Colonial Diner — Restaurant in Lyndhurst

Throughout the 20th century, diners flourished in New Jersey. Not only were they places to get an affordable meal, but they were also roadside attractions in their own right, thanks to their signature neon-lit metallic aesthetic that developed during the post-war years.

Located in Lyndhurst just off of Route 3 on Orient Way, this establishment has been around since 1985. Gus’s Colonial Diner is a 1950s train car-style diner with its sparkling, silver and crimson roof that has been renovated to maintain its retro vibe feel. My partner and I came tonight for dinner from our last visit 2 years ago.

Upon entering the bright interior, highlighted by a long, spacious counter and round swivel stools, along with stainless steel wall panels and decorative tile, we were greeted by the host, Jim, who owns and operates the place along with his mother, Georgia, and got a table immediately in the corner with views of both dining areas.

Their menu is extensive, much as one would expect from a solid Jersey diner featuring salads, sandwiches, triple-decker club sandwiches, specialty burgers, roasts, steaks, and seafood.

For starters, I decided on a small cup of Chicken Noodle Soup. As our main meal, we opted for the Eggs Benedict with Avocado and Turkey Bacon as well as the Chicken Gyro Sandwich accompanied with Fries.

Our meals were all prepared to absolute perfection, well seasoned, served hot, and delicious. The portions were huge and the price very reasonable. The staff were welcoming, attentive, and the service was fast.

Diners are definitely a “Jersey Thing” which we continue...

I will say that the colonial diner was pleasant, the food was good, although not great. It was still better than fast food and the customer service was above average.

However the next day, my coworker was notified by his company's financial officers that the waitress who rang up our orders tried to charge $34,000 to his corporate card. Mine was not corporate nor was our other coworker, the waitress might have made a mistake but it wasn't even anything remotely akin to adding zeros. Unlike many of the other people who walked their ticket up to the cashier, we gave ours to the waitress.

I don't know if my coworker has reached out to the manager of colonial diner, but if you're reading this, you may want to look into the staff. I believe the date was February 8th and we were sitting in the far right corner when you walk into the diner.

Again I'm not stating it was absolutely malicious, but if it was simply some amalgam of the original bill that would be one thing, it was exactly $34,000.

To be fair, this is the action of one person and does not reflect upon the business nor their food nor their customer service as a whole. Just be sure to check your pending transactions the next day irrespective of...

We went here just last Monday at around 8am, we came in to have breakfast while we waited for the American Dream Mall to open, We ordered the waffle deluxe, the BLT, a 3 egg omelette and a grilled cheese with bacon. The food was okay, not bad at all, just your basic diner food, but the waitress did not like us at all, she was really chatty and doing small talk with all the other customers but she was really rude to us, I asked if I could get my waffle well done so it would be a bit crispy, she just said that she would tell the cook, but then she brought my waffle to me cold, and she also served our juice without ice. My cousin has food sensitivity to dairy and has a nut allergy so we asked what was in the hot cocoa, she said ‘we just put hot water in the hot cocoa’, I mean she did answer our question but its how she said it and over all how she was with our group. I like eating at diners and go almost every week to diners in NY, usually the servers are very friendly and make you feel comfortable and happy, but our server at Colonial Diner was not nice to us at all, I don’t want to pull the race card but I feel like it was because we were POC and everyone else in the diner was...