Billy's Downtown Diner — Restaurant in Bethlehem

My friends live in Bethlehem and decided to take us to this diner for breakfast because they love coming here. After hearing so many good things about it, I was very excited, and then very quickly disappointed. The service we received was literally the worst I've have ever experienced, and I'm the first person to give a waiter/waitress a break, but not this time. I spilled my orange juice, something the waitress probably never knew because she NEVER checked on us! I then had to clean it up myself, and go without a drink. When the food was brought out, she didn't even ask them if I wanted another drink and didn't even notice or say anything about the napkins we had piled up from trying to clean up the spill (so they sat there the whole time). As for the food, three people at my table of eight ordered eggs Benedict and all of us got hard boiled eggs on top! That is not a poached egg and therefore I had to wait again to ask for new eggs. Of course because our waitress never checked on us, I waited at least ten minutes before the coffee server came by and I had to ask her for the eggs. By the time I got eggs, everyone else at the table had finished eating. Finally the waitress came back, dropped the check on the table and walked away!!!! She never even knew the eggs Benedict was horrible and that I spilled my juice because she never actually waited on our table!! That is horrible service if you ask me! We got no complements on our bill either! I will probably NEVER go back here as long as that server is there. I mean, when you're a diner that specializes in breakfast food, how do you mess up poached eggs?? The chef should've know. As soon as he/she pulled the eggs out of the boiling water that they were over cooked, but yet they proceeded to serve overlooked eggs to three people! It was ridiculous. Anyways, I should only be giving them one start, but I'll give them two because the Orange juice, which I only got a half a glass of, was actually really fresh! There, I attempted to end on a...

Please give your business to Billy!

Allow me to explain why Billy and the amazing staff at this restaurant deserve your business and support especially in these tough times. Quite simply: they are what every business, large and small, should try to emulate.

This morning I walked into Billy's immediately upon them opening with 18 individual orders that I needed individually packaged and labeled and done with proper Covid precautions. Now it would be forgiven if the crew of any restaurant would groan and roll their eyes at such a demanding customer so early in the day. The exact opposite happened.

The server (and she was the only one working so early) calmed and assured me that they would take care of everything faster than I could imagine. Did they go in the back and curse this demanding customer? Nope, and I was the only one there so I could hear everything going on. The staff sincerely expressed concern to each other for my apparent rush and vowed together to do their best. They didn't say this to me to show good service, they said this amongst themselves when no one was watching.

During this time, who else except Billy himself comes out and opens a friendly and genuine chat, asking about me and talking about the state of affairs in general. A totally genuine and kind individual who just wanted to thank his demanding guest for the business.

In the end the food was all made, packaged and labeled and I was out the door 20 minutes later. 18 orders in 20 minutes. Every one of them correct and delicious. Our team enjoyed a safely made and socially distant meeting thanks to Billy and his team.

I will personally give Billy my business whenever I am in town and I encourage everyone to do the same. What Billy and his whole team have captured in that diner is what we all wish the whole world could be: kind, sincere and awesome....

I came in at 2:30pm on a Saturday, one full hour before closing.

I ordered a Cuban sandwich, a vanilla latte and a side of Canadian bacon.

Firstly, the problems started arising on my first order. The latte came cold and with whip cream, even though I asked for no whip cream.

As a side note: The coffee was room temperature when it came out and the whip cream was just scooped out. More on this later

I asked for a repour, and I got more cold coffee. Odd in my honest opinion, but I didn’t put much thought to it at the time. I attributed it to a bit of laziness in the servers part.

When the food came out, a Cuban sandwich for me and an eggs benedict for my partner, the hollandaise sauce was cold, and my sandwich was warm, not hot.

While warm the sandwich was pretty good, the side of Idaho homefries had no seasoning and was almost cold. Cold bland potatoes with ketchup were not appetizing.

Three minutes later my Cuban sandwich was completely cold and so was the rest of my meal and sides.

Before I finish even half of my sandwich, the server, comes over and drops off the check.

I thought it was weird to push the check a bit early but I let it go. My partner couldn’t even finish her eggs benedict, her favorite meal, because it was so unappetizing and cold. Not to mention the cold latte.

Overall if the food were warm, prepared freshly and seasoned it would be excellent in my opinon. However, precooked cold food with no seasoning and a pushy waiter that just wanted us out left a terrible taste in my mouth (both physically and mentally).

Also, cleaning the table before I even put on my coat is not a very welcome gesture.

I hope restaraunt management can see this and correct their practices. Until then do not expect me to recommend or come back to this...