Red Arrow Diner — Restaurant in Manchester

Great waitstaff, we were seated quickly, and it was our first time here.

I'm wishful that the food here is typically good, as evidenced in others' reviews, and I wish we got to experience that.

The day we visited, we received mediocre food. Yet, even the food would get 2 stars.

It's the corporate management team that I want to make others aware of, and hence this 1 star review.

We were in on a busy Saturday night.

Our poutine looked like refried beans were placed on top of overcooked French fries, resembling nothing of Franco American poutine or the pictures we saw of other poutines from this place online. Our mac n cheese was cold on arrival.

After going back and forth with corporate over email about the sub par quality of food we received that night, corporate refused to refund us for these uneaten sides that didn't meet expectations, claiming that the food was "all packaged up for you to take with you" based on video surveillance. This "video surveillance" they referenced doesn't even show the whole table. The poutine was left barely touched and still on the table. The mac-n-cheese was put in a box and later discarded.

Our waitress (she did a remarkable job), was seemingly alone with the entire front house. Possibly due to this frenzy, we never received the itemized receipt. Out of habit, I tipped and signed, and took two slips. In our email exchange about the food, corporate informed me that our waitress did not receive her tip. I insisted we tipped, but then they said they reviewed the video surveillance and saw that I took both the merchant and customer copies with me. This was an honest mistake, since I'm used to taking both a signed copy and the itemized portion, which we never received. They then accused me of "stiffing the waitress" when l asked them directly to charge me the tip amount. I even dug up and attached the picture of the authorized receipt I took with the tip amount and signature.

They also ignored helpful feedback about their menu. We informed corporate that the Veggie Bean Delight is misleading since it contains bacon, and is listed in a bowls section where every other bowl has meat and other ingredients all spelled out. The Veggie Bean Delight came with all of the ingredients listed on the menu and bacon, but there was no mention of bacon on the menu. The ordinary consumer would be misled by this and not expect bacon to be a part of the bowl. Corporate took a steadfast stance that they are under no obligation to list "every single ingredient contained in a dish" (fair enough, but in this section they were listing every ingredient for every other bowl). It was evident after coming on the defensive here that they did not want to receive feedback that can improve their customer experience.

Most importantly, they ignored our attempt to ensure our waitress received her tip. They accused me of "stiffing the waitress", even after asking them to remedy it by charging the tipped amount.

Evident by these actions, this company is not interested in their customers or hard working employees. They are seemingly only interested in sending back and forth emails to protect their star rating from a single negative review.

We will never be coming here again, after corporate put a bad taste in our mouths (literally and figuratively), which is a shame because we were excited to...

I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve eaten gas station food at 2 a.m. that was more satisfying than what we were served at the Manchester location. We’ve had consistently great experiences at the Londonderry branch, so we came in expecting a solid dinner.

What we got instead was an overpriced, borderline offensive mess disguised as a meal.

Four people. Four waters. Four plates of food that ranged from barely edible to is this a joke? $119.00. One very expensive culinary crime scene.

The only reason we stayed was because we were dining with my elderly, handicapped mother, and moving to another restaurant would have been a logistical nightmare. Otherwise, we would’ve walked out the second the food hit the table.

Every single meal ordered was subpar—from the chicken parm with soggy pasta and flavorless sauce, to the meatloaf “special,” served ice cold with a disgusting-looking bowl of brown goo they tried to pass off as gravy.

But the crown jewel of this disaster was the turkey dinner. Oh, we’d loved it in Londonderry. Here? It felt like a cruel prank. What we got looked—and tasted—like dried-out rotisserie scraps from someone’s fridge five days after Thanksgiving. I received a plate of lukewarm food, with a chunk of frozen mashed potato in the pile the size of my palm—no exaggeration. The “gravy” was a sodium bomb in gelatinous form—bland, goopy, and slightly threatening. The stuffing? Like they poured Stouffer’s out of the box and forgot to cook it. Think dry, crunchy croutons.

The salad? Calling it a salad is generous. It was more like a random assortment of vegetables found at the bottom of a grocery bag: limp iceberg, a lonely tomato chunk, two sad cucumber slices clinging to life, a few shreds of cheese, and two pieces of raw onion large enough to qualify as a hate crime.

And then—oh, the mac and cheese. I don’t know what we did to deserve it. It had the texture of paste and the flavor of despair. Every one of us tried a bite. Every one of us instantly regretted it. It may honestly be the most vile thing I’ve ever encountered in a restaurant.

Truly the worst meal ever.

The only redeeming moment? Two slices of pie—chocolate and lemon blueberry—that were actually delicious. But even those felt like an apology note at the end of a hostage situation.

Never again.

In short: this wasn’t just a bad meal—it was an absolute trainwreck. We paid fine dining prices for food that wouldn’t pass at a middle school cafeteria. I left hungry, disappointed, and honestly, a little insulted.

Save your money. Save your taste buds. Save your soul.

Do yourself a favor and steer clear of the Manchester location—unless you’re looking for a memorable story about the worst meal of your life.

Update 11/5/25 - responded to the management with all the information they requested, and guess what I got - no reply. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Just in case you wondered…...

The Red Arrow has been called 'one of the 10 best diners in America.' It's said to be patronized by many well-known celebrities, most notably Adam Sandler. Please forgive the blasphemy but, IMHO, The Red Arrow does not live up to the hype. It is a good average diner. Period.

Update Google is prodding me to update my review. Before I do, I will outline my history with the Red Arrow. For years, my wife and I had breakfast there every other weekend. The food was OK, and it was a comfortable place to eat. Also years ago the Sunday(?) Blue Plate Special was Chicken Croquettes. About 10~20 years ago, Chicken Croquettes had fallen off the face of the Earth. There were several brands (HoJo, Weaver, etc.) in the supermarket frozen section, which disappeared seemingly overnight. Not only was the Red Arrow a rare source of Chicken Croquettes, but they were absolutely delicious. One day I decided to try the Stuffed Peppers. The rice/meat ratio was off dramatically. It was almost a vegetarian meal. Next time I ordered a takeout Meatloaf meal. The Meatloaf was great, but the person who prepared the mashed potatoes that day ruined them. When potatoes are mashed they increase in volume. This happens because the mashing process folds air into the mixture. That air obviously comes from the air in the room when the potatoes are mashed. The mashed potatoes tasted the way cigars smell. It was apparent that the person mashing the potatoes that day was smoking a cigar. It was disgusting. I didn't go to the Arrow for years after that incident. When I did go back and found the Chicken Croquettes were no longer on the menu, the Arrow had lost it's magic for me and I realized that it was just a diner. Yesterday, I ordered a take-out...