Our Place Diner — Restaurant in Ozark

Had a great un-expected experience. It was about 2pm on a Monday, and I just wondered why all the people were there. Well believe it or not Our Place Diner was that good. The menu is nothing extra special. The prices keep up with the times and inflation. So that is fair. I did see the Sysco truck outside. However. If that is the "worst" I got to say about a place they did a good job. This is a diner, off 231 in a relatively rural part of Alabama. They didn't know us, but we felt welcome. Both my son and I are non-neurotypical, and in-general when asked for my drink order I ask, "is your water filtered". We tip well, and we don't ask for extravagant off the menu actions. We are just very very clear in what we order. The waitress at first was confused, but then her coworker recognized what was up with us and confirmed the water is filtered.

My son had a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, and he said it was, "the best ever". That is high praise from him. My son likes to ask logistical questions when we go to new places, and the entire dining room was very friendly staff and other customers alike.

It can be a challenge going to new places with him. But they passed the test, and I was able to relax and enjoy my meal.

Despite the presence of Sysco, all the food was fresh and cooked to order. When ordering fries they asked me IF I wanted, frozen, crinkle cut, or natural cut that cost a little more. I opted for the natural cut as crinkle cut are not something I enjoyed. They understood fries are to be crispy. My patty-melt was on proper rye bread, the grilled onions were sliced and not chopped.

I was beyond pleased to find breaded mushrooms on the menu as they are kind of a rarity down south has been my experience. It was a good late afternoon lunch.

Again, cheers to the staff. They didn't know us, but were understanding that we had questions and probably some different behaviors. I saw people who were outwardly wearing some purposefully insulting freedom of expression on their clothing. In their actions the other customers were kind in their behaviors with all parties, and I do enjoy places like rural highway diners where anyone can go get a good meal for their money regardless of who they are and...

On our trip across Bama we looked someplace to eat. Google showed us this place called "Our Place". I was reluctant at first because I don't like trying new places, but I was hungry and the hubby loves to try new places. Google said this place has "great" burgers, well that was enough to entice him. So off we go.

Very cool looking place, back half of a beetle bug in the front of the building and my favorite color... PINK!!! Woohoo!! Already winning me over a little at a time.

We go inside, greeted immediately by kind, smiling, seemed to be happy staff. Another win for me, I can not stand to be waited in by grumpy people. (If you don't like the position you hold... Find a new one.) She was kind and sweet for sure, help and patient and let us take our time ordering. Another win!

Someone was always on the floor doing something for a customer and always with a smile.

When the food came in a decent amount of time, maybe 12-15 minutes. They did say they were short staffed. It didn't stop them from putting out some great burgers and awesome fresh cut fries. There is a posting on the wall my husband read that said, "Everything made fresh daily".

Trust you me, you can definitely tell the difference between thawed out and fresh hamburger. mmmmmm good! And those fries oh my those fries, you had to eat them fast though. It was chilly in there so the food cooled off faster than we liked, and the cooler the fries got they just lost some of the quality of the fresh hot fries. That is the ONLY complaint we had, but if we would have sit outside in their screened in porch, we could have enjoyed the day, the fries, and had absolutely no complaints at all. 🌞

They bill came and I was thinking... OK! Here's where they are going to make me pay for all of the smiles, kindness, good atmosphere, great food, and so on BUT nope. I had a classic burger and fries and sweet tea (ya know me and my sweet tea 😊) and hubby had a deluxe burger and fries and water and the bill came to $25.00

Now I don't care who you are that is not bad. Even hubby was ok with it and he is CHEAP. (Don't tell him I said that 😁)

I hardly ever give 5 stars and hubby NEVER does But we both agree "Our Place"...

The place is nice outside, more than adequate parking, inside is cozy and inviting, and the bathrooms are functional and clean. Our waitress didn't really give us time to review the menu, and kept asking if we were ready to order about every minute. Some of the food was outstanding: the pancake platter my daughter got, the jalapeno poppers, the corn nuggets, and the hamburger steak I got. The Mac and cheese was so watery, it was like a bland noodle soup. Getting drink refills took 3 people to do correctly, and about 10 minutes to get because our waitress didn't bother checking in with us. My wife got the blt and this is where the real trouble began. She had asked for a slice of onion on top. The sandwich came out without mayo, despite it being in the description on the menu. The tomatoes were slimy, so we asked for replacement tomatoes. It took about 10 minutes, and the tomatoes we were given had been frozen, they still had ice on it. I don't know if you've ever had fresh tomatoes that were frozen, but there's no flavor and the texture is disgusting. We asked for another set of replacement tomatoes. After another 10 minutes of waiting, we got the new tomatoes. These weren't even ripe, they were hard as could be. The onion had been so old, it started going translucent instead of what it should be. The lettuce was already turning a soggy brown. By this time, the fries it comes with were cold, and so was the bacon. Everyone knows the best blt is with bacon still warm from the pan. None of my wife's meal had been eaten, everything was still on the plate and the 2 additional plates of tomatoes were right next to it. When we tried to get this item removed from the bill, it took 3 people to do - including...