The Hartland Diner — Restaurant in Hartland

Passing through on our way to Springfield and we decided to stop by on a late Sunday morning.

This place boasts about their big portions and they definitely delivered on that. The food was good but the service was honestly lacking. On a not so busy Sunday morning (2 other couples besides us), the waitstaff stood around having their own conversations to the point where they were the loudest in the room by far and it made it distracting and uncomfortable to try and have our own conversation. Also, not sure if our waitress is new or was having a bad day but for how much she was standing around talking, she also forgot my drink and couldn't remember what questions she needed to ask me about my breakfast plate (I needed to tell her how I wanted my eggs cooked because she didn't ask, she asked if I wanted potatoes or pancakes even when the dish doesn't offer pancakes and even though I said pancakes, I still got potatoes) or that I was the one she needed to ask because she initially asked my husband before we corrected her.

The menu is a bit on the pricier side as well. Their big portions can justify it but there are some things on the menu that just don't need to be as expensive as they are. Two juices and a mug of coffee got us up $15 before we had even factored in the cost of our breakfast. My husband did get a dish that was higher in price and while I wasn't expecting the bill to be low, it was higher than I expected.

Otherwise, I like the place's decor and the willingness to show what the owner believes in. There's a lot of signed Broadway/theater posters and that's always fun to see as a musical theater fan. The place offers vegan options, which has become more necessary for my husband as he is dairy allergic so there is vegan cheese if he wants something with cheese. If this place optimizes their service capabilities and maybe balance their prices a bit better, this place could give off a better impression. For now, it's alright but won't be making it on our shortlist of go-to breakfast places as it...

Ripoff. Walking into this place I had a bad feeling looking at the menu - the prices are literally double what you’ll find at any other diner in the area - and don’t give me that “local” crap because most of them are doing that to, and paying their employees fine to boot. I sucked it up and ordered my standard and their suggestion the Corned Beef Hash and at 20!$ I was expecting a heaping helping of corned beef - what I got was two overdone eggs, one (ONE!) slice of toast and the worst home made hash I’ve ever had that was probably 95% potatoes and green pepper(?), who the hell does that? It wasn’t from a can - that’s all I have to say good about it. Had I payed 10$ for that plate it would have felt appropriate. And that’s not even the end of it, when I came in I got coffee, one half filled cup was put in front of me and even though I asked for a refresh when my food came I never got one. When the bill showed up I’d payed FIVE DOLLARS FOR COFFEE - again complete scam prices I’d expect from a Ski resort not a small town diner. This place is completely full of themselves, bad service, bad food. I usually don’t review spots in my home state negatively for the sake of the community, but for the sake of the community I hope this place goes out of business or improves itself drastically.

Edit: Over a year later and this has gone down as one of the worst...

I want to love this diner, but they make it hard. The food is always amazing with the exception of the pancakes which are mediocre and overpriced, even considering how big they are. The majority of the menu is overpriced. While I get that the portion sizes are large but why not just have normal portions w lower cost? I may not want to have leftovers or feel the need to share with someone in my family to keep the bill down.

I often prefer to pickup food instead of eating in, with the Hartland Diner it seems like they don’t want to offer pickup food. It is difficult to find a current menu, I finally found it on Facebook but it was handwritten and some parts of the menu were difficult to read. I called four times place an order over the span of 30 minutes and no one answered the phone. The last call went straight to their voicemail as if someone had turned off the phone. This has happened in the past when I’ve tried ordering as well, and seems to be an issue regardless of the day.

Last time I picked up food I had to wait about three minutes to be acknowledged as the servers were in a personal discussion with one another that apparently took precedence over helping me get my food. When I was being helped staff were unfriendly acting as if I was bothering them when I asked for the syrup that was missing...