The Original Mels Diner — Restaurant in Sacramento

Mel's Diner was pretty cute although they seemed to be strikingly understaffed the night I visited. Our server was the only one in front of house, doing double duty as both waiter and host. Despite this hefty task, he was still respectful, efficient and polite to my husband and myself.

I noticed three other couples, a party of four and a few single guests who all seemed to be enjoying themselves. This was around midnight, approximately. I was surprised by the amount of guests on a weeknight.

I ordered the sampler and Cobb salad, the sampler was delicious, not too greasy or burnt. I also ordered a Mocha Java shake.

The gentleman waiting on us forgot my shake but remembered it before I could even ask for it. I ordered way too much food and got to-go boxes.

The Cobb salad WAS BEAUTIFUL and full of vegetables. I took photos of it plated. The chef made the salad look like a glorious cornucopia of colorful veggies and delicious protein! Best of all the bleu cheese dressing was homemade (or so it tasted) and had ACTUAL chunks of bleu cheese! It was so tasty, I dipped my sampler bits in it instead of the Ranch dressing.

Having been full to the brim off of the generous sampler, I asked for my to-go box, literally turned the salad upside down and eureka! It was still lovely, colorful, and barely fit in the box! Much better than other Cobb salads I have tried.

My then fiancee, and I went to our hotel room and I refrigerated the salad overnight. The next day I enjoyed it very much before he and I went to the downtown courthouse to get married. The avocado was still acceptably fresh, and his leftover biscuits and gravy even reheated well in the small hotel microwave.

I have included photos, to show everyone that despite being the only two people working in the diner, the staff executed our orders promptly, efficiently, and created a great pre-wedding atmosphere. We left in good spirits, with our stomachs full of delicious food! The staff on the clock that night (Nov 30th) are definitely an asset to your team.

Plus, the women's bathroom wasn't gross or out of toilet paper like most diners when they are short staffed.

My one lingering question would be, the jukeboxes at each table... was ours broke or am I just so much of a luddite that I cannot push buttons correctly? 🤦‍♀️ I was really hoping to find some Mary Wells on the track listings too.

(The pictures reflect only the uneaten portion of the sampler that my partner...

My son was in the UC Davis ER overnight, and when they discharged him, we (including my daughter Kai) were super hungry and decided to go somewhere we hadn't been before. The decor is super cool, nostalgic- little mini jukeboxes at each booth! Cool pics on the wall! It wasn't busy (around 2:30, 3pm on a weekday). The booth where we were seated, had huge rips in the upholstery. The server (a young man) was extremely nice. I ordered the Fried Chicken Blue plate Special with mashed potatoes and gravy. The chicken was pretty and crispy- but one of the pieces was ice cold on the inside. The mashed potatoes had good flavor but also cold- except where the gravy laid. Gravy was spectacular! Our server got me another piece of chicken that was hot all the way thru and I took it home. So all in all not bad but not "great" either. I'm glad I went for the experience, but probably won't go back. YOU may have a different experience- so GO! You may very well like it!!!❤ Reasonably priced. 😉

UPDATE 6/13/22 - from 2 to 4 stars⭐

5 years later - under new management and a total "vintage diner" decor renovation makes for a totally awesome experience! My FAVORITE colors make me really happy when I come here!

On this day I had corned beef hash (made with REAL corned beef) it was REALLY GOOD 😊) and biscuits and gravy! That gravy was so good I almost asked for another bowl! 😂🤣😂🤣😂

My server on the other hand didn't seem to be having a good day 😭😭😭 I left her a good tip tho so hopefully that helped! ☺️

So eat at Mel's Diner! The food is amazing and the decor transports you back to a time when life was easier and people had fun! The only thing missing is "Flo"!! (Telling my age now lol) Extremely reasonable!

I'll not take another year before I visit again!...

I generally don't review chain restaurants that take over locations that were previously local favorites because of my personal bias to gentrification but that disclaimer as a warning I will spout my opinion of this restaurant at this location. I have been here a few times in last few years and at best it seems like a short order cook style of cooking is done in there kitchen were quantity trumps quality and non of my orders from here have been above serviceable. Now the front of house is a basic cookie cutter version of every other Mel's I have been to and nothing to write home about. They also have a overly bright parking lot and an armed security guard at night to ad to the atmosphere to further push the divide between the many homeless and recent transplanted hipsters that make up the bulk of there late night customer base. Now onto there customer service and my most recent experience with them. I have ordered a few times with them on door dash with no issues but I had an incorrect order last night and when I called them at there restaurant location the first person didn't seem to know there policies and automatically tried to give me a canned response on taking it up the door dash. I asked her to talk to a manager and I heard her asking the manager about the details and she refused to talk to me and gave her the same instructions to differ to door dash. So I'm short only if you're a drunk hipster finishing off a late night and can't tell the difference between you're own vomit and the food at this location of Mel's dinner I wouldn't recommend the food here or the way you be...