The Scrambled Diner — Restaurant in Dyer

Outstanding food and remarkable service. Dyer's best breakfast diner yet.

Dyer has been home to many breakfast-focused restaurants over the last couple of decades. Few, however, have proved as strong, consistent, or renowned as The Scrambled Diner.

Dining at The Scrambled is a memorable experience, whether it's your first or hundred-and-first time. The food rivals any you might find on Chicago's North Side. The ingredients are fresh, simple, and generously applied to each dish. Whether you order an omelette, a skillet, or a stack of pancakes, you'll find their homemade cuisine anything but boring. The combination of ingredients in many of their menu items is unique and refreshing. Everything is homemade and tastes homemade. (You'll know it when you taste it.) Truly, I cannot think of another breakfast or lunch diner in the region with a menu as unique or exciting.

A few of my favorite items. The Orchard Omelette: a three-egg omelette brimming with chopped ham, cheddar cheese, and apple butter, a somewhat surprising but crave-worthy combination. The Mighty Irish Skillet: hash browns buried in a medley of Swiss cheese, corned beef, and sauerkraut with eggs (as you like them) at the summit, a hearty dish resembling a Reuben sandwich (which they also offer) in a skillet. Their bacon is thick, smokey, and filling, their hash browns finely cut and flavorful. And I always check their Specials board for memorable seasonal items like the Pulled Pork Skillet, the Bruschetta and Egg White Omelette, or the Pistachio Pancakes. Best coffee in town, by the way.

And the service at The Scrambled Diner? As good a reason to dine there as the cuisine. Few restaurants, of any kind, in our county can boast such attentive, polite, and consistent service. The waitresses are friendly and refill your coffee at steady pace. Even during their busiest hours, they make sure you have everything you need for an enjoyable meal and are always ready for a warm chat. And I have yet to receive a wrong order there either. Impressive, considering many of their waitresses can memorize your order without so much as touching a pen.

Lastly, you should expect a long wait on weekend mornings. Sometimes, a very long wait. And it's a worthy one for all the reasons above. The diner is small, so why not expand? Because their focus is on the quality of their food and service, not on the number of bodies they can seat in an hour. Their size allows them to be consistent and to bring you homemade food without the sacrifice of fresh ingredients.

In fact, I hope The Scrambled does not expand. It would be a shame for Dyer to lose a memorable and neighborly business to its...

I've heard great things about this place for years and finally had a chance to stop by and pickup some lunch on my break. Sadly the hype did not deliver. I was disappointed with my blackened chicken sandwich and hash brown combination. The bread was a borderline stale or a generic wheat, that, in combination with my overly cooked (and under-seasoned) chicken was just a very gristle, bland sandwich. The only saving grace was the cucumber sauce which had potential to really make it a next level sandwich- just not in this case unfortunately. I was also less than impressed with the hash browns too as they were swimming in oil by the time I got back to work (Crete) and had no type of flavor. I ended up salvaging the potatoes and chicken with the provided hot sauce- which was also another good condiment, just not the way I intended to enjoy it. It's also worth noting I grabbed lunch for my coworker whom was also unimpressed with his wrap, citing a similar dry experience. Ultimately I feel like we overpaid way too much for what we received and I will not be coming here for lunch again. The house made sauces I had do give me hope for the place and I love to support local so I'll probably give breakfast a chance to see if the hype delivers there- just probably not...

So I visited the area for spring break and was taken to this restaurant by my Son and his Wife on March 18, 2024. I was very pleased with the ambiance. It's an intimate restaurant with a small waiting area that leads out to the eating entrance that has at least 10 tables ranging from 2 to 4 seats, two restrooms, drinking station used by the employees and the cooking area. The Waitress was pleasant and experienced. The presentation of each dish was mouthwatering as you can see. The taste was very much to my liking and seasoning to a minimum as it should be. The amount of food you get for the price is definitely feasible. Yes, you get your monies worth! The Cook that day was on point and delivered! He needs his own tip jar! The way he made the hashbrowns are unique with this mashed/hashbrown taste that melts in your mouth. My omelet was loaded with spinach, I definitely took in my daily dosage of Vitamin C for that day. Freshness and not overcooked was also key. Restaurants like this are fading away in St. Louis City and we need to "Bring Back America" with this here. In my Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, "I...