Metro Diner — Restaurant in Jacksonville

My husband and I have been customers to this particular Metro Diner for years. We were shocked how the service has changed.

When We arrived our waitress took a long time to even get to our table. Yes it was packed but passing us several times and then just hanging out talking with other staff is crazy. She came to our table, no introduction, no hi, no nothing except what do you want to drink? Right then we knew we were in for a ride. I told my husband..is it me or does she have an attitude? My husband agreed she did. When she got back he told her..what is your name because you came over and didn't say a thing but what do you want to drink and didn't even give us your name. She paused and looked as if she needed to gather herself before she spoke. She said my name is Cameron and I have had so many tables so that's why I didn't speak.

What a sorry excuse for having an attitude. We thought it was just us but she acted the same way to the families on the side where we were sitting.

She got our orders and it seemed as if she got herself together a bit but she checked on us maybe twice but seemed "standoffish"

My advice is to train your staff to treat everyone with kindness. Yes we all have bad days but her service made me not want to come back because I hate giving my money to a place that doesn't take pride in instructing their staff to treat people nicely. Her service shows she's just there to get money and not really take pride in how she services customers. It did really seem blah there and the whole staff has changed. You could tell in the food too because the chicken had no seasoning for the chicken and waffles.

You all used to have the best waitresses and chicken but I don't know what's going on. Something has changed. I doubt if we'll be back and definitely will give my review in the Jacksonville best eats group to avoid this place. You all went downhill. It's sad to see good restaurants get messed over by staff that's lacking. There's another situation that happened with another staff member but there's no point in stating it because it won't change the fact that we won't return.

When we were there time after time before there were no complaints. The staff and food was amazing so I will say you had a great staff before but now...

This was my husband's and my 3rd time here. The first two times it was not bad. We decided to bring our kids this time. We tried to call for wait times with no answer. The auto message said to check the website. The website said 6 minutes. We live around the corner. When we got there it was a 35 min wait. We waited. We were sat in the back room it was very hot. So much so my 3 year old was telling me she was hot. We should have left when we were informed they do not have kids burgers as 3 of my 5 wanted burgers. The kids settled for Mac n cheese and grilled cheeses. We ordered our drinks and the kids food first as they were already waiting a bit and we knew what they wanted. Someone else brought our drinks and then the kids food came out right away. The waitress didn't put in the kids fruit order we had to tell the table runner to put that in. Our order has not been taken yet. The waitress looks around the corner long enough to tell us she put the fruit in the leaves before we could tell her to take our order. The fruit gets dropped off. Then finally we were able to order our food after I reminded the waitress we hadn't ordered yet. She nonchalantly said she forgot she didn't take our orders yet. Mean while, waiting on our food the kids finish eating. We waited longer (way longer than other times)until finally we had enough. As we got the check for the kids food, our food came out and mine wasn't even correct. We left it. My husband asked for a receipt and the waitress disappeared never returning with a receipt. I'm not sure if we'll be returning.

Edit response: not a duplicate review my husband has his experience and I had mine. Also yes I would like a copy of our receipt send to us. Yes the food was removed from our check as the food came to our table when we were ready to leave. To top it off my food was incorrect. It wasn't even the...

I’ve been coming to this location for more than a few years, enjoying both the food and the staff. Me and my wife are readily recognized and our son is always welcomed by the hosts! In fact, over the years there have only been two sub-par members of the staff which lessened our experience during those visits. What I’ve noticed over the past year is the food quality has suffered a great deal. Whether it’s the actual food itself or the cooks preparing the food, the food has devolved to such an inedible degree, we BOTH have had to send back food on multiple occasions. Now, we’re not an especially picky pair, but we do want our food prepared correctly, delivered on time and edible. Too many visits have resulted in uneaten food due to poor preparation. Just this morning my server took my food back to the kitchen because she noticed it was burnt black on the bottom! But this has begun to occur on every visit! It’s literally with reluctant hope we continue to come back, and each time we’re met with another disappointing experience. Due to the frequency of our visits we have developed both acquaintances here and friends among the serving staff. More than a few of these employees have admitted the advanced movement to corporatize Metro Diner has resulted in poor management, prepackaged food (not fresh!) and an unwillingness by upper management to take much action in support of giving the customers what we want in terms of proper food preparation and a listening ear to the problems. Metro Diner continues to thrive because it built a reputation of quality service, outstanding food, and a community vibe that made it unique from all the other restaurant options out there. These days the reputation doesn’t match the quality, and we will be taking an extended break...