Oak Diner — Restaurant in Royal Oak

On recommendation from my son’s teacher, I brought my son here on a lunch break at school (of which we only had an hour so I thought that we would have plenty of time to eat and get back) definitely won’t be back. This was our first visit and last visit. We were not friends of the waitress (she wouldn’t let us sit at a clean table so we had to sit at a dirty table that wasn’t cleaned yet because the only clean open table was “reserved for a party” aka group of young belligerent, expletive spewing kids hanging out blasting music in the parking lot.” so therefore by the time our table was cleaned, we weren’t given menus to even look at until 10-15 minutes later because she was literally so busy talking/serving people who had walked in after us food (I’m assuming she knew what they wanted). After given menus it took another 10-15 minutes to order. At this point I knew my son was going to be late back to school but he was starving so we stuck through it. I had asked the waitress for a coffee which was never brought, she was too busy. The sprite that she had brought me was never refilled until we needed to leave and cut our lunch short because my son was already late back to school. The only positive part of this review that I can give is that the food was phenomenal, and I would have come back again and again for the food because it was that good (I had a Reuben sandwich and fried mushrooms and fries, my son had a quesadilla) but the service was just so awful, slow, and it seems like you don’t even get service unless you know one of the waitresses (which In my opinion there should have been more than 2 waitresses because that place had a line out of the door with how busy it was and the phone ringing off of the hook with take out calls that more than 2 girls running the whole diner are necessary, although I’m sure more staff will never happen which is another reason I won’t be back) and I had waitressed for 10 years, I understand. Just awful service, end of story. We won’t be back. It’s a shame because the food (that we unfortunately didn’t have a lot of time to eat and enjoy)...

I have eaten here at least 3-4 times and it has been good. Chicken and waffles, pancakes, eggs, but this time I wanted to play it safe. I have to admit, I went with the intention of ordering a rather basic meal on purpose. Sometimes I don’t want to flash of cliche breakfast specials like, a “breakfast quesadilla”. Sometimes I just want a plain breakfast. What may seem like a simple request, it’s important to remember that eggs be it scrambled or runny can go from good to bad in a moments notice. I know this because I make fantastics eggs at home in all styles. Everything from the French scrambled egg to an over medium, soft boiled and so on. I ordered the Country Breakfast. This is right at the top of the menu. Almost calling out that it is the point of admission to the Oak Diner. The gate in which you must pass in order to dig into all house specialties. Biscuits and gravy were as expected. Nothing really to point out or noteworthy. The rest of the meal is where I find issues. The ham is seared on a flat top or pan. Looks good, nice color. I take a bite, and overwhelming amounts of salt. All I think is salt lick. I move on to the scrambled eggs, overcooked. Terrible flavor, with the almost a stink of overcooked egg. Covered it in hot sauce and still couldn’t eat them. These scrambled eggs were left way too long in the pan. Hashbrowns, underseasoned, flavorless, boring. They came out cooked but between the salt on the ham we could have used some on these hashbrowns. I’m at a loss here, it wasn’t busy. It was a Thursday at 9:30-10 am. This one left me disappointed. Not sure if it was an off day or a different cook but this was not good. Sad, because I really did like my previous visits and meals. That’s why I’m leaving this review with 2 stars otherwise it would...

This place sucks now. It got sold and they raised prices 50% on some items. Greedy greedy owners.

This place keeps getting worse… 2 stars now. They had lunch specials a couple years ago for $9-10. Those are now $15. The biggest crime is the combo price went from $3 to $7! So if you get a pop and little cup a soup add $7.

Look I know prices went up everywhere but this all happened after new owners came in. Feels like they are just trying to squeeze as much money from you as possible now. A Turkey Reuben, pop, fries and the same for my wife is $38!!! Really?!?! The sandwich’s are not even that big. Just normal sized.

I’m sure the owners will say it’s food prices going up everywhere but come on. $7 for a pop and little cup of soup is insane for a diner.

It’s just greedy for your local diner. We won’t be returning and we used to go about 20-30 times a year. Makes me really sad… miss the old staff too. The new people just seem like it’s a job. The young staff under the prior ownership would remember you and just seemed to love you being there.

Edit: They replied saying they need to make a profit and costs are higher. You bought a business 18 months ago and costs went up 50%?!? That is how much my costs went up eating there. So either you can’t manage your business costs or you are squeezing us.

The burger special for lunch is the thinnest patty possible (see pic). That cost me $10 (in 2022… now...