Coal Miner's Diner — Restaurant in Jennerstown

We’d heard some good things about this place, especially the desserts and amongst those the Gob cakes!

Sadly, we never got to try them. Things went wrong when our server , Althea, could not seem to grasp our order. More on that later.

It took over 20 minutes to bring out a plate of onion rings (which were good). She brought a single plate for the 2 of us. I asked for a bottle of ketchup, a couple of plates and some extra napkins. I then watched her go back into the kitchen and stand and talk with another server for 15 minutes. When she came back with the plates and the ketchup, we asked about our food. She said it would be ready soon. We inquired about the napkins, and she said she’ been really busy and would go get them. She went back and spoke with the other server again. About 10 minutes after that, she brought out some food ( total of 35 minutes). I looked at my burger and noticed there were no pickles on it. I asked for a small cup of them. That’s when things got really bad.

While she took 5 more minutes to bring my pickles, I noticed that my burger was not what I ordered. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with Swiss cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions. The burger in front of me had American cheese and bacon and nothing else. When she came back with the pickles, before I could say anything, she told me she had brought me the wrong burger. I said fine and asked for my burger, and she said it had already been thrown away. That was a shocker. When the kitchen makes a mistake, they throw the correct burger away before figuring out what was wrong. So, she said she would go get me a replacement. I asked her to leave the fries and just bring the burger.

20 MINUTES LATER, she came out with another burger (and the fries I had asked her to exclude). It had Swiss cheese. No ketchup. No mustard but had onions. Before I could check this second burger, she walked away without checking if everything was okay. Well, I had a ketchup bottle, so all I needed was some mustard. She had gone back to the kitchen, with her back to the dining room and leaned against the wall speaking to that same other server (We found out she wasn’t a manger or anything, just a co-worker).

Having now waited nearly an hour and had my meal prepared wrong TWICE, I thought I’d walk up and ask for some mustard. She was standing next to a rack full of mustard bottles. Seemed pretty simple. That should have been then end of it. It wasn’t!

Another server (Also not the manager and not the one she was frequently speaking with) stepped between me and Althea and asked me what the problem is. I explained about all the mistakes above. She did not hand me a bottle. She told me to go back to me table and they would bring me one. Well that never happened.

Another woman, later identified as the owner, Eileen Darr came to the table without the mustard but with a rather large man in a baseball cap (larger than me and I am rather large). Before I could explain what had happened, she simply said “It’s time for you to leave!” She then took the food out of my wife’s hands cleared the table of glasses and everything else. When I tried to explain, the large man said “Go ahead and make me remove you.”

I didn’t want trouble, so we left. I had to call back later and get the owner’s name.

I had anticipated writing a wonderful review of the place. I admire the owner standing up for her server, but she did not have to bring her muscle along. We just wanted what we ordered. She could have asked what was wrong. She never did.

If you are ever Somerset County, in the township of Jennerstown, feel free to drop in. Good luck finding it. There is no signage on the outside identifying the establishment. I’m sure their desserts are wonderful, but the way we were treated over asking for a bottle of mustard, I’d recommend eating your dessert first or getting it to go! Don’t depend on their servers nor their...

Stopped here for a Sunday lunch with my husband and daughter. I will start with the pros and then the cons.

Pros: The outside of the building has nice decor as well as the inside. We were greeted by a friendly hostess and seated quickly in the dining room. We were the only ones there for a short time and then 2 other couples had also arrived while we were there.

Cons: I ordered the cheeseburger with fries and coleslaw. The fries did not come out at the same time as my burger, the waiter explained it needed to cook longer. I took a small bite out of my burger and it tasted off. I waited for ketchup to be brought out with my fries and once that happened I tried another bite of the burger. After the second bite I still tasted/smelled the same bad meat taste and decided I was not going to eat it.

My daughter ordered the Alfredo pasta. It was served with broccoli and carrot slivers mixed in with the sauce. The sauce had butter/oil floating on the top and was just not appetizing .

My husband ordered the turkey and biscuits and thought it was ok and ate the entire plate.

Our waiter never returned to check on how everything was. When he did come back to see mine and my daughters uneaten food he proceeded to ask if we needed boxes. At that time I explained that the beef did not taste good and my daughter did not expect the veggies in the pasta and we just did not think it tasted good. We were not offered anything else and he said he would be back with our check. He came back with our check and said he took 10% off and that was all he was able to do. That is unacceptable and we will never eat at this...

Absolutely unadulterated trash. I payed 11 entire American dollars for what was listed as "honey mustard chicken", and to be completely honest, I went in with decent expectations. Instead of receiving a filling meal for a fair price, I was hoodwinked by the absolutely criminal conduct that goes on the "kitchen". I received a small, grey, extremely unimpressive cut of chicken that, as expected, was completely devoid of flavor. To make up for this, they decided to simply drown in in honey mustard sauce and throw a couple of lukewarm fries on a plate. I took several minutes to think to myself why this might have happened: my friend seated next to me received a burger with fries and slaw, a heaping meal that filled the plate to the brim, for about $5. Then I realized: I had ordered the salad bar. You know a resteraunt is truly in trouble when "salad bar" is a strong term. Nestled in the corner of the restaurant is a small trough filled with several tiny bins that may, if the workers decide fill them, contain a few pieces of lettuce or shredded carrot along with several other common salad bar offerings. Next to this bland display are two pots of soup, each offering an equally-wattery and unpleasant soup (my offerings were "beans with ham" and "beef barley"). The only saving graces of this restaurant, which there were very few of, were the fact that our server was a decent guy and the sizable dinner roll that I was served.

If you can't already guess, I wasn't impressed. 2/10 on the Joe scale. Attached is a picture of my meal...