Suburban Diner — Restaurant in Paramus

My parents first brought me to the Suburban Diner when I moved to Paramus as a little kid in the 80s. Since then, I've gone there as a naïve teen with my band of misfit friends throughout the 90s (sorry, guys, but we were misfits). Even though I've moved further away in my middle age, I still visit from time to time.

It was a mainstay of Paramus culture then just as it is now, and I suspect that it will continue to be so for Paramus-ites and any else who'll have the pleasure of walking through The Suburban's doors.

I most recently went on a Wednesday night. We ordered stereotypical diner fare:

disco fries (a big plate of fries under cheese and gravy) a tuna melt Chef’s Sloppy Creations, #11 Corned Beef & Pastrami Beef Gyro baklava & decaf coffee

Everything was delicious and I recommend all of them. My Corned beef & pastrami sandwich was on rye and had cole slaw and Russian dressing. It was good. It wasn't Katz's deli good, but nobody else's is that good. I do have to nit-pick: There was a half-inch of meat in there, which is a decent amount, but it was a tad dry. The rye bread compounded the dryness and funnily, the cole slaw and Russian didn't help.

My wife's beef gyro was another story. The beef and veggies in a pita with tzatziki sauce on the side were pretty tasty. It came with a sizeable Greek salad which was very nice.

The baklava was great. But, then again, I've never had a piece of baklava that I didn't like.

Our server was great. From the start, he thoughtfully offered lemon for our waters, which I often forget. After our order, which came out speedily, he offered pickles and cole slaw. (I welcomed the offer of pickles for my somewhat dry sandwich.)

We had arrived there about an hour before closing, but our server was still very polite and accommodating. We closed down the place and he didn't give us a hurried word nor impatient attitude. Although we unwittingly ordered our dessert and coffee at the last minute, he did mention that he may not have decaf since they'd be closing in a few minutes, but I heard nothing more about it afterwards.

Since The Suburban's renovation in 2012, it's modern vibe distinguishes itself as one of the nicer diners in Dirty Jersey.

Bottom line. Carry on the Paramus tradition and visit this Diner. It will not disappoint!

Edit: the All-American burger with turkey bacon, crispy onions, American cheese and chipotle mayo was excellent. Also, the artichoke-spinach dip with tortilla chips...

I haven't been at Suburban Diner for several years. I went back the other day with my boyfriend, and the entire place was renovated. I'm not sure when this latest renovation occurred but my first observation was that it was very distracting and looked like it was having an identity crisis, My eye didn't know where to go because there was so much going on in there with the furniture, the lighting and just the entire decor. It honestly didn't even look like a diner. It was not retro. It was ultra modern with crazy furniture barriers in the middle of the diner, separating a few of the booths. We went there during brunch on the weekend so it was very busy. Unfortunately, the way they have re- designed the entire establishment made it feel closed in, and with the number of people in the diner, it made it even worse.

Now, let's get down to the food and the server. Our server was a gentleman who acted as though he didn't want to be there, had the personality of a dead frog and never checked up on us to see how the food was, while we ate our meal. Even when he put the check down at the end of the meal, he barely spoke until my boyfriend spoke to him.

I ordered a spinach omelet with swiss and turkey bacon on the side, and my boyfriend ordered a ruben omelet. The omelets were bland and flat, and by that, I mean they were not fluffy in any way, shape, or form, and the turkey bacon was a little undercooked. I have had a lot of omelets in my lifetime, and this was by far one of the least flavourful I have eaten. My boyfriend did not care for his eggs either and said that they were boring and unseasoned. They could have at least put a little bit of salt and pepper in them, something to give them flavor, even a dash would have helped.

Needless to say, we will not...

The food is great, but the desserts are the best part. Best lemon meringue pie I've ever had, it's meringue is taller than the rest of the lemon, and there's still a lot of lemon. It's an absolute monster of a lemon meringue pie and it was presented like royalty. It's meringue was toasted beautifully, it had a little dollop of whipped cream next to it drizzled with caramel and what I think was powdered sugar. But not only did it look good it tasted amazing. The lemon was sweet but not too sweet and tart but not too tart, the perfect mix of lemon and sweetness that a lemon meringue pie should have. The meringue didn't taste too sweet but it definitely was present, and of course with it being toasted so well it had that little bit of extra crunch to top the cherry on the cake with a cherry. The crust wasn't too extraordinary, but it did what it had to do. I would 100% recommend the lemon meringue pie to anybody that even remotely likes lemon. I also ordered 2 different burgers on separate occasions and they both were great! I ordered a bleu burger which was bacon, bleu cheese, tomato (I think), and of course a burger, I ordered it rare and it came amazingly cooked. Would recommend. I also ordered a BBQ burger, which was BBQ sauce, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Again, it was really good. I would recommend this place for anyone in Jersey, it's a great taste of how good Jersey diners are at their best. And the waitress I had a few weeks back was amazing, she seemed just happy to be there and was very fun to talk to. I believe her name was Michele, I could be wrong though. Either way she was amazing and...