Downtown Diner — Restaurant in Granite City

Unique atmosphere. This place is nothing like what you typically picture when you think about a busy, bustling diner like a waffle house or something. It seems like this place is more focused on how it looks inside than running the actual restaurant. Its very vibrant and busy with retro decor; almost like an antique store. The day we came in there was only one employee in the whole restaurant. We had to walk through what looked like a small confectionery, a book store area, and a board game area, which are all separate shops, running as one; all 4 connected on the inside, to get and refill our drinks. The first time we tried we were stopped by a woman vacuuming one of the middle shops and told we needed to go back because the person who took our order hadn't given us cups. The food we ordered was all pretty good. My son had a burger and I had a blt. I Iike that they have tater tots. The ketchup on the table looked like it had sat there for days or more. Sticky, crusty old ketchup all around the cap where you would open it from. We grabbed a bottle from a different table. I hated asking for things like silverware and mayonnaise for my sandwich because the man was running the place by himself. There are a couple tvs on the wall showing old cartoons or Lucy reruns, etc. This is more for ambiance than actual watching, as there were no subtitles and the volume is too low to hear. All in all it was a pretty good lunch. We were the only people inside. It's hard to imagine this setup "working" if it had been very busy. Which is sort of strange because I'm sure they'd like to have more business, so I hope they find that sweet spot. Most typical diners are located along roadways busy with travellers and truckers, etc. This place is not in a location you would likely just happen upon like that. Be that as it may, the food is good, the worker is friendly. You should try it...

Had spaghetti sticks. They were ok. Kind of bland and the dipping sauce was not very good either. Got the chicken parm sandwich and crinkle fries. Fries were good. The sandwich was just 2 chicken tenders with the same dipping sauce from the spaghetti sticks and not enough mozzarella cheese. My fiancé had a burger and he said it was pretty solid. The restaurant set up and decorations are cool and the guy working the counter was nice but we asked for recommendations since it was our first time and he wasn't very helpful and couldn't really offer much other than a lot of people order the mac...

I LOVE this place! It's an amazing alternative to Denny's or Waffle House for folks in the area.

I would like to see the hours and menu expand even during winter/off season hours however, and for more specials each day to come available in hopes of attracting new guests/getting prior guests to return.

The food is quite good for the price and the staff makes by far some of the best late night conversation I have ever had in establishments...