McDonnell's Restaurant — Restaurant in Carbondale

Have memories of this place from my childhood, haven't been here in two decades. Decided to try it again after talking about it with someone. First and foremost, the most wonderful waitress. Not only friendly as can be, but fully honest about the menu, saying which were frozen items and which were made fresh in-house. Always appreciate the honesty.

Ordered a house salad as I usually do, not much to say about it. You try one, you know what you get. Also an appetizer of potato pancakes, which while the waitress told me were cooked from frozen, also highly recommended. My god was she right, they were tasty as can be. Though I'd say they're more like mini hashbrowns, but super good and loved them. For my main, the special of the day meatloaf made in-house with 'red sauce' which is basically just tomato sauce going by taste. Pretty good, a bit crumbly and fell apart easily, but completely devoured it along with the mashed potatoes, which were pretty plain but not bad by any means. Not the best example of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, but certainly not anything worth insulting. My side vegetable of broccoli though, completely overcooked steamed/boiled trash. Typical of most restaurants, so won't be too harsh since it seems most nobody knows how to cook vegetables decently. Only ever been to one place that knows how to do it, and humorously it's my local American Chinese spot.

It's a cozy spot with friendly service, and pretty alright food that ranges from bad to pretty damn good. I'd recommend it for certain, and I'll have to try a breakfast sometime here. The fact that I got meatloaf was a gamble, as most know meatloaf is a tricky thing to really get to be properly good. At average it's just passable as food, but it takes a bit of effort to get really tasty, and this place nailed it, which impresses me. Could be better, but could certainly be worse, and I enjoyed my time here overall, especially thanks to the service which was just...

What a cute place! Love the decor inside the place! Great food, great atmosphere, great workers! Kind of has a diner feel - but the place is huge inside. Yeah it's a tad bit crowded at times - but if you go at the right time, you can avoid all the hustle and bustle. The food is amazing here - whether you order breakfast, lunch or dinner. I usually get the burgers and boy, they are good! Definitely made to order, and the waitress is always running by to make sure everything is going well. My son and I love coming here at least once a month - love looking at all the decor around us, and we just have a very nice family experience here. Beautiful place for families or groups or solo...

The atmosphere was oddly decorated. The decorator seemed to have gotten confused on what they wanted to do. Slightly pepper sauce. Acidity of sauce was high. Meatballs were a bit dry and bready. Flavor was not impressive. Spaghetti overcooked. Kind as though they already had the spaghetti ready and just threw extremely hot sauce on top. Seems as though pasta was sitting in water for a while too. (Note: The restaurant was not busy.) I was just about finished eating when the server came to ask if everything was okay. I reminded her of my absent coleslaw. Received a refill of drink.

Coleslaw was horrible and had an icy taste and feel.

Pasta should be cooked al dente and...