Dave's Diner — Restaurant in High Ridge Township

I've lived a bit of a sheltered life. Took me until 21 to finally get around to getting my driver's license, and leaving the house is still not in my daily repertoire.

However, my dad's mom is on vacation for a few weeks! I've been given free reign of her car. As all young people do, my very first action was to abuse this freedom immediately and sneak out of the house in the middle of the night. I did a little research on where to go, and quickly settled on Dave's Diner because it was the only place open 24 hours that wasn't a gas station.

I set off on my quest to learn the world (and re-learn human interactions) expecting to only say my order I had looked up online, give an awkward payment, enjoy mediocre food, and have a long drive home. None of those things happened!

I was the only customer there at the time. Still, Zachariah (sorry if I spelled your name wrong) showed me a sense of hospitality and patience I wasn't expecting. He turned a small social success into jamming out to bands from the 70s that just rock So Hard. After that, I quickly learned how kind and welcoming all the people who work at Dave's Diner are. I discovered myself coming out of my own shell alongside them.

The food's great too! I ordered the special: half-fried chicken. It was delicious. It was also Still Warm once I got back from my drive home.

(I couldn't see their physical menu out at the time I walked in, which wasn't a problem for me (It makes sense, it was 3-something AM). I imagine no one there would mind if you asked for one, but if you plan to go there at the same time I did and also are naturally awkward like me I would reccomend looking at their menu online so you know what you're ordering).

Go to Dave's Diner! Talk to people! Experience the joys of life and living! Come back with heart disease!...

This was the first time my family has eaten at this establishment. We went on a Monday at 1130, hoping for a meal. We enjoy being able to go to local, non-chain restaurants when possible.

Overall, food was just meh, service abysmal. We came in and after standing in the entrance for several minutes sat ourselves while not knowing if that was what we were supposed to do. It took over 10 minutes for the waitress to bring menus or even acknowledge our existence. To put it in perspective not even half the tables were filled when we arrived.

A man came in with a dog and sat at the counter while he waited for his car to get fixed nearby. I like dogs, just not inside an eating establishment.

It was distracting during the meal to have to continually shake flies off myself and nearby food. Some are inevitable with it being summer and doors being opened and closed but this was more than 3-4.

We ordered water, two chicken dinners and a burger. We expected the food to take a while since they fry the chicken to order. Food was okay, burger was missing several toppings which were asked for and never received. She asked if we wanted water refills and we didn't get them. She did bring over a drink from another table after not giving everyone over there a first drink.

The bad service wasn't just with our table. I was able to observe numerous tables in our time there thanks to the wait.Cheap food, yes. Hot food, yes....

Since it's open 24 hours me and my boyfriend went around 1-2 a.m. for a late dinner. The waiter, cook, manager - was extremely tired poor guy looked like he needed help - I ordered a Chef's Salad and a side of fried mushrooms and my boyfriend ordered a chili burger and a side of fries. We played games while we waited, maybe 15-20 minutes, there are cool games to play like pinball, ms. Pacman, and a quarter machine :P The Chef's salad was amazing! I am very particular about my salad's not a ridiculous amount of lettuce, no mushy tomatoes - it was SO fresh! It was delicious! The ranch wasn't that fake stuff either it was house ranch mmmmgood!! The fried mushrooms were so crunchy, my boyfriend who doesn't even like mushrooms ate a few :) The chili burger was just as good if not better than a chili dog at Steak n shake, and fries were fresh too!And guess how much we paid for this delicious meal? $15!! It's like Slingers only better (in my opinion) I think I have found my new favorite diner I can't wait to go back to try other foods