The Village Diner — Restaurant in Orange

An absolutely appalling experience. My colleague and I have been attending this diner for years (her longer than I) and after today we shall never return. One of my first times there I ordered grits. They were were grainy and not cooked all the way. I am not one to return food so I simply moved it to the edge of the table and continued chatting with my colleague. The tall blonde server with glasses came over and asked if I was done and I said yes. She observed the grits were essentially untouched and asked if I did not like them to which I then informed her they were not fully cooked. She apologized and removed them from the bill unprompted. Fast forward a few months, with other visits in between, we went and my colleague ordered pancakes. The same tall blonde came over just as my colleague cut into her pancakes and asked how everything was. As they both looked down at the pancakes they both see the middle of the pancakes were raw and uncooked. The tall blonde profusely apologized grabbed the plate and took it to the owner. The owner took the plate and goes into the kitchen still in our eyesight and shows the cooks the pancake dripping as she holds it over the trash and then exclaims "ITS NOT COOKED" before flinging it into the trash. Now we have our visit today 9/17/24. My usual companion and I brought another colleague with us. This time our server was the newer gentlemen who has only been there a few months. I ordered a cobb salad. As I am eating my salad I see a small hair in my food. Upon my discovery I grabbed the piece of chicken the hair was on and placed it on a plate away from my salad and continued to eat. Our server then came over and asked if everything was okay because he saw a look of displeasure. I informed him of the hair he apologized grabbed the plate and took it to the owner. He then came back and offered to remake the salad. The owner then took the salad to the kitchen and from our booth we can hear her scoff "Yeah its so small like the size of an eyelash". The tall blonde server who typically serves us then turns from outside the kitchen and says "They have a problem every time they are here." The owner then laughs and repeats to the kitchen "Yeah see she says they have a problem every time they are here." Our server came over and said " I'm so sorry for more than just the food. I'm so embarrassed. I'll have that salad right out and no need for a tip." We reassured him he was fine and we of course insisted on tipping. For us to be coming there for years and to have 3 instances where we did not send anything back, but were questioned by staff about our experience and we were simply honest, thrown in our faces is the epitome of terrible customer service. The tall blonde was completely wrong for making the claim but for the owner to blindly follow suit and continue to say it not only where we could hear it but other patrons as well is disgusting. I never write reviews but if this prompts even the smallest change (I doubt it will as old dogs seldom learn new tricks) it will be worth it. We won't be around to find out though.

EDIT AFTER OWNER RESPONSE You clearly did not read my review or simply did not understand it as I stated these are 3 visits out of years of attending so no "each of our visits" have not had issues and we have not had "many issues". We had 3 issues were YOUR staff inquired and acted on their own. No...

Updated Jan 20, 2025 after back forth emails with the owner, I'm just sad and disappointed. Not sure who she is speaking about in that response but it's not me, I have never complained, moved or refused a table.

Clarification: My issue was preference in how a server goes about her routine, not demanding I order before anyone else because I was hungry. This waitress will not take the food order when you're ready. She has a routine, initial greeting takes drink order, she will refuse to take your food order at this point. Several minutes later delivers drinks then she will come back a third time to take your food order. It's a waste of 10 minutes when your hungry or short on time. The other waitress is really great, she'll take drink and food orders at the initial greeting. She is also friendlier in my opinion. I just wasn't in the mood to wait the extra 10 minutes to go through that waitresses routine.

I cried when I left that day, I cried when reading the response, and I cried today realizing after more than a year of loyal patronage this person I conversed with on many occasions didn't even remember me. We discussed how tough the hiring market is now, inflation on food impacting restaurants, difficulty with the Google pay they experinced, and an incident when a waitress mistreated the cooking staff. I always extended my gratitude for the great food.

I am a cancer survivor with PTSD, I was grateful for the weekly comfort in my routine to pop in grab my sunrise (scrambled, links and sour dough) before heading off to my volunteer adventures. I give back by volunteering with several organizations, I have survived what most do not and try to show my gratitude any way I can.

UPDATED Jan 18, 2025 from 5 to 1 star. We stop in EVERY Saturday for breakfast, the last couple visits haven't been great but today is the last time we will be customers.

One of the waitresses, tall blonde, has a slow OCD way of serving. We know our order but she won't take it, she must get drinks, then come back later to get meal order. I don't want to wait 10+ minutes to order my food.

Today, we realized we were in her section, I was soo hungry I didn't want to wait for her routine. We asked to move to another table, the young bus boy informed us we are served in the order we arrive, to which I explained that wasn't the issue.

He came over to the new table to clean and asked about the issue, I told him it was just a preference in serving style, I didn't like the routine of that waitress. He then responds by informing us we were "not the only customers", implying we are not important. He smugly walked away, I said three times "What did you just say", to which he smirked while staring at me and walked off.

We immeditely grabbed our persoal items, my son walked out and I informed the always wonderful greeter (love her) that I will never come back, she asked why, I pointed at him and told her, his smart mouth. He then charged at me from behind the counter yelling "Say that to my face". I walked out the door for the last time.

This place has gone downhill, you won't see my $40 a week any longer! I'm sure you don't care, but I enjoyed my weekly breakfast with you for the last nearly two years, I'm sad.

Great little place. Food was great, staff was good. It could use a renovation and new furniture, but that doesn't detract from...

My brother has a dog named Beans. Earlier today, he took me and his girlfriend out for breakfast at this Village Diner! When we walked up to the door, it was clear that it was a full house. The entrance was full of people waiting to be seated, including a party of about six and an average looking fireman (who I will call Phil). A few minutes later, after a man and his two friends were in line behind us, some people cut in line to the front. They tried to play it off, but the man behind us sniffed them out from a mile away! He politely told them that there was a line. However, a server (who I will call कमचजयुसू) heard him and thought he was being rude. कमचजयुसू told him that she didn't want customers to leave, and then proceded to seat him first for some reason. Fortunately, she came back pretty soon and seated us. The rest is a blur, but is perfectly clear in my fourth eye. Another server (who I will call 8) gave us menus. While I was looking at them i was reminded of Bob Evans (stinky). This impression turned out to be in the top Ten least correct assumptions of all time. I decided to order the three pancakes with a side of bacon. 8 came along and took our orders. I got a water to drink (picture attached). My brother ordered the sunrise plus and his girlfriend ordered biscuits. While we were waiting for our food, we saw some kids go into the serving area. They were removed by कमचजयुसू (not 8, he would never do such a thing). Before long, कमचजयुसू informed us that they were out of biscuits but offered Texas Toast instead, which we accepted (I have no idea what that is). When our food arrived, we were astounded, pleasantly surprised, amazed, awestruck, pleased, chundered (the good kind if such a thing exists), and more with how our food tasted. My pancakes were absolutely massive and the bacon was perfectly crisp, with no gross fatty parts. The water complimented them perfectly. Unfortunately, out time at Village Diner could not last forever. We soon had to pay for our food, get a box for what remained of my pancakes, and leave. 8 was an egg-celent server. To put it simply, Village Diner lives up to the name, and I would rate it 836 stars if I could. As a fellow reviewer said, “Absolutely fantastic eatery. Could not recommend enough!”

Also attached is a picture of my brother’s cat, whose name will not be disclosed for...