Denny's — Restaurant in Livingston

The new Denny's here in Livingston is a work in progress as far as the total dinning experience goes. If you are a long time fan of Denny's restaurants. Then you will find a very familiar menu and Classic American Diner atmosphere. But here in the Livingston Denny's you simply have to keep in mind during your visit that this is a very new restaurant with a very new staff trying hard to work out the kinks and make the adjustments that typically come with any new business.

Both of my trips to this particular Denny's were an overall positive experience. But they have their issues as all new businesses and staff have.

As a former chef and chef instructor with many years in the restaurant industry. I tend to be very critical when and where it's warranted. I experienced nothing but the usual bumps and bruises here that should be expected anywhere else that is breaking in a new crew.

Yes on my first visit I had to send my plate back because the New cooks are obviously not used to the pressure yet, and my hash browns were almost raw. And from experience I know that is usually because a new kitchen staff is being unnecessarily rushed to get their food orders out. Speed will come with familiarity and practice. But speed is never a good substitute for quality.

And there were, in my not so humble opinion, small equipment issues. Like the lack of a foot rest bar underneath the dinning bar. Namely at the tallest part of the bar where the barstools are particularly high. There is nowhere to rest your feet except an uncomfortably narrow foot rest on the barstool itself. Almost everywhere that I've been to that's had a bar section of any sort has had a foot rest bar running the length of the bar for partrons to comfortably rest their feet on. This is an easy fix that I did suggest to the wait staff to address with the manager.

I also suggested that the pancake syrup dispensers that they are currently using, which are complete crap, be replaced with the more traditional, tried and proven classic round glass dispensers with the metal thumb operated slide top dispensers. The ones they are currently using are tall narrow glass affairs with a rubber top reminisce of some olive oil dispensers I've seen before.

The main problem is that they just don't work for dispensing pancake syrup. Not at all. Both visits I had to take the sticky rubber top off just to be able to pour the syrup. Had I waited for the pathetically slow drip if syrup that was able to pass through the rubber tip. I very well might still be there from my first visit four days ago. I mentioned this to the staff both times as well. I had the same problem with the salt and pepper shakers. Nothing that a very small drill bit wouldn't solve though.

Other than that the food was very good, except for their new apple wood bacon which is obviously a product of shrinkflation. It's way too thin and way too chewy to enjoy. It seemed to be cooked properly but being paper thin it was more akin to sad beef jerky than to crispy bacon. It's so thin that I could easily see through it to make out my finger on it's other side. But that's a criticism for the Denny's brand. Not of this particular restaurant which is obligated to use it.

Overall I really like this Denny's and I'm sure that they will be successful in working out their growing pains and their new staff will settle in after a bit more of trials and errors. But Livingston has long needed a twenty four hours restaurant Denny's is a great addition to the ever growing Livingston, Texas scene.

Now if we could also finally get a Waffle House and a H.E.B Plus we'd be well on our way to looking more like polk counties largest city...

The food was not that great. $98.00 for a family of 4 being very conservative. That's too high for breakfast even with today's inflation. There were 2 people that worked there, one young man and one girl His name was Andrew ( the sweet blind boy) and hers was.along with a lot of other people that had not a clue of what they were doing which was understandable if they were new but their faces showed they did NOT want to be there. The constant roll of eyes and speaking under their breath certainly was not welcoming whatsoever... We made it a point to go in there only when they were working (the young man and thr girl) because they were so friendly, joyful and would always bring a smile to our face. Had they not been there we probably wd not of went as much as we did and certainly wd not of had voted it to be our company meeting luncheon. Not too mention wd not of sent out so many referrals to go there that's for sure. Not sure if they (Blind boy and the girl) quit or got fired, I'm thinking the later because both of them you could tell absolutely loved their job. Not a good start for a new dennys in livingston getting rid of the good and keeping the ones that are rude and only there for the money and not growth advancement and a long career. Disappointed to say the least. Back to thr huddlehouse and Cafe we go now. No more dennys...could of used that space for so many other restaurants. Heather is a very rude lady. Heard she was fired at lowes and now it makes since. :( Was hoping this would be our company meeting spot 3-4 ti.es a week. But...

Atmosphere was great overall. Our waitress, Dixie, was great. The food was okay. The issue we had was with an employee named Juan. He was in the back cooking, then saw him expediting. While in the kitchen, our food came up. He left the hashbrowns off the tray. When we asked our waitress, she went back to check. He began berating her for his failure to place the items on the tray. Our hashbrowns were not fully cooked and still cold in the middle. We sent them back and no longer wanted. Our waitress took them back, told Juan that we did not want them and that they were not fully cooked. He caught an attitude with her and asked what's wrong with them, they look fine to him, we were sitting close enough to them that I spoke loudly to him directly stating they were not cooked and they were cold in the middle. He caught an attitude with her over it. As we continued to eat our meal, he was constantly talking down to other staff. You could even see the despairing look in a few of their faces afterward. Our neighbor diners had hashbrowns as well and had the same issue. They just placed them to the side and did north eat them. With 20+ years in general and district management of casual and fine dining establishments, i found his behavior not becoming and quite disrespectful. Delete Juan from the equation, and the experience may have been better. We may try to visit again when Juan is...