My Friends Diner — Restaurant in Atlantic City

If you read my reviews you will notice that I am definitely biased towards independent restaurants. My friend's diner is as independent as it gets. This is the place for breakfast when you're walking on the Atlantic City boardwalk, bar none. The food is on paper plates with plastic utensils and those lovely little tubs of Smuckers grape jelly in a basket next to the old school ketchup bottle. On a hot day make sure you sit towards the front door, the breeze will keep you cool even if it's 95 like it was today. Had a lovely spinach and feta omelette that was absolutely delicious and at this point I think the grill is so old that the flavors are like the mother sauces they talk about in Nashville BBQ. I read that one was actually brought from an old location to a new location with a police escort because it was so important, the flavors it contained. Well the griddle at my friend's diner if they ever move should be escorted by the army. And if they close it should be put in a museum. This may sound a little ridiculous but I will tell you I have eaten there for years and I have never been disappointed. On top of that, it's as reasonable as it gets and the staff is friendly and the people who eat there are a blend of locals and tourists. Always an interesting crew. If you're in AC, avoid the breakfasts and the casinos they're never really that good, it's all just food service garbage. My friend's diner is another gem in another wise overpopulated by corporate food town. There's nobody's name attached to this place, there's no famous chef there. Just people working for a living and making...

The absolute worst dining experience I've ever had!!! Served all their customers on paper plates with plastic utensils, and not quality ones either, the cheapest brands you can purchase. I ordered steak and sunny-side-up eggs. Steak was very tough and rubbery and had tendon running throughout the steak. My plastic fork's teeth broke in the steak as I tried cutting it. My plastic knife was not cutting it, so I asked for a regular knife. Server comes back and tells me they don't provide regular knives. So I ask, "you expect me to cut thru a steak with a plastic knife on a paper plate?" His response, "You dont need a real knife because our steaks are tender." That made me chuckle at him because the steak was far from tender. I chalked it up as just crappy food and crappier service and was ready to get outta there after paying for horrible food and service, until I noticed an extra $11 charge on my bill. When I questioned them, they said there's an automatic 18% charge for all parties, regardless of size (just 2 of us), then proceeded to point to a small sign behind the kitchen where nobody looks as if it's significant notice. No mention of it on the menu, nor did our server mention it. If you're gonna mandate that gratuity, the least you can do is offer adequate service and dinnerware. Unethical business practices that show they dont care about...

Food is great will give them that spent over $150 yesterday and we liked the food so we went to go back next day unfortunately my under 2 child and my autistic son refused to eat the food there so we took it to go next day we hoped they would let us let our kids eat fries from another place because I wasn’t sure if they only did breakfast it was our first time we just went for breakfast. My autistic son is very specific on his fries. We went with our sick mother to enjoy food together. We asked if it was okay when we came in they sat us down we was taking their fries out we started order and I guess the manager came and told us we can’t bring outdoor food even tho we asked them before sitting and it was only fries for my autistic son and baby they refused so we all had left. I feel there should have been at least some thought the guy wasn’t understanding that it was children it was only fries not even actual food and all the adult were all ordering food and kids were going to get drinks. Our first time to Atlantic City we had a bad experience at one place and my friends diner...