Dano's Diner — Restaurant in Atlantic Beach

I still am in shock after my meal this morning. First impression, the place is filthy. It’s apparent nobody ever cleans other than wiping down obvious spots. The kids were hungry and I stayed against my better judgment. What a mistake. The owner clearly prides himself on his abrasive personality, and thinks it’s funny to be rude to people but nobody was laughing. He bullied my four year old (yes you read that right, four) several times. My son was sitting quietly drinking his milk and the owner came by multiple times speaking aggressively to him for no reason at all; then while bringing items out rudely told him “get out of the way” over and over (again: my son was seated and not in anyone’s way), then poked at him while I asked him to stop, until my son started crying and sobbed into my shirt. He was poking him hard enough that his drink was spilling. At least he had the decency to look abashed after that, but who on earth treats a child they don’t even know that way??

Food was not good and overpriced. One kids meal, one black coffee, one orange juice, one milk, and one little fruit cup was somehow $23 pre tip.

The only plus, he did start on the kids’ food right away, which was considerate. The weird political rambling on the menu, Trump shrine by the register, and lists all over the chalkboard felt very unhinged. Just an all around weird vibe. I love supporting local but yikes....

We've ate there twice for breakfast. Neither time was great but we had wanted to give it a second chance . The first time we ordered the chicken and waffles, and the chicken looked and tasted like frozen breaded chicken tenders you buy precooked, and the waffles were limp. The second time we ordered eggs, blueberry pancakes and banana peanut butter pancakes. When they arrived it was just pancakes with a side of blueberries and side of banana and peanut butter! The pancakes had the same texture as the waffles, and it reminded me of the texture when you freeze and then dethaw pancakes later. Kind of limp, or soggy. To make matters worse, the wait for this food was about 35 minutes the first time and 45 minutes the second time we ate there. When we were leaving, no one that had arrived after us had been served and I guess a few people complained because the owner, or manager came out and addressed the restaurant very rudely. Said his food was fresh and that's why the wait was long, and if anyone didn't like it they could go to Hardee's across the street. He also said something along the lines of not caring that an older woman complained because she could croak before he gets his money . I was shocked he'd say something so awful to his customers, and also that he talked about how fresh his food was after eating those...

I brought my elderly mother and her nurse here with the hopes of having a nice lunch. Considering it is a 'diner' I was expecting some home cooked meal options, especially since the previous name was 'Home Plate Diner'. Well, now I know that's a baseball reference, not any indication of what's on the menu. If you're not getting breakfast, there's a choice of hamburgers or sandwiches. So right off the bat, I was disappointed. (I like to get my mom a good meal when we go out). I cannot attest to any of it though because we did not stay to eat. Not because of what they serve (or don't), but because of the rude man, that I'm guessing owns the place. He has to. If any employee ever spoke to customers the way that he did to us, they should be fired immediately. I get it, he thinks he's funny....and we are fun people. However, the 'joking' he was doing, was NOT funny. Far from it. He was obnoxious, insulting, and degrading. He was hurling his remarks so loudly, everyone in the restaurant could hear. It was a very uncomfortable and unpleasant experience for all of us. The whole 10 minutes we stayed there, was 10 minutes too long. I'd really like to know what he said about us to the other customers after...