Gainesville Diner — Restaurant in Gainesville

Diner in name only.

Took the family to GD on the basis of generally positive reviews but we were disappointed in nearly every aspect of the experience.

First, diners should lead with good coffee that's first, fast, and frequent. The coffee at GD was weak and watery and was not refilled until asked, and even then took awhile. Extremely disappointing.

Second, three of the four of us received paper napkin-wrapped silverware that was dirty with visible traces of food, sauce, or oil. Disgusting.

Third, the servers were, without exception, slow, listless, and inattentive. We were seated at a table that was not wiped down, which was another example of how important cleanliness is to making a good impression on the diner. Actually, as we approached the front door, it was covered with hand prints, oil, and generally looked filthy. Not a good sign as the interior also felt old and poorly kept.

The food was mediocre at best. Not enough meat in the meat-containing dishes and not enough fillings overall. The corned beef hash was okay mainly because it was fried to nearly being burnt thus crispy and flavorful. The pancakes were decent but otherwise unremarkable. In our view, the food was about 20% overpriced for the quality and thus a poor value.

Final straw was a mysterious "CF" junk charge on the bill at 3.5% of the total tab. I'm guessing it's a house-imposed "customer fee" and not passed on to the servers. Servers were tipped accordingly for the quality of food and the level of service.

The positive reviews seem to be unrealistically and undeservedly forgiving. And although the interior decorations make much of supporting the community and first responders in an attempt to ingratiate themselves, Gainesville Diner fails in its first, most important mission: delivering good value food, great coffee, and competent service in a welcoming and clean environment.

We will not be returning and so our search for a worthy breakfast spot in the...

This is my first and last time I’ll be eating here. Not only did we wait an hour for our food to be ready, it was also not even fully prepared. We all ordered the same special, and it was breakfast; the easiest and fastest to cook. It came out in waves even after the long wait, and the server was not friendly at all. She didn’t care about maintaining her tables clean nor did she have any sort of respect for her guests. Not once did she apologize to our table about her being the only server, having one cook, and having to wait for a long time. She didn’t even come to our table to ask if we needed refills on water or drinks. She kept making excuses. This was only the server. The food itself tasted like it was cardboard from a can. It lacked any flavor, and it was poorly made. To give you an example: the French toast was just a piece of bread that was grilled and had excessive cinnamon sprinkled on one spot. If you don’t know how French toast is properly made, just know that this is not the way to do it. It was served cold, and one of our party members noticed that the food was being left out for at least 10 minutes; waiting for the server to deliver the food to the table.

A restaurant should never be like this. If you know that traffic is coming into the restaurant and you only have one cook and one server, it is your responsibility as the manager to call in someone else to assist so that this situation does not happen again. However, the manager(and apparently owner of the restaurant) doesn’t seem to think this way.

Oh, and they use margarine. You know, the ingredient that can cause cancer? Eat here at...

I have now been here about 5 times, so I've given the place a fair shake and am ready to provide an honest review. I have had experiences that vary from just ok to just really disappointing.

To start, no matter how busy it is, it takes about 10 minutes for a server to come to your table, in my experience. It's a small restaurant, it is not hard to see a new customer has sat down at a table. The servers are nice people, just not attentive. The food, is subpar, most of the time. It's really disappointing when it takes nearly 40 minutes from order to delivery at table, and tastes the way it does.

My most recent visit was on a Sunday, and it was busy at first when we walked in. However, nearly as soon as we sat down (table of 2), the 3 large groups left. The restaurant was nearly empty after that. That was the second time while dining here it took well over a half an hour to receive diner food. 2 plates of fried eggs, hash browns (that came undercooked every time I dined), bacon, and toast took over 30 minutes. That's just shows a lot of ineptitude for the kitchen. Mind you, this place is a DINER. This should be their bread and butter, no pun intended. Eggs and bacon. We absolutely would have sent our food back, had we been confident it wouldn't take another 30 minutes to receive our replacement dishes.

The only reason I've come here multiple times now is that it's the closest diner to where my girlfriend lives. We went for our last time. You will find significantly better food and service from any IHOP around the country, not that I want to go to IHOP instead of a...