Hillview Family Diner — Restaurant in Hillview

The DIner has been a favorite place for us to eat for over 4 yrs. We drive frm Mt Washington to Hillview, just to eat there. We have been greeted with smiling faces, great waitresses, and served good food! However, there is one person there, that can turn your WHOLE experience into a nightmare! We've experienced a few minor run-ins with this person, but have tried to chalk it up to he was just having a bad day. His name is Albert. He's a waiter, and I believe is a member of the family that owns the restaurant. However, today he crossed the line. My husband and I had been patiently waiting in line to be seated. When the waitress came for the nxt to be seated, the gentleman in front of us said his party wasn't there yet, for us to go ahead of him. We thanked him and the waitress started to seat us. She walked towards the lower level of the diner, towards a table for 2. Albert had just seated a party of four down on the same level. Albert approached the 3 of us. In a LOUD voice he DEMANDED to know where our waitress was taking us. She told him to a table for 2 on the lower level. He began to yell. First at the waitress, then US! He blatantly accused us of "jumping the line" meaning we had butted in front of someone else - He told us THAT table was taken - though we have been told they dont take reservations or hold tables for anyone. Now he was yelling at the waitress and us, and his face was blood red w anger! All of this was with us standing in the middle of the diner, in front of everyone, embarrassing us.Then Albert proceeded to say, we could just stand there and wait, but he didnt know how long it would be, for us, and stomped off. People sitting close by expressed their displeasure of his actions, saying " Wow! That was TOTALLY rude, uncalled for, and VERY unprofessional." I spotted a different empty table, while we were seated, the waitress tried to apologize for Alberts outburst. I told her she wasnt responsible for what had happened. As far as I was concerned, it was done and over -little did I know. Our waitress went to get our drinks. My husband and I sat at our booth discussing what ton get for breakfast. I looked up, here comes Albert to our table. I thought, he's coming to apogize. WAS I EVER WRONG!! Albert started out by explaining that he had TOLD our waitress NOT to seat anyone else in the lower level, he was preparing for a party of six. I proceeded to tell him, that didnt give him the right to yell at her OR us - who had no idea what was going on - In the middle of the diner - Instead of politely asking us to step to the side and explain what was going on. FUTHERMORE, he had NO RIGHT TO BLANTLY ACCUSE US of "jumping the line", without giving us a chance to explain. THEN he had the nerve to deny he had been hollering. To MY surprise and my husbands, Albert said, "Rude went all the way around! ," inferring that we were as rude as he had been. Again. He stompped off. My husband told our waitress to cancel our drinks. Then we did something we had NEVER done before. We walked out and took our business to Crystals Diner in Mt Washington . It was nice to be seated without incident and a friendly smiling face!! The food was just as great as Hillview's, but was served without any hostility...

I always enjoy my occasional visits to Hillview Family Diner. The simple but somehow still charming and, due to covid, now more open interior, lends to enjoyment of the casual dining experience. It's getting hard to find diner staples like a liver and onions plate dinner, or a fried bologna sandwich. Both are presented nicely at Hillview. My dressed bologna sandwich was on lightly toasted "wheat" bread and had plentiful meat without that bologna afterburn. It was a treat I rarely allow myself. Sometimes simple food done well makes for a more enjoyable meal than than does food that is trying to be overly fancy.

Our waitress was attentive and pleasant if not committed to keeping her face mask above her chin. On an earlier visit I was put off by a nearly complete lack of masks on the part of staff, along with a matching lack by much of the clientele. I only made this visit because friends told me they were doing better lately. A sign by the entrance explained to the effect that they were required to request that customers use masks and asked further that we honor that. Our observation indicated that many of the typical visitors are not much into masks. I felt that it was obvious that management was squeezed between regulations and a recalcitrant clientele. Of course we removed our own after placing our orders and put them on when we stood to pay at the front counter.

All in all this was an enjoyable visit in difficult times. We successfully went after the main lunch hour to help...

This was my first visit to this diner and it definitely won't be my last! If you enjoy good home style cooked meals and/or hand scooped ice cream, this place is for you! They offer "Dine in" or "Carry out." They have GREAT food and very reasonably priced! Excellent fast friendly service, INCREDIBLE food served hot and very fast especially for a "dine in" restaurant, I ordered their "Chicken Fried Chicken with pepper gravy," mashed potatoes and pinto beans. The waitress was super friendly and the food was brought to me steaming hot! The waitress checked on me a few times to make sure everything was good and that I didn't need anything. This was the absolute best meal and dining experience that I've had out in a while, everything was great with nice sized portions and cooked to perfection! They also have hand scouped ice cream that looked delicious, someone had ordered a "banana split" and I got to watch it being made. I'll have to return to the diner to try one for myself as I couldn't even finish every bite of my dinner! I stopped in again and tried the "Fried Chicken Livers" and wasn't disappointed, everything was great again! They have an adult game room and serve beer for the 21 and over crowd. I spoke with the owner he was very nice to talk to! Good people that serve great food! When you eat here I'm going to have to say that you're definitely gonna love it! ♥️ Thank you "Hillview Diner" for a great dining experience, you've definitely earned my repeat business...