Margie's Dream Diner — Restaurant in Manchester

Summary: Horrendous customer service

The story: After visiting the nearby science center, my family group consisting of five adults and five children decided to find a local business to support while choosing our lunch venue. Margie’s was conveniently located, the grandma in the group had heard good things and the online menu looked like there would be options to keep all the picky appetites happy.

We got to the diner right around noon, and were immediately greeted with a “How many of there are you?” We responded, “Ten” and got a verbal reply of something like “Ugh.” That’s fine, we know it’s a big group and kids can be tough. We find a couple booths next to each other to sit in and get settled. It took a few minutes for menus to be passed out, but once we got them the adults helped the kids pick out what they wanted from the lunch menu and were ready to order pretty quickly.

The kids sat in their seats: the one toddler quietly hanging out between his parents, the 6/7 year olds chatting no louder than any other patrons, the 9 year old reading a book and the 8 year old mostly talking with me. Around 15 minutes later someone comes over to take our drink order and we get the drinks in good time. We continue waiting.

After a few more minutes, the toddler accidentally knocks his glass of chocolate milk down and it breaks. His mom and grandpa start cleaning up with the napkins on the table, but the only help we receive from staff is the same person that greeted us saying “Here’s a stack of napkins.” To clean up broken glass. Oh well, we have hungry kids, they know what they want, everyone is still being quiet and respectful- even the toddler isn’t being loud or fussy, the glass incident really was an accident.

So we continue waiting. The restaurant isn’t particularly busy, but I can understand wanting to close out a couple tables before handling the large group. Finally, 40 minutes after we walked in, that same staff that poorly greeted us and didn’t help clean up broken glass came over with her pad and said “Let’s get this started,” while clearly not wanting to deal with us. The kids have their orders ready, but before the 8 year old can start, the staff member must have seen my menu open to the lunch page and announces “No lunch today.”

No where is there signage saying that they weren’t serving lunch food. Not on the door, not on the sign saying their specials, not on tables, not anywhere. No staff thought to tell the group with kids coming in at noon that they could only have breakfast food. After forty minutes of neglect we find out that we can’t even order the food we want (and in a couple cases, the only food picky eaters would consume.) So we leave some cash to cover the four drinks that weren’t water and have to walk out to find somewhere that could accommodate us.

If that staff that obviously hadn’t wanted us there to begin with had led with “We’re only doing breakfast today!” we would have turned around at the start. But not only did they not, they ignored us as long as they could, ignored a dangerous situation that could have led to injury, and offered no apology when finally stating that they weren’t offering half of their...

Margie's...sigh. I love this restaurant on a good day. On a bad day, they really struggle to deliver. I'm giving it five stars for being clean, having great food, and because I love the waitress--but there are some serious problems here with random kitchen back-up. Read on:

PROS: The potato pancakes are so good it's unreal. SO. GOOD. The sausage links, pancakes, and poached eggs are always really good. The lady who has been our waitress every time we go is so nice, tries so hard to give great service, and is always really pleasant to be served by. The serving sizes are probably one of my favorite things about this place. I never have that "ugh, I'm disgusting" overstuffed feeling when I leave here. The serving sizes are "finish-able" (I am a big eater) The place is small, clean, and feels like a small town, home-cookin' diner.

CONS: Sometimes they are just not open, apparently due to having issues with being short-staffed. You'll show up on a Saturday at 9:30 or 10am and they are closed. I suggest calling ahead. The kitchen is hit-or-miss with timing. Generally, service is decently fast and food comes out when you'd expect it to. Sometimes...holy cow, you wait a very long time to have your order taken and for food to come.

On our worst visit ever, we waited for one hour and five minutes before our food came. Ultimately, were left two sides of sausage short. The poor waitress was running around like a mad woman. We didn't get silver wear until five minutes after our food was served. Some of our party didn't have water for most of the meal (she just kept forgetting to bring it) Half our food came almost ten minutes after the first half.

Multiple parties got up and left while we were there because they just couldn't wait anymore. The waitress was kind and removed some items from the bill for our trouble, but the kids have sworn we're never going back.

I love the food and the friendliness of the waitress here and will continue to go and support the business...but I really hope they figure out their staffing/short-handedness issues soon, because it's unbearable to eat here when they're having a bad staffing day.

TL;DR: You'll love the food, and 75% of the time will be served in a timely fashion. 25% of the time you will literally almost starve to death waiting for your food. Call ahead to see what kind of day...

3/5 Stars – Solid Food, Frustrating Service

We stopped in for a late breakfast around 10:35 AM on a weekday. The menu doesn’t list any hard cutoff for breakfast vs. lunch, so we assumed both were available. When I asked the waitress for a recommendation, she suggested pancakes or a BLT, but said she’d go check if they can make it now and came back and said no they weren’t serving lunch until 11. My son wanted a burger because he can’t eat eggs. Since it was 10:40, I pointed out it was only 20 minutes away and asked if we could wait and order. She said frustratedly, “Yes, you can sit here and wait until 11,” then said she’d come back at exactly 11:00. We reordered at 10:58; she said she’d “put the ticket in at 11:00 sharp.” While we waited I asked about if I could have one of the wonderful looking fresh out of the oven cranberry muffins to go, she said no, those were for later, and I’d have to take yesterday’s.

At 11:15 she reappeared to say they were out of lettuce—so much for the BLT. I switched to a burger. When the food did arrive was excellent: my husband called his Western omelet the best he’s ever had (and he orders them everywhere), and the burger was juicy and well-seasoned. The owner noticed the tension, apologized, and sent us home with two fresh muffins on the house, very classy move.

Bottom line: The kitchen clearly knows what it’s doing, and the owner bends over backward to make things right. The waitress, however, turned a 15-minute policy gap into a 45-minute ordeal with unnecessary attitude and rigid rule-policing. A simple “Breakfast starts at 11, but I can take your order now and as soon as we’re ready for lunch we’ll get it made” would have...