The Hawthorne Diner — Restaurant in Hawthorne

This was my favorite place to come to. It use to be great food and friendly staff, Yet it goes through so many different owners , managers, and change of staff, maybe 1 or 2 familiar faces. I had 3 bad experiences in this place out of the 4 years I've been here. The 1st was cold food, no problem easily replace the waitress was very professional and understanding( no discount and yes I paid full price) because her service was beyond good. The 2nd time was a dead fly in my food, yuck, but the waiter was also very understanding and professional, the hospitality and the way he address the matter was so outstanding, even offer a discount and a replacement of my food. (No discount, though it was offered and yes I paid full price, and tip) My last experience was my worst you would think a fly would keep me away, but no I continued to return due to the service. That was until I learned who was in charged and why some of the staff were plain rude, unattentive, careless, non communicative, and plain vile. In my last experience the waitress taking our order was having difficulty understanding me, my partner and son. She got our drinks wrong and quickly became irritable, then we try getting her attention to get some extra napkins, but she completely ignored us and continued to chat with her coworkers, finally she walks by us, and my partner ask politely for napkins, she throws the napkins on the table and walks away. No biggie people have off days, I said but then I found a blonde to white with black root hair inside my home fries, I removed the hair and wrapped it in napkin. I called the waitress over, she walks over, I inform her about the situation and she walks away and ridicules the matter, snearing with the owner about the hair, then walks to the kitchen, comes back grabs the napkin with the hair, walks back to the kitchen, 5 minutes later drops the checkbook on my table, and disappears. Again no biggie people have off days, so I get up to pay the bill and ask for a manager. She's avoiding me, so I gently call her over, and whisper to her about the waitress behavior and service. To my disbelief the manager was the owner and her attitude nor professionalism was any better then the waitress. She was in denial, would not let me speak, continued to blame me for the hair, when she finally pause, I got some words out "I mean it'll be nice to get what I'm paying for, in this case my home fries" Well that was another argument for her, in which I then sadly said to her "this use to be my favorite place" She walk away and never share her name, so I went back to ask she said "Alison" at that point, I paid the full bill and left very...

This was my go to place for many years. The previous owner was very colorful to say the least, but the food and service was awesome for a little corner diner. My most recent visit was just aweful. I waited over 8 min for a seat (the place was less than half full) while the hostess stood with her back to me working at the register. When she turned around, she handed me someone else's bill and credit card! I told her it wasnt mine and that i was very hungry...she proceeded to hand me a menu and ask me what I wanted....I replied, I'd like a seat! Once seated, i ordered a cup of coffee...the waitress got my coffee, bumped into another employee, tripped, coffee shot out of the cup and she landed it on my table, and walked away. My (now) half cup of coffee tasted burnt and bitter. It took 20 min to get a bowl of oatmeal...that was watery and bland...I waited another 10 min at the empty counter for the hostess to return from the kitchen to pay the bill...which was over $14 for a half cup of bad coffee and a bowl fo watery oatmeat topped with fruit...smh. I miss "yummy time" (the colorful prior owner would announce this when ur delish...

I ordered a simple breakfast eggs grits and bacon. When the food arrived the bacon was missing. When I mentioned this to the very rude waitress (who in my opinion absolutely did not want to wait on us) she said oh it’s coming. After a while I noticed my grits and eggs were getting cold and I attempted to ask another waitress if she could possibly place my food under the warmer. Because of the language barrier she didn’t understand and got the owners son. When he approached me his exact words were “What’s the problem?”. Not how can I help or even a good morning. My family and I have been eating here since I was a child. We’ve supported this diner for years through different management and even through Covid. Those 3 quoted words and the way we’ve been treated here lately is why we’ll never ever return. It’s unfortunate because most of the staff including the owners wife are really nice. I refuse to continue to give my money to a place that makes me...