Palace Diner — Restaurant in City of Poughkeepsie

I grew up going to diners every weekend, having both bad and good experiences and food. Unfortunately my trip to the Palace Diner tonight rates as my worst trip ever, and unfortunately it has very little to do with the food.

We arrived at the diner at 9:45 PM, and were promptly seated. Our first sign that something was amiss was when our waiter took our orders, but when repeating it back to us, had mistakes with details on almost each of our orders. We each corrected him and he seemed to write them down - we chalked this up to him possibly being new. 5 min later, he returned to tell us that one of the items was unavailable - by just pointing to it on the menu and saying “we don’t have it.”

Then we waited for a full 45 min at least. Our waiter never checked in with us. For reference, we ordered an omelet, a grilled cheese, a quesadilla, and an appetizer sampler - arguably some of the quickest items on the menu. We had to flag down another waitress who told us that there was a rush of online orders and they were backed up. We asked how much longer and our waiter just said “everything is ready, it’s the appetizer holding you up.” Another 10 min pass and all the tables around us get food. Finally, the appetizer sampler, sides of fries, and quesadillas arrive but now it’s the omelet and grilled cheese that are delayed.

We wait another 10 min and eventually the sandwich and eggs arrive. I had ordered a spinach , American cheese, and bacon omelet with white toast - but I only received an omelet with only spinach. I told the waiter that my order was incorrect and he went back to the kitchen without asking any questions and came back with just a side of bacon. He said “the kitchen messed up and they said sorry.” I said that I appreciate it but while I wanted the omelet I ordered (he did not offer to have it remade), I didn’t want to wait another hour for it and would prefer to send my order back since I hadn’t taken a bite. He then said “well if you send it back, I have to pay for it. And it’s not my fault.” My friend then stood up for me and said “I don’t think it’s fair to guilt trip her for not wanting to pay for what she didn’t order.” He took the plate and walked away.

At this time, everyone else was eating and made note that every order was incorrect - the BBQ chicken quesadilla had no BBQ sauce, the arugula on the grilled cheese that we requested be left off was on it, and there was no marinara sauce for the appetizer sampler. Unfortunately from this point forward, our waiter avoided our table, so we just tried to eat quickly to then leave. The waitress from earlier came over to apologize and ask if there was anything she could do, which I appreciated, but I just explained that we wanted to finish, pay, and leave. Eventually, she saw that our waiter never returned to our table and asked if we needed the check - when we said yes, we heard her say to our waiter “when their food is so late, you at least have to keep an eye on them afterwards.”

I was just going to chalk it up to being a rough night and let it go, but as we were waiting at the front to pay, now wearing masks because we were up from the table, our waiter passed by, clearly talking about me to another person and in said “and she said ‘well if it doesn’t have bacon I don’t want it!’” He put on a whiny voice when he was misquoting me.

Now listen, I know in a world of Karen’s it could be easy to say I was being too tough on the waiter. But to be clear, we still tipped 20%, we only asked for the omelet I did not touch to be taken off the bill, and we paid for everything else. We didn’t make a scene. But to hear that walking out was disrespectful and ridiculous. My friends and I will...

Whoa dude!

Okay so let’s preface this here - this is a revision of a review I posted about 10 years ago when the option to separately rate the food, service, and atmosphere just wasn’t a thing.

This diner switched ownership a couple years back (I believe around COVID if I’m not mistaken) and as much as it pains me to write this (like I’m telling you I really don’t want to write this review) what was once a famed and respected Poughkeepsie staple to old heads and college kids alike, now resembles a tired cemetery of what once was.

Contemporarily, the food here is awful. Like, really, sad and tired awful. The kind of awful where you can just tell the poor presumably well meaning line cook in the back gives everything he’s got to just wake up for the day awful. You’re gonna want to make sure there’s plenty of salt and pepper at your table as soon as you’re seated, because you’re gonna need it to compensate for the lack of enthusiasm towards any amount of seasoning they put in their food. If only I carried a handy bottle of McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning with me and maybe some Goya in my back pocket for good measure!

The waiters here are very hit or miss. Either super nice or super scary dissociative types. The gentleman I had late last night (Vincent) was SO nice and very considerate! An easy 20% tip as far as I’m concerned! You rock Vincent!

I ordered a classic cheeseburger with pepper jack cheese, fries and a Pepsi - burger well done for my own personal food safety concerns. This is a super clear, concise order that any line cook on week one of employment here should presumably be capable of doing. I’ve started ordering food here that is hard to mess up due to the recent flurry of inconsistencies every single time I’ve come since that ownership switch mentioned above.

Of course, the burger was undercooked and was probably in the range of medium to medium well. Using the most respectful tone possible, I literally don’t understand how it is possible to not cook this $16 with a $5 tip diner burger to well done. Needless to say I ate my meal without any complaint because the server was so polite and respectful that I didn’t want to have sort of disruption, especially because I was with a table of 12-13 people.

I’m literally writing this review sitting on the porcelain throne painfully atoning for my sins in choosing to come to this establishment yet again despite my quite literal gut instinct to stay home.

Last night I was refreshed on two very unfortunate life lessons - stay away from the Palace Diner until further notice, and don’t give in to peer pressure from your friends to go to the Palace Diner and feign exhaustion instead!

2 WEEKS LATER UPDATE: 2/7/25

I gave into peer pressure yet again knowing better, and after ordering the Red Fox Wrap with fries and a Pepsi, I had really uncomfortable stomach cramping the whole rest of the night! What on earth is...

I am super disappointed with the continuous lousy service I receive at this diner. About 2 weeks ago my friends and I went for a late lunch and we had quite the unusual experience to say the least...our waiter seemed bothered from the start and made it for a very uncomfortable time. We'd order our drinks and before I could even ask for lemons he would walk away not saying anything. Not only that but when the meals came out (I ordered the Endive Pecan Salad) I had the displeasure of wearing my meal because the waiter spilt the dressing all over my pants. I received a very monotone "sorry," but wasn't offered any help, assistance, napkins, etc. I had to take the napkins from everyone at my table and tried to blot it off in the bathroom. I come back to the table with dressing still on my chair and our napkins were NEVER once replenished for the remainder of our time there. The waiter didn't even say anything to me until the bill came. I paid for my salad and then left the diner, with stained clothes and wreaking like dressing. I then called up the next day to complain about my awful experience and was assisted by a manger named George. He apologized and told me the next time I was to come he would "hook me up."..? I was a bit uncertain whether or not I wanted to come back but I gave the benefit of the doubt and went again tonight...big mistake. I ask for George, he comes out from the kitchen and also seems bothered and rushed. Without asking me, he just tells the hostess to get me the same salad I ordered previously (I was going to order a sandwich that night but guess he chose my meal for me....odd way of "hooking me up"). We then ask if we can finally be seated and our hostess seemed disoriented. We get seated and before we can even ask for menus, my salad comes out...so now I have my meal, two minutes into sitting down, and my friend doesn't even have a menu...we're super super confused at this point. The hostess offered to hold my salad until my friend got her meal but I explained the apples/pears would brown if we waited. I also didn't feel comfortable at this point having them hold my salad in the back. I ended up eating the salad when my friend got her meal, since that was the way I was brought up. Luckily the salad was on the house, but I truly wish I just got my money back from the original incident. Or at least was asked what I wanted to eat and got the meal the same time my friend got hers...This was definitely not worth the trip out. Had I known this would happen I would've just said screw it and never come back. Palace Diner, you have absolutely lost my respect along with everyone I know. We have given you chance after chance and plenty of business but we're realizing it's just not worth it.

DO....