Elm Street Diner — Restaurant in Norwalk

My wife and I decided to take our daughter and my wife’s friend to dinner since elm st diner just opened about a month ago and we’ve heard the food is very good. When we walk in the music was blasting so loud and for me personally this is such a turn off when I walk into a place I am going to have a meal. The rest of my party didn’t seem to mind this at all but it was difficult to hold a conversation and hear each other over the music.J was our server and may I just say he was the best server ever! Very attentive to our needs and had knowledge of the menu. We ended up ordering a chicken nachos to start and for the main dish I had the hot honey chicken cheese burger with onion rings, my wife had some type of wrap, her friend had another type of wrap I can’t remember what it was, and my daughter had chicken nuggets and fries. While we waited for the app of chicken nachos I noticed that our server j was frustrated because the server for the table next to us accidentally gave our nachos to them and they ate half the plate then complained that the nachos were not to their liking and returned it back to the kitchen. At this point we were over it and just wanted our main dish. In an apology for the mix up J gave us 4 free donuts for the table which were amazing. Shortly after our main food came out and it was delicious. I forgot to mention the tables were so small so we were stacked with our main dishes taking up all the table space. Half way through eating and the nachos came. We were under the assumption that the nachos were cancelled because we were never asked if we wanted them remade after the mix up with the table next to us and the amount of time that has passed waiting for them. We told J that we no longer wanted them for the table and he offered to wrap them up but nothing is worse than soggy nachos the next day. J took them back to the kitchen only to come back and mention they would not take them back and since we didn’t want them he has to pay for the nachos out of his own pocket. This upset us so much because it wasn’t even our servers fault for the mix up. This made us dissatisfied with management and prompted me to write this review and do my research on the legal base of this type of practice making a server pay for a mess up. In my research I found that in the state of Connecticut CT General Statute Section 31-71e. Says it is illegal for such practice of a food establishments management and or owner to make a server pay for mistakes it just comes with owning a business it’s a loss you have to expect. I expect that the owner and or management will fix this issue promptly or you may have some legal issues in the future if you continue to practice this at your diner. Thank you J for your service. I hope this opens other servers eyes if they read this review to know their rights as a server and call out bad...

Nice space. You can tell they put a lot of resources into the build, but the spending obviously isn’t a top priority when it comes to food cost. This was our first time here so we got a bit of everything. We started with the fried Mac & Cheese. Before ordering, we asked server if they were made in house. She paused, looking confused, before answering yes. Well, I guess what she meant was ‘yes, they are taken from freezer to the fryer.’ They lacked flavor and were not crisp at all. We also ordered the brunch egg rolls. Again, obviously freezer to fryer. They were topped with a layer of cheese that only made them more greasy. *They appear to be from Webstaurant. Onto the main event.. The bagel & lox. This was very interesting. It was a barely toasted split bagel; one half on bagel had the salmon piled on, the other half had a pile of onion and capers. Salmon had a piece of plastic that appeared to be a broken piece of disposable dressing cup. The cream cheese was in a plastic 2 oz container and a couple of cups of undressed arugula with sliced cucumber took residence on the remainder of the plate. So, to eat your bagel and lox, one had to take the salmon, onion and capers off, spread cream cheese and rebuild. Later, when asked for a bit of dressing, the waitress cheerfully agreed, only to forget it until she was reminded quite a while later. Next up…Hot Honey Fried Chicken Brunch Melt. Great concept, only, once again, if they had invested in quality ingredients. It was a pressed, breaded chicken patty. Yep, if cheap Banquet brand chicken is what you are imagining, you’re right on the money. We finally asked to see the manager, almost giving up before he appeared around 10 minutes later. When told of the issues, the manager told us that he’d been in the restaurant business for 20 years; everything is made fresh daily in house AND, we should’ve shown him the plastic. He reluctantly took off the Hot Honey sandwich and we were out of there. This is truly a cute space with a great concept, but do not ask $20 for a meal that you have less than $3 food cost invested in. Also, when your staff alerts you of unhappy diners in a restaurant that is, at best, 10% occupied, have a bit more hustle. Your staff...

I've been watching Elm Street Dinner on Instagram for months. Almost stalker vibes. 😂 It's sad. On our way there I was watching their reels and was drooling over the foods being featured. It took us almost 2 hours to get there but, we finally made it. The drive was worth the trip and we will definitely go again for sure.

The staff was very pleasant and kind. They had both inside dining and also had an outside dining area in the courtyard that had a water fountain. The atmosphere was very inviting. It was nicely tucked away from the busy traffic noise. The restaurant is also kid friendly because they use bright, fun colors in the seating area.

But enough about that, let's talk about the food. We ordered the churros sticks that came with nutella, caramel and maple syrup. Omg...Delicious! We were very impressed that the nutella and the caramel was not sweet at all. They were just right. The combination of the nutella, caramel and churros was just wow! The manager Charice stopped by our table for a chat, she said that they make either own toppings, donuts, maple syrup, etc. and they take into consideration the sugar levels, which was very nice to know. So, even though the deserts may look very sweet, that may not be the case with their treats.

I ordered the meat lovers, mac and cheese melt. Delicious! My s/o ordered the honey barbecue chicken waffle fries. That was amazing, too. For our drink we each had a strawberry bliss, mimosa. Overall, was not disappointed in the food and the blending of the flavors. Also, the portion sizes were filling and or shareable.

The only disappointed I had was that I couldn't order more because I got full and couldn't finish my meal.

Overall,...