Westville Diner — Restaurant in New Haven

Westville Diner definitely deserves more stars, BUT I'm a firm believer in customer service.

I've been to this diner when it was under previous owners, I must say the food and menu is ten folds better. The service was mediocre, our waitress was extremely nice, but took a long time when responding for minor request (refill on water).

Minor: but the hot sauce didn't have a cap on it.

The Real Issue: I ordered the Baltimore (Benedict with a "lump of Crab"). This meal was your typical Benedict with poached eggs, English muffins, and home fries. The egg was perfectly poached and runny. Home fries was seasoned and the Hollandaise sauce was in abundance. The concern, I have Crab Cakes all the time, lastly at (Nick's Luncheonette). Never have I had shrimp in my crab cakes, nor fish for that matter. I have a mild allergy to shrimp (ONLY)! I can eat all other shellfish without reaction. I know this because I have documentation from my allergist to travel with an EpiPen. I was tested for seafood allergies via blood test. The only one that came back positive was shrimp. When I discovered there were whole pieces of tiny shrimp, I asked the waitress to confirm if shrimp was in the recipe, because it wasn't mentioned on the menu. The waitress confirmed shrimp is included in their Crab Cakes. I politely and genuinely made a suggestion for ownership to make this known on their menu. I expressed to the waitress that I have a minor shrimp allergy and no other allergy to Shell foods. The waitress was in awe, and said she would speak with management.

I saw and overheard the waitress having a conversation with someone who I presumed to be management or the owner, the individual was very dismissive of the suggestion and appeared to have an attitude making a statement that "they've been in this business for a long time and anyone who has an allergy to one shellfish has it for all shellfish". That thought process might be considered safe, but in regards dealing with individuals this isn't a one size fits all matter. I typically would ask if an menu item could be customized when aware of foods I don't like or can't eat.

I believe the individual could have approached this concern in a much more professional and empathetic manner. Witnessing this type of attitude ruined what could have been a good dining experience and turned me off from the thought...

After reading their reviews I was really excited for this to be good, I live right around the corner and I would love a good regular breakfast spot. (Their breakfast food, and milkshake photos and reviews looked awesome). We were there early, breakfast was okay, not great, and we were basically the only people in the place. I had hoped for better, and then when I saw the price on the bill, I was really disappointed. I was so hoping to become a regular here for breakfast, but not at these prices, not with this mediocre service, and not with these terrible eggs.

We both got the Irish eggs benedict, and a short stack. I got blueberry pancake short stack and boyfriend got french toast short stack. I had coffee and water, he had coffee and OJ, and it was a $60 bill.

The pancakes and French toast were really good, very fluffy. The syrup is not real maple syrup, it's the fake kind. Pancakes and french toast come dusted with powdered sugar, which I think is disgusting and we scraped it off. If I had known I would have asked for it without.

The eggs on both our Eggs Benedict were underdone, with mostly runny whites. The corned beef hash was almost flavorless, I actually had to add salt to it which is very strange because corned beef is usually full of salt. The Hollandaise was pretty good, the English muffin was really difficult to cut and eat. It was hard to tell if it had been toasted or steamed, it was warm but very difficult to cut through. The home fries were fairly oniony, but had a nice crisp on them. Restaurants- please don't surprise people with onions, just make sure it's clear on the menu if there are onions in the home fries or not.

Our server kept forgetting things for us, and again, we were the only people in the diner. We had to ask 3 times for water and 2 times for butter for my pancakes. He was fast and nice, just forgetful.

I can only really recommend the pancakes or french toast, nothing with eggs, since the cook staff couldn't be bothered to cook them correctly with only our four poached eggs in the whole restaurant on order. I can't imagine the eggs will be better...

Very hot air didn’t seem to be working. I left my sunglasses in the restaurant and called immediately when on the highway. The woman said they would check when they had a chance and asked where I was sitting, I explained as well as gave a detailed description of our tables food order. She took my number and said she would call if they found them. I waited and called back and asked if they checked yet and had my sunglasses and she said they would have called me. She didn’t listen because I knew I left them there, I knew I wore them going into the restaurant so it was a matter of checking before the next person sat in the booth and discovered my Sunglasses or possibly stepped on them I left the booth a to go to the ladies room. Not caring, not reassuring not even let me go check myself. Just no. Not even I’m so sorry can you give me a description? Nothing! Sadly one employee left me feeling who cares? My fault I left them. Their fault for not caring, not taking time to check, she could have put me on hold and lied to me but instead left me feeling I had no value as a customer. You gained a nice pair of sunglasses but I can never go to your restaurant and I will share my story for others to decide how they want to feel after being served. Imagine leaving your cellphone or wallet, credit card? You can apologize to someone for your neglect but you cannot take away how you made me feel. Sadly the sentimental value upsets me more of how I could have been more present and mindful to care...