Sid's Diner — Restaurant in El Reno

We visited Sid’s about 2 years ago. We were preparing to open a Hamburger spot in Paris, TX. We were lucky enough to meet Marty. He is one of the kindest and most humble individuals I have ever met. He was excited to learn what we were planning and offered me some tips on the restaurant. He said he didn’t have a cell phone but gave me his home number to call him anytime if I had any questions. I purchased a Sid’s Diner T-Shirt and asked him to sign it for me and his eyes welled up with tears. I felt I was standing in the midst of a legend and didn’t want to ever forget that day. We tell everyone we know to visit them. Fast forward two years and we are 9 months into our restaurant. The hours are long and it’s so tiring on your body. We love what we are doing, and I know Marty and his family love what they are doing even more because they have been doing it for so long. The last thing a restaurant family wants to do is disappoint one single customer. EVER. You spend hours thinking of ways to make your customers experience the best, hours…and sleepless nights. The most selfish thing you feel you can ever do in this business, is take time away from your restaurant. Plans are always cancelled and vacations are things you plan and push to the back burner. For this family to take a vacation, it was not an easy decision. The negative reviews left due to them closing for some time with family is truly devastating to read. The people leaving these reviews are most likely on vacation themselves. If you missed dining here because they were on vacation, plan a trip back. Don’t leave negative reviews based on the fact they were closed. It should only be based on your experience after...

I'll start with the good. The place is tiny but very quaint. They kept everything fairly clean and the staff were all very nice and polite.

My son enjoyed his burger and tots and my daughter enjoyed her burger as well. My wife had the grilled cheese and liked it as well.

Shakes: These were blended PERFECTLY! The thickness of them is spot on. They are thick but drinkable shakes and they will mix flavors together no problem. I had a PB & Banana and my daughter had peanut butter and chocolate. Both were delicious and smooth! Added bonus they bring you the extra in the mixer cup if you are dining in!

The drawbacks I found were the fries which were pretty soft and didn't have a great flavor to us. They were kind of like the fries the Garage used to have, only slimmer and not as good. We are not generally fans of this type of fry in the first place though - soft cooked and natural cut. I did actually ask for them to be crispy but it seems the message didn't get across somehow. I had the chicken fried steak sandwich... I do NOT recommend it. It could be just me, but I found it had WAY too much batter, (which was extremely salty by the way,) and the steak was a red-ish color (not rare) and very thin. It looked like it had been forced into a patty with a meat pulverizer and I had a difficult time even seeing it amongst the large amounts of batter. I have been to quite a few places with chicken fried steak so to give an idea of one I like, I like them the way Kendall's does...

I was in the area, visiting family in Yukon for a few days and I was keen on trying an Oklahoma onion burger. This spot was recommended by a friend of my cousin’s, so we gave it a shot.

The diner is cozy, but not cramped. It was a Saturday night, and the place was busy, so the servers were buzzing around all over. They were friendly, but a bit curt - which are the qualities I expect on a busy night. (We didn’t feel rushed in any way - but the servers had a lot of customers to care for and so were about their business. Curt is the only word I can muster, but I do not intend it in a negative way)

We ordered burgers all around, some fries, tots, and drinks. My dining companion added chili to her burger, while I kept it with just the meat, onions and pickles. I added mustard when the burger arrived.

The food was delicious, hands-down one of the best burgers I have eaten. I’m originally from Southern California, where In n Out and Tommy’s reign, but with a lot of mom and pop places making excellent burgers as well. But this Oklahoma onion burger is quite unique and the preparation was excellent.

The owner/head cook came over and chatted us up. His name is Marty and he was very gracious and friendly. If you find yourself anywhere near El Reno, so yourself a favor and stop...