Park Wood Diner — Restaurant in Maplewood

I just had the most wild and uncalled for experience here on Mother’s Day of all days. We went to have breakfast with my parents and I should add we were regulars up until today. I ordered a lox Benedict and asked for cheddar cheese on the home fries. The “chef” put the entire plate under the salamander to melt the cheese which cooked the smoked salmon (a big no-no). I kindly asked them to redo it and they looked at me crazy not understanding the problem. So they remade the plate but kept the salmon on the side and I questioned why the “chef” is having such a hard time making a simple lox Benedict. Finally when everyone was done eating, they brought out a DIY plate which had everything separate. The home fries (undercooked potatoes) on one plate, the lox Benedict on another and the hollandaise in a bowl. I was tired of it at this point so I cut my losses. The manager wasn’t apologetic at all and seemed frustrated with me rather than his incompetent chef.

Here’s where it took the cake. When it came down to paying the bill, the Benedict was on it and I found that weird but whatever. I just told the son at the counter that after 3 attempts, in my opinion, the dish should have been comped. He took it off the bill which I appreciated. What happened next was the wild disrespectful part. The older gentleman with the glasses who is the owner literally chased my parents down and screamed at them for me not paying for the Benedict. Mind you it was HIS SON who took it off the bill and I did not force him to. He was causing a scene at my parents claiming money troubles and yelling at them saying I cause problems every time I go and we aren’t welcome there. I always tipped above 20% and never cause an issue so I don’t know who this delusional man thinks he is. The audacity he had to yell at my parents and not his own incompetent cook or his son for taking it off the bill was mind blowing. I called him and told him he was disrespectful and had such an audacity to be in customer service and yell at customers who have been going there FOR YEARS instead of getting to the root of the problem. So I am angry now, and I’m going to keep pursuing this horrible incident. This man should not...

I was recently eating here on Sunday 7/2 with my family and had one of the worst and most shocking experiences of my life. My family and I were seated in the back dining room next to the door that has a ramp to the back lot. My cousin and I were seated with our backs to the door and a severely disabled gentleman in a wheelchair is coming through the door and grabs an entire handful of her hair and won’t let go for several seconds. I obviously jump up to help release his grip from her hair which caused a scene in the dining room. At no point did the waitress, manager, or owner come by to check on us and make sure everything was okay. Despite that unfortunate incident we decided to stay as we had already placed our order. A few minutes later a 15-person+ baseball team comes in and is seated in the back dining room and starts to get loud (as expected). I find the manager and kindly ask if we can grab a booth that is being cleaned off a few feet away and he proceeds to argue with me about how he can’t move us and we’re already seated and such. I kindly remind him that it’s a simple request and that the customer is always right but still more pushback. As a final attempt I say that we can either take the booth or we can leave and he continues with pushback. We decided to leave at that point. We are relatively new Maplewood residents and love to support local establishments on a frequent basis but we will never ever return to Park Wood diner and I encourage you to do the same. Zero acknowledgment for an unfortunate incident paired with an unprofessional manager means they will never get another dollar or recommendation from me. Try Maplewood Village for warm and welcoming...

The Park Wood Diner is one of my all-time favorite diners in NJ, and that is saying something, considering that I have been an aficionado of NJ diners for ~35 years, and because there are so many from which to choose! I have been a regular at Park Wood since moving to Maplewood 3 1/2 years ago, and I love it there.

The food at Park Wood is consistently delicious and fresh. Some of my personal favorites are the omelets, the roasted chicken, the chopped sirloin, and the macaroni & cheese with crab cakes (which is one of their specials). They have a huge selection of salads, which are fresh and flavorful as well as being nicely presented. My significant other particularly loves Zora's Summer Salad. She also loves their vegetable panini and their vegetarian portobello burger, as well as the potato salad. All of Park Wood's cakes and pies are home baked, and they are amazing. My SO considers the carrot cake to be the best that she has ever had!

Part of what keeps me coming back to Park Wood are the people. The service is friendly, and everyone there cares about making the customer happy and doing a good job. They know how to hustle while also making you feel welcomed. Kudos to Pete, Fifi, Irene,Tommy, Leah, Amanda, Tina, Siran, Alyssa, Zora, Sam, Clark, Efram, Lucas, and everyone else who works so hard at Park...