State Street Grill — Restaurant in Bloomfield

Extremely poor attitudes and service on part of the manager. My boyfriend and I have been loyal customers to this diner, since the diner is local. We are both healthcare professionals, I’m a doctor and my boyfriend is a pediatric dentist. We come to this diner after work in the hospital because the food is reasonable and it’s nearby. We tried to get the healthcare discount, and were told by 3 employees to wait for the manager. When the manager finally came he rang us up without the discount. Fair, he made a mistake, yet when I pointed out to him that we are healthcare workers, with our scrubs and badges on, he said we can’t get the discount because we never told anyone. I explained the situation to him, that we asked 3 employees that we needed to get the healthcare discount we’re healthcare workers, the manager was quick to brush off my statements and was awfully rude. He rudely said “what do you want me to do, you didn’t show your badge, you want a refund then!”. First off, it’s now our job to read your employee handbook before entering your restaurant, your employees should be well versed in the protocol and ask the customers to show the badge if that’s the case. Next, we both had our scrubs with our titles printed and our badges on our jackets for everyone to see, as we thought that was how we show proof of the badge. Next, the manager should understand, in any service industry, for the most part, the customer is always right. I believe in having a dialogue, speaking out the story, and coming to a solution. I asked for the refund so we could properly adjust the price for the discount. For me it was about the principle at that point over the discount. As the manager proceeded to issuing the refund I asked if he wanted to see my badge, to which he said “no I don’t need to see it!” In a sarcastic manner. Then as I picked up my bag of the leftovers from our meal, he said sarcastically “what are you doing running away he didn’t even pay yet”, to which I oddly had to defend myself in saying, “im not leaving I’m just picking up my bag”. All in all, this nonsense could have been simplified through effective communication. Employees should know the protocol, ask for the proof, or at least convey that information to the manager while they were getting him. We had the badge on along with our uniform, what else did they need. I was more than willing to show my badge had they asked before quickly billing us. So all in all, this diner has lost 2 loyal customers that are healthcare workers, and have lost credibility in what they advertise; 10% promotion for healthcare...

I ate the Jack Daniel's burger, well done with coleslaw and pickle. I waited for around 15 minutes on Sunday for lunch. It's around $15 for a good meal but some of the drinks bring it up to $20. The water is free and you can ask they put a lemon in it too. I'm not sure how many times you can refill, but those are free too.

The waiters are usually pleasant to speak with, but I had to update my review today because our waitress for today, Mica, was incredible.

This next whole paragraph is just me yapping about the subpar rewards program.

You sign up for a card, but it's like 1000 points ($1=1 point, according to their menu) for a $30 gift card. Honestly, it's kind of pointless but maybe I'll eventually get there. The waiters are supposed to take your card when you pay and add the points to it. If you try to add points using the receipt after you pay, it won't work, which I think is kind of silly considering how complicated and obscure the instructions are for using the card but whatever. She's the first waiter after like 3 times visiting who actually knew exactly what to do, the first waiter just took my card, didn't add points, and left it at the register. The second waiter might've actually added my points but I haven't checked them yet. The way you check your points is they need to scan it too, man honestly it's a hassle for what you even get but I wanna give it a shot. However, realistically speaking, I'd probably hit $1000 dollars after a year and a half at the rate I'm going. If you aren't insane like I am and you only go once a month, it'd take you at least four years. Why am I even doing this?

I forgot to mention don't even try and order pick up. It might depend on your meal, but the take out containers they use are not big enough and to compensate, when I ordered the same Jack Daniel's burger, the fries shrunk and they was more but it wasn't the same. The lettuce and tomatoes weren't even in the burger. The meal was still alright, but you should just eat in if what you'll eat is a bigger meal.

I was bored and read the other reviews, I'll be honest, the longest I've waited was like 30 minutes probably, that day was bad. The waiters I've spoken to are usually friendly though.

Oh, I bought their cookies once and for like $5 they weren't that good, I wouldn't buy those again. Also, the chairs for some of the tables are really, and I mean really, creaky and wobbly. Those don't feel to good to sit in but I've never seen...

Update review. September 2022 This place has been my go-to spot for over 10 years. However, a lot of things have changed recently. I thought maybe it's because of the pandemic and I thought I would give them a benefit of the doubt when their food and service wasn't the same anymore. However, now I'm done. Maybe they have a new owner with all the recent renovation going on. Or perhaps they just have a new main cook. Whatever the case it might be, the food is horrible. The service is non-existent.

I had a burnt overcooked burger. Nobody asked me how I want the burger when I ordered. Nobody asked how everything is after everything came out. We had to ask for one missing straw multiple times before finally getting one. We didn't want to bother so we just ate, but we only had 2 sets of utensils for 3 people.

Unfortunately this wasn't the first time the service has significantly downgraded since 2022. They used to have my perfect comfort food I couldn't live without while I was pregnant. That was right before the pandemic. Now everything tastes different. I mean every single thing from their menu tastes different from before. It didn't necessarily mean bad until the burnt burger and the plain pizza with barely any sauce. We won't be going here anymore.

-previous review below-

This is my go-to spot. When my family says let's go to "a diner," we mean this place. There's no other diner we would call a diner, unless it's just a regular diner. People are always nice here (although at times, servers can be hard to find when you need). However, when we talk about any restaurant, I know the food is the most important thing. The food here is awesome. The menu has changed not so long ago during the pandemic and I am sad that some menus are not there anymore. (on top of my head right now, I think crab cakes are not there anymore... Not too certain though, my brain fog 😅😅) Anyways, there still are plenty of food that's awesome here. They do fried food perfect. It's not oily, perfect crisp. Oh you have to try their wings! I wouldn't eat the Philly cheese here though. It's just not as good as the ones at Philly, lol. But the burgers? Oh my.... You might pass out cuz it's so good. Make sure to eat their coleslaw. I couldn't have survived without their coleslaw while I was pregnant. I used to go eat just so I could have that coleslaw.

Thank you all the staff at State Street Grill! Thank you for the awesome kitchen...