The Randolph Diner Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Randolph Township

To everyone that complains about the prices at the Randolph Diner, lets get one thing straight. The prices are on the menu and clearly stated, its your own decision on what you order and don't order. By ordering a high priced item, you justify to them the price and they increase it.

FACT : On holidays they pull a scam on their customers. They switch our the menu for identical ones which have much higher prices. The next day the prices go back to normal.

Some people think the food at the Randolph Diner is great? Which is a matter of opinion and depending upon who you are, you have different qualifications of taste or have been subjected to nothing more than fast food and think the Randolph Diner is 5 star dining. Never once in 20 years, have we seen anything that is fresh. We've ate their roast beef in meal and sandwich form and have gotten sick both times. No one there in the kitchen are professional chefs, they are non english speaking people that cant even read the ticket that is in front of them.

FACT : The Randolph Diner could not care less about you as a customer, just as long as you folk over the money and keep coming back to line their pockets. You will never ever receive a refund or discount, you will always hear them to replace it with some low end food that has 500% mark up. They can replace your dish 4 to 5 times before breaking even with the mark they have on everything, so that's why you get no refunds or discounts!

The service there is horrible, the staff is untrained and you'll see new people there every week. They receive no training, there are no training manuals, and the Randolph Diner expects the new person to hit the table in a matter of days. So be prepared to have lousy service, orders going back every time. They will give you an excuse that they are short of help.

FACT : The reason why they Randolph Diner is short of help is that many times they wrongfully terminate employees if they don't give into what the Randolph Diner wants them to do. If a waiter is scheduled a shift schedule, and they need people, they will just keep seating people in the waiter's location even though they clearly know its the end of what they planned them to stay that day. By law the employee has to legally agree to stay the extra hours, the Randolph Diner cannot in any way force an employee to work past their scheduled shift only if the employee agrees. The management of the Randolph Diner, has terminated employees because they will not work past their legally scheduled time, this is illegal terminanation and black mail being used against the employee and a clear violation of the employees rights, it can result fines and law suites by the employee and the department of labor. They have done this so many times to so many people the Randolph Diner thinks they can treat people like garbage.

Don't waste your time at the bar, they will pretend to be going along with anything you have to say for the only reason is that they only thing they are interested in is how much money they leave them. There were many times were we were sitting at the bar and saw insects in and out of the fruit themselves in which the bartenders were told, and they did not pay any attention, we have seen non washed hands sticking their hands again inside the fruit without washing their hands, when they just grabbed dishes from the kitchen, had gotten regular drinks for tables and perhaps 10 other things without washing their hands.

FACT : Bartenders themselves as early as 2 days ago have told us stories about customers finding flies inside the actual drinks they had just ordered.

WHATS OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE RANDOLPH DINER : We have stopped going to this place because they truly do not care about customers or take care of problems that they initiate on a daily basis. Every day there's is always a different problem and always and an excuse from them to go with it. They have their heads shoved you know where because they are always in a state of denial and will find a way to always blame the customer for the things...

I’ve been a frequent patron of the Randolph Diner for years. In fact, one of the main reasons I continue coming back is because of Cheikh. He is hands-down one of the best servers I’ve ever had anywhere. He knows his customers, remembers details, and consistently delivers warm, attentive, thoughtful service. If we’re dining here, most of the time the host knows we want him.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the management, specifically the manager often at the front, Sam. He is the sole reason for the 1 star review.

The first impression when walking in is rarely warm or welcoming. Over time I’ve simply learned to overlook that, but last night pushed the issue beyond “tolerable.”

For the last few months, the whole wheat pancakes have had a noticeably sour aftertaste. This isn’t a one-time occurrence, it has been consistent. Cheikh has acknowledged this before and has actually brought it to Sam’s attention previously. Still, nothing has changed.

Last night a friend ordered his usual whole wheat pancakes (with sugar-free syrup and tea). Same sour taste. We even had our other friend taste them to confirm. Cheikh tried them as well and he agreed something was wrong. He did exactly what a responsible server should do: he brought it to the manager.

A second order was made. Same problem.

Instead of listening, acknowledging the issue, or showing any willingness to take feedback seriously, Manager Sam approached us defensively. The response was dismissive: “I don’t know what to tell you.” No ownership, no curiosity, no attempt to understand the concern. Just deflecting and repeating that the kitchen made them correctly because he “watched them.”

We finally requested regular pancakes and they were fine. Which only further confirms there is an issue with the whole wheat batter or how it’s being prepared /stored / handled.

When I asked if the meal could be comped (given that we waited almost 30 mins for two orders that were inedible) the answer was a flat no.

This was a simple situation that could have been handled with professionalism, care, or even just basic customer service. Instead, it was handled with defensiveness and indifference.

Management matters and when management refuses to listen, acknowledge obvious concerns, or treat returning customers with respect, it damages the entire dining experience including the hard work of employees like Cheikh, who are the reason many of us keep coming back.

The diner has gone through plenty of renovations and improvements over the years.

It may be time for one more change:...

I wanted to like this place. I hadn't been here in a very long time. Inside, the ambiance is decent, in fact it looks pretty upscale. The problem isn't the ambience, however, rather it's the food and the service.

We ordered calamari for starters. When it came, one person in our party said that it looked like the meat was an off gray color. When I bit into it, it was extremely crusty, almost overcooked. You never want calamari overcooked. The taste was even worse than the texture, it was fishy, which I've never really tasted in calamari unless it was a little bit past its prime, as in not fresh. The calamari was just not good, let me put it that way. But that was just the beginning.

Everyone in our party had something different, someone had the Italian sub, I had the corned beef sandwich. When it did arrive, the meat was beyond parched. It was practically beef jerky. And not even good beef jerky, off tasting beef, unpalatable jerky. And this is corned beef, which is supposed to be juicy. There was also no sauce to it to kind of counteract the dry taste. It was just not palatable. For the first time in my life I could not finish a corned beef sandwich.

My partner had the Italian sub sandwich. For starters, there was no dressing; typically you see oil and vinegar. This sub was completely dry. The chunks of deli meat were cut extremely thick, almost double or triple the normal thickness. Biting into this monster was a Herculean task, given the fact that it was already dry to begin with, and quite unpalatable.

The disco fries were nothing to write home about. The gravy was mediocre, almost like canned gravy.

Everyone in our party had the same exact impression: the food was just not good, and no one finished more than half of it. It was just not tasty, nor fresh. It had no dressing or sauce to it to try to counterbalance that (not that you would need it if the food were fresh and tasty.)

On top of it all, they charge extra for each refill of lemonade. I've never seen this anywhere else. I opted to go with the plain water.

I normally don't want to attack any servers, because I know their jobs are difficult to begin with. But our server just did not care about the service or the timeliness. Yes, it's a diner, and you don't expect fantastic service to begin with, but she would pass us about three or four times and never once look at us and ask if everything is okay. Service was just mediocre at best.

I've had some bad diner experiences, but I cannot recall one as bad as this. I will not be returning here unless there are...