Bethany Diner — Restaurant in Bethany Beach

What a great day for my mother and father! On their 65th wedding anniversary they wanted to eat at The Bethany Diner. They have been locals for 25 years and had many places to choose from, but we (mom 84, dad 92 and aunt Dee 93) came here like many times before. The food was perfectly fine, we love the food! Our waitress Kim, was fantastic! She's a star in our book! The hostess, what a complete let down to the whole event; a balloon buster. Not only yelling at us unnecessarily, drawing a lot of attention and embarrisment from across the whole restaurant, (we were trying to seat my father he was using his walker) "don't sit at that table that has not been cleaned", she turned her back on us twice and walked away while we were trying to explain to her that we were just trying to "get dad off his feet he's 92 and very unsteady". Please note, we did wait a few moments to be seated and did read the sign "waitress will seat you " I Rob (59, dad's son) made a judgment call to get him off his feet before he may fall. The second time she turned her back on us, or me in particular, who knows, was when I tried to apologize and explain to her the anniversary, our age factor and that dad is very unsteady. What a total disappointment for a 65th wedding anniversary lunch for people who almost never get out to eat! I wish now that I asked her name; tank top, heavy set with several tattoos. She did say that our waitress Kim and she were "life long friends" when I asked her what our waitresses name was. She acted completely inappropriate and childish to the people who are Bethany Diner patrons and very elderly at that! We truly felt belittled and bewildered by her manners! We tried to be positive, paid, and gave a 25% tip to the great waitress Kim! We then went our merry way. Mom, dad, Dee and me won't be coming back! I'm completely sure that this hostess really couldn't care less. She made that obvious. What a letdown to thier golden years and Bethany Diner relationship. Thank you Kim for the rice pudding and anniversary cake, you’re great! The hostess, not so much. Management should address her unpleasant manner to the elderly paying Bethany Diner customers or any customer for that matter. She must have no understanding about the elderly and not realize that they have it tough enough without given an attitude. Whether they are a locals or not, whether she recognizes them or not. They should be treated with some dignity. You should at least try to listen when a customer is trying speak and explain something to you. You certainly didn't want to listen! Who ever you are, sorry we offended you somehow, but you really acted childish, unpleasant and unprofessional. Being a multiple business owner for over 40 years, you are not a person who should hold a hostess position. All four of us were certainly shown that today! Very truly yours, Rob. P.S. I never write these things, but you compelled me. At least you can bring that out...

I was inspired to try a dish of Scrapple Eggs Benedict here after seeing a post the other morning by a member of a scrapple enthusiast Facebook group. He posted a great photo and it was making me hungry. Now this item is not on the regular menu, they only have the traditional Eggs Benedict version listed, but the nice lady taking our order didn’t blink an eye when I made my request. BTW, she indicated the place uses RAPA scrapple cooked on a flat top vs the deep fat method some places employ when in a rush. My biggest problem with the results of all of this was that my dish was prepared some hours after the first review & photo I’d seen. That nice smooth sauce was a bit more chunky; something one doesn’t usually associate with a hollandaise. Also my dish was about as bland as it could be. It was like the kitchen had run out of lemon juice, white wine and/or vinegar; items needed to punch up the taste of the otherwise dull yellow chunky sauce. Heck, even a bit of salt n’ pepper would have done something for the that dish & the hash brown potato’s. My wife had a steak n’ cheese omelette w/ hash browns and she too thought that it was all way too bland, even with onions. I’m thinking/hoping that our experience was out of character as you will notice the place otherwise enjoys relatively good ratings. Perhaps your mileage might vary. Also you will see that when folks do have issues, managers respond to follow up on line. In my case, I had opportunity to speak with folks at checking out and they were truly interested in my feedback and wanted to address my concerns. I thus only offer this review to share the impressions of the product and how great the management folks are in customer retention skills; truly fantastic as the place has a huge menu, the service was good and I wanted to like & return here. Oh, BTW, coffee was good!

EDIT: So here is a non-location related thing. Months after posting this review, I got a love note from Google asking me to add captions describing the dish. Now for real, compared to 95% of most food posts that have nothing…why in the name of cheeses and crackers did the bots not figure out my photos...

First visit, very impressive. Food delicious. Loved the pancakes and there saucage is terrific. Eggs and omletes done well. All generous portions. Huge menu so many good choices. Reasonably priced. Service was awesome, friendly attentive and worked as a team. Will be my go to for breakfast when I am visiting Bethany 2nd visit, just as delicious as first time. KELLY ANN'S service was exceptional. This visit would have been perfect with the exception of the hostess. Her courtesy and customer service skills are lacking. A very poor experience for anyone visiting for the first time. First an elderly person fell in the parking lot, we ran in and said to her we need napkins and ice. Some got hurt in the parking lot. The phone was ringing so she said wait a minute and answered the phone. Thank God locals ran in went to the back and got what was needed. Then it was time to be seated. As we are all walking in she already walked off and stood at the table, thank God the first one in saw which way she went. Then put the menus on the table and walked off. Not a word, not enjoy, your server will be right with you, nothing. Then when we were leaving, again not a word. Not even a thank you for coming. BUT...Kelly Ann made up for all that and more. She could teach the hostess a few things. It would not stop me from going again because the service and food are that good. ...