Fifth Street Diner — Restaurant in Bowling Green

If you prioritize hygiene, don't eat here. I can sit at the counter and count how many times the cooks wipe sweat off their foreheads or cough or sneeze and then touch people's food. I've never seen anyone working in the kitchen wash their hands, or change gloves. The staff handles money and touches people's food. I watched a cook with glasses wipe his gloved hand over his sweaty forehead and then touch my bacon to built my BLT. I watched the short haired bearded ginger cook shake someone's dirty hand and go touched someone's food. Also, that same cook tells costumers racist and homophobic jokes. The food isn't even that good. If you have a low immune system, you might get sick from eating here. I'm praying to God that a health inspector comes to the counter and watches the cooks so this place can straighten up. I will most likely be informing the health inspector myself. I don't think ANY of the staff has been trained to work in a kitchen. None of them follow the basic food safety guide and I doubt ANY of them have taken food safety / culinary class because if they did they would NOT be so careless with people's food and the safety of the people and their own personal hygiene. And if you complain to a staff member, they will say "I don't know, I just work here." The million flies that fly around will pay more attention to you than the staff. Also, the diner is very dirty and disgusting. I don't think the staff has ever heard of a disinfectant wipe or a broom. You dont have to look close to see the dirtiness of the floor (especially near the cash register area) you can see all the dirt and grime that shows they NEVER clean. The resturant opens early but it looks like they've been open for a month solid judging by the amount of dirt everywhere. That kitchen is a BREEDING GROUND for bacteria and/or fungus. I have never been to a restaurant that made me gag out of how disgusting it was UNTIL I went here. I wouldn't be surprised if the new strand of COVID was brewed up in...

The inexplicably good reviews for this place must be due to it being a local institution or favorite. This review isn't for locals.

I was only here once, so maybe it was an especially off day, but the food was consistently terrible. We ordered simple breakfast foods. My two eggs "over easy" were pretty close to being raw. The server was embarrassed when she brought the grits over; her embarrassment was justified - she was worried about how watery they were, upon on tasting them I discovered they were also pretty close to raw. (This was my first time in the American south in a decade, and I thought grits would be a safe choice.) The potatoes were also undercooked and cold.

We were with friends and I didn't want to make them uncomfortable; had we been alone, I would have settled the check and left without touching it. As it was, I was hard pressed to pretend to eat any of it.

The biscuits were consumable, but not good. Overall, it was the kind of experience that makes your skin crawl as a diner. After the experience we had, it's inexplicable to me that this place is open. Tastes and regional preferences vary, but anyone who can turn on the stove and open a bag of frozen potatoes can make better breakfast food than this. I want to make excuses for the line cooks, but how can you cook breakfast and serve obviously raw eggs and grits? That's not just a problem of being too busy, or understaffed, or an off day, it's a failure.

Finally, I am an obviously queer person. To any LGBTQ+ people who happen to be in Kentucky, the vibe here is not good, even...

I want to start out with my husband and I LOVE Lisa's diners food. Its always always delicious. I gave 5 stars for everything but the service today, and that's with the service always being good, great servers, but one server in particular we will not be having again is Michelle. It started off when she came to ask for our order and I had asked for a side of hashbrown casserole to go with my omelet (I did see where you could choose between biscuit and gravy or a piece of toast, but I didn't want that and told her I'd pay extra just for the hashbrown casserole) she kept saying they couldn't do that when we've never had this issue with any of the other ladies cause j do it each time we go. I did get the casserole, but as a paying customer I shouldn't have to beg for what I'm paying for. My husband (which is white, and me half black) noticed that the other white people there were getting better treatment from her, she went to their tables multiple times and our table only to take our order, drop food, and once filled our drinks, never asked if we needed anything, and despite there being at least 3 or 4 other servers, took too long to bring one to-go tray, and our receipt. We almost had to go up to the desk to ask for it so we could pay for our food. Other than that all the other ladies are very nice, and always helpful, and always great food!. But we will not be having Michelle as our...