Totin's Diner — Restaurant in McCandless

We ordered a salad as an appetizer and got a handful of lettuce and spinach with a single tomato wedge on the side of the plate, and a meager portion of utterly tasteless mozzarella shreds topping it. We also ordered a milkshake, and received the thinnest, runniest, stingiest excuse for one I've had in years.

We ordered liver and onions with a side of mashed potatoes, as well as a gyro with pierogies on the side.

The potatoes were either from an instant mix, or they were food-processed. Nothing else could explain how gluey the mess turned out. We marveled at just how badly the diner had managed to screw up mashed potatoes, of all things. As for the liver, we didn't finish it.

The poor, poor gyro...the tzatziki was thin, runny, and practically tasteless, the beef-and-lamb strips were of the cheapest mass-processed frozen garbage imaginable (and underdone to boot), there was no tomato at all, only some sort of salad greens hanging around with the few bits of cubed yellow onions cowering in shame.

The pita was of course not baked or fried, just barely warm flat bread only slightly thicker than some sort of glorified wheat tortilla. Maybe it was a tiny Lebanese pita or a processed wrap -- who knows? All in all, this was right up there with the top ten lousiest gyros I've ever had, and no Greek diner would ever serve such a thing to anyone but a dog, and a dog they didn't like at that.

I received a total of two (2) miniature pierogies on the side of the gyro along with some overdone, barely warm and completely limp fried onions. Maybe the cook and waitstaff felt I needed to lose some weight.

The total came out to thirty-seven bucks for this nasty little lunch. I should have gone up the road a bit and ordered burgers from Wendy's or Burger King. I will most definitely do so in the future when I travel on Perry Highway.

It's really sad. The waitresses were having some petty dispute among themselves that they didn't bother to even try to hide while we were there, their faces twisted in perpetual pouts of disappointment at the broken shards their dreams of being proud of the food they serve have become. But the place is nicely set up as far as location and decor go, and you get the sense that with a competently prepped diner menu that's served with pride, this little roadside attraction would be printing money. As it is, they barely try, and you feel covered with a thin slick of their endless mediocrity when you leave Totin's Diner.

So for the staff, if you love the food you make and you feel you're not running a sham of an American diner, you're welcome to what you think, but you won't be seeing me again to help your illusions along.

In response to Jim Totin's comment:

Jim, your food sucks. That's the way it is, and it's obvious that you know it. I'm not the first to say it and I won't be the last.

As for your comments on how a gyro should be served, you're perfectly free to have your own opinion, but you clearly don't know squat about gyros. As you yourself have pointed out, you're not Greek, and never claimed to be. I'm sorry you don't have the wit to understand why someone named "Karatassos" might know something about gyros. Gyro pitas are never fried? They usually are in Athens, although in Thessaloniki, they tend to roast them a bit over coals more. In neither city are pitas microwaved, as the one I was served was. And besides, it wasn't a pita, come on, tell the truth. You serve up some kind of cheap processed flatbread wrap at your diner and you figured no one would ever call you on it. But at least now I know why the tzatziki was tasteless. It wasn't even tzatziki.

As for why I didn't pay my money for your overpriced food and leave it on the table...really? Really? Answer a sin with a sin? Oh sorry...again, you're not Greek, so maybe you can't understand that. Sorry, Jim, that's not how this miserable restaurant experience is going...

The food is big portions and is fine, however, our waitress was rude. We were a group of 6 and 5 of us were there. The seating attendant, a nice young man, seated us anyway as our friend, was on a call in the parking lot. Our waitress came over to us right away and noticed a spot open for someone and asked us if we were all there yet. We said we are waiting on one, which should be in any minute, and she scolded us and said well we don’t seat parties that aren’t all here. We said, oh sorry, then she repeated herself again. I then asked her if she would like us to get back up and go sit back in the waiting room (which was empty at the time). She said no, then left us, and immediately went to scold the young man. First off, why would she be telling the guests this? The host that seated us knew we were waiting on 1, so why make the customers feel bad about it? So awful to treat customers this way. We were there to meet up as a group of friends that get together once a year now that we are all busy with life, kids, and military obligations— and this time as a congratulations to the late person whom just had his first child with his wife earlier this winter. We had arrived there at 9am and were done by 10am. We just paid our checks, were finishing our coffee, when our waitress came back over to us and told us “there’s a 20 minute wait now for a table...” so, basically asking us to leave. All of us left immediately and said we will never be back. It was such an unwelcoming meal. The food was fine but did not make up for the lack of hospitality. I mean, forget hospitality, just be remotely nice. We will never,...

Get in my belly! This review is based on our first visit, yesterday. If you like healthful, trendy, fine dining, carry on. If you like delicious, plate-filling, diner fare keep reading. We have wanted to try Totins for years but do not like to wait for a table so we would always find another restaurant with no wait. Boy were we stupid. This place is worth the wait! The menu is small but mighty! Sweet treats to pierogies. Pancakes the size of the plate and heaping serving of hash browns. I had a gyro omlette with hash browns and an English muffin. My husband had the biscuts and gravy, hash browns topped with peppers and onions and fried eggs. All were not just genorous portions but very good quality and delicious. Diner food without the greasy spoon twist. A round of applause 👏 to the kitchen staff. Thank you, we appreciate your skills. We also liked having condiments on the table. We both hate having to keep running the wait staff for packet of sweetener or another jelly. So while it's minor it is a big thing for us. Lastly, our waiter, Dean (no, we didn't forget about you). Great personality and sense of humor. Dean seems to really like what he does. He was welcoming, funny, witty and efficient without being a bother. Dean made the Totins experience complete! We are looking forward to trying Totins lunch menu soon. If breakfast is any indication it too should "slap". 😆 EAT...