Mary Ann's Diner — Restaurant in Amherst

I had a strange and humiliating experience with our server - Tracy. It began with two hostesses debating on where to seat my friend and me, and things only became more dismal from there.

So, a female friend and I visited this diner (Amherst location) for the first time today (4/21/24). While Tracy was very friendly and attentive toward my friend, she 100% ignored me, to the point that whenever I asked her a question, she turned to my friend and answered it while looking at my friend instead of me. She tried to avoid me as much as possible, not just verbally, but also with eye - contact and body language.

This was done every single time I asked a question - the answer was directed at my friend, even though she knew that the question were from me. I did a little experiment by asking questions at different times during my meal, and every time - as predicted, Tracy would turn to look directly at my friend to answer.

I tried to keep my interactions with Tracy friendly, yet any questions that I had were all answered while turning to look at my friend. I was in a state of disbelief couldn’t understand why I was being treated that way.

While Tracy was about five feet away, she must have overheard me ask my friend, “Why does she keep looking at you when answering my questions?” Yet she still continued with the same behavior.

Even when it was clear that I was the person paying, I was still not being serviced. When I asked Tracy, “Can I have the check, please?” She turned to my friend and answered, “Sure, it’ll be right out.” Then, when she brought out the check, she left it with my friend and told her, “Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll cash you out.”

I have worked in the food service industry - as a server and on the management teams - for both privately owned and corporate owned establishments, and this incident left me at a loss. We in the industry also know that an entire table is supposed to feel welcomed and comfortable, rather than singling one person to the point where they are unacknowledged in every manner.

Honestly, I was and am at a total loss for words. I did not present myself to Tracy in an offensive manner, nor was I rude to her.

There was nothing about me or my behavior that stood out in any way. The only difference I could think of, was that I am a person of color, while my friend and Tracy were both white. I mentioned this not to imply anything, but simply for the sake of clarity and to provide you with a complete picture of the situation.

I still left a generous tip for Tracy because I was in shock and needed time to process what the heck had just happened. As I thought more about this later on, I realized that there wasn’t one single redeeming moment during my visit at Mary Ann’s Diner. It wasn’t just a mistake here and there, but that I was deliberately, constantly disregarded, the entire time that I was at the restaurant. Everything was so intentionally done, it was undeniable and so inexcusable, that there was no room for the benefit of the doubt.

I will not revisit this establishment because I was treated so appallingly without a valid reason. It wasn’t the occasional mistake, but - rather, constant and intentional humiliation.

What you do with this information is up to you; whom you choose to support directly reflects your values.

UPDATE (4/28/2024): I emailed the restaurant a week ago and there has been no response, which is fine, but I find it interesting that so many new reviews have been coming out in droves, in order to drown mine out. Fascinating and very telling. If they ever respond to my email, I will come back with an update.

2nd UPDATE (2/8/2025): Five of the sixteen Helpful Votes that I received from readers have been removed, all at the same time. Why? We all know that helpful reviews show up first. Really makes you think, doesn’t it? Fortunately, I did take a picture of my meal to prove that I was there. If you have made it this...

I was so looking forward to the relaunch of this building as Mary Ann's after the downfall of many before it (Joey's, Timeless). I was SO disappointed that it appears as if I will have to wait for this place to fail as well for another shot at redemption.

Let's start with the atmosphere. We went on Labor Day and the traffic was at a moderate level. Not every table was full, but traffic was steady. This place was remodeled with the new ownership, but presented as very dirty and gross overall. Windows on entrance door were smudged to death, table was sticky, coffee creamers were strewn about when we were seated, this is all from poor management.

We were seated right away, but unfortunately we were placed next to two tables with loud and screeching infants/toddlers. This isn't necessarily the restaurant's fault, but a little bit of awareness on the staff's behalf would have been nice. Then in walked the third person with their baby and was seated in the corner near us. We did our best to tune them out.

Our server was polite, but completely unattentive and absent-minded. I ordered a water and a coffee, only received the coffee. My guest ordered a Benedict with the bacon on the side, didn't receive the bacon. We were only checked on once during the 50 minutes we were there, and she only had about 4 tables. We then ordered a side of dressing, and that took nearly 10 minutes to receive. Very poor performance on the server's part.

Now, let's talk about the dog food that we were served. I ordered the chicken fried steak and eggs with a side of corned beef hash and hash browns. My guest ordered a florentine Benedict which came with home fries.

The chicken fried steak was cold yet Crispy. The gravy was a thick, disgusting paste on top. My hash browns were also cold, and almost inedible (meaning I had a difficult time chewing threw them due to improper cooking.) The corned beef hash was clearly from a can - which is normally fine, I'm not that much of a snob - but this just tasted like microwaved slop. There was very little temperature to it, and it was textureless, like it had been microwaved rather than cooked on a pan or on a flat top. My eggs were ordered over easy but were delivered over hard.

My guest's florentine was heaped with spinach and the muffins were sitting in a pool of spinach water and liquid Hollandaise Sauce. The bread and potatoes were so soggy that they were no longer edible and she only ate the eggs on the top.

Don't waste your money or your time coming here. You'll be guaranteed...

Very fun restaurant to attend. Service was outstanding. We had a exceptional waitress that was very attentive. Customers are even friendly. I had a chicken salad that was only prepared with iceberg lettuce but it did have plenty of cucumbers and onion but the chicken was almost non-existent and when I did mention it to the waitress she went right to the kitchen and rectified it and did mention that wow that they must have forgot to put the rest of the chicken on or something. My husband had a chicken with tomato sauce and cheese sandwich. It was not labeled a chicken parm. He enjoyed it but I believe that the chicken is like patties not fresh chicken breast. But he had so many tater tots in his plate, thank you, Maryanne's diner for the extra tater tots because I didn't feel bad for taking a couple from him hahaha. We have frequented many of the Maryanne's diners throughout the years the original being in dairy where we used to live and then there's one in Salem and also the new one in Merrimack. There could be more. There's just a three that I have gone to. I really wanted breakfast that day but I was going in to the diner around noon so I felt that I should try behave and I went for the salad. My husband got a pancake on the side cuz he can't go to Marianne's without a pancake. They have one of the best pancakes. So in a nutshell, they're almost are always good. The breakfast is decent and the atmosphere is fun and the servers more often 5han not have a smile on their face. And they're...