. (I note though, that there is no way to appear autistic and we do not appear disabled. But we are, and the point of that is that you shouldn’t treat people badly just because of assumptions made because they may actually be disabled, like us. Invisible disabilities exist! You never know what someone else is going through. This stands for her too of course, she may have had a bad day. But you are still a waitress and there’s no reason to be passive aggressive towards customers or treat them noticeably different even if you are upset or assume they don’t tip well. I have worked food service and understand it’s not easy and often can be unpleasant) She may have also been under the assumption that we would not tip well because we appear as teenagers. (I am 20) The restaurant was full of an older crowd, so we may be different than how normal customers appear but that is still no reason for us to be treated differently. We came here on recommendation from a very close friend, and unfortunately have decided to not come back :( food was subpar, but not bad at all. Pancakes were huge! And the toast was...

Breakfast on weekends is such an enjoyable meal for me. I prefer the hole in the wall dirty spoons. It just seems to me that so much love is put into the food. Everything just has more flavor than the chain spots. I have heard of this diner for some time now and about a month ago finally made it. It has now been three times that we have had breakfast here and between the staff, the ambience, and the food I must say that this is my favorite place to have breakfast. Being a historian buff this places history alone is worth coming in and supporting. The Miss Florence was opened in 1941 by Maurice Alexander and his wife, Pauline Florence Alexander. In April of 2018, the diner was lovingly acquired by the new owner, Ms. Georgianna Brunton and she hustles! I have watched juggle staff, patrons and dish after dish after dish and she always has a smile. I applaud her drive. On her website she is says, “Our mission is to serve the community and surrounding neighborhood through offering breakfast and lunch in a warm, welcoming and entirely unique 1940’s diner atmosphere. Being one of the oldest diners in the United States, we take pride in stewarding Miss Florence Diner into the future, while still retaining the nostalgic charm of a genuine diner from the 1940’s. We pride ourselves on offering tasty food and top notch service seven days a week!” - Georgianna, Owner If you are in Florence or actually anywhere (we come up from Fairfield county) stop by and enjoy their food, atmosphere and go...

WARNING: RUDENESS ALERT

What should have been a pleasant breakfast with family turned into an ordeal ending in an altercation with the hostess. There were four in our party, two of whom were parking the car as we were seated. We were quizzed about their whereabouts and explained where they were. My husband went to the rest room shortly after we sat down. The waitress then grilled me about whether I was alone, and whether I had met with the hostess prior to sutti g down I assured her that my spouse was in the restroom and my children were parking the car. Feeling pressured, I texted the kids asking where they were and offering to order for them. THEN our hostess appeared again and dressed us down for having a partial party present. She actually asked us where our adult children were. I had to answer, for the third time, about the composition of our party; and by that time, I had lost patience. I loudly insisted that they were approaching, that we weren't lying, and that we were doing our best. Silence. Our children returned to complete our party of four. The rest of our interactions there were terse and uncomfortable. At 63, I have NEVER had such a humiliating experience being seated in a diner. I will never forget how these people made us feel. And I will...