The Original Mels Diner — Restaurant in San Leandro

I went to The Original Mel's Diner recently solely based off the pictures I had seen online. I'm a sucker for diner atmospheres and the food looked really tasty! It was also Canada day (I'm Canadian) so I was looking for a place that would possibly be able to recreate one of our delicacies: poutine (fries, cheese and gravy)! Something that I'm sure other places could do, however, brown gravy (not the gravy you use for biscuits and gravy) was needed and I had seen in pictures that it was available at this location.

The atmosphere itself was exactly what I'd want from a diner. A large juke box as soon as you walk in along with the sound of classic tunes from times past playing throughout the diner. More over there was paraphernalia from various time eras in the past strewn about the walls that I had a blast looking over. At pretty well each table there was a mini functional jukebox that you could flip through to choose 2 different songs for just 1 dollar. Sadly, mine and my husband's juke box wouldn't allow us to flip through and view all the songs it had as this feature was broken, however, we still were able to pay the dollar and play 2 classic songs I love.

Along with the "broken" jukebox the booth we were in had a flickering light that really irritated my husband however, both these things were not enough to ask to be moved. If I could I'd rate the atmosphere 4.5/5 I would simply because of these things!

As for the service and food: we didn't have to wait long to be seated and our waitress was very kind. We ordered a cheesesteak sandwich along with my poutine and let her know we were going to split it. The food arrived relatively quickly and was HUGE for what you pay. Our waitress also provided us with double the plates so we could easily split the food without us having to ask for them which was sweet. We also ordered a peach lemonade that she requested and though she forgot it at first, she quickly realized she had and brought it over without as having to remind her.

Taste wise we enjoyed everything. It's very much a home-cooked type meal and some of the ingredients weren't overly fancy, but tasty none the less, which is why I'd rate the food 4.5/5. I really look forward to trying other items on their menu!

Overall it was a great place to celebrate Canada Day and I look forward to going...

The appearance of the restaurant is actually really nice but the workers there have no idea what’s going on around them when my boyfriend and I arrived we got sat. My boyfriend and I were having a very tense conversation time passed and I realized it was taking a bit long for our server to come to our table when I noticed 40 minutes had past and nobody had come to our table to ask us what we wanted to drink. I flagged a server down to ask them what was going on and he had no idea he went and asked all the other servers they had no idea no one knew who was in charge of our table so finally our server was very apologetic he said that he thought another server had our table we finally placed our order 30 minutes later we get our food and we were not very pleased with it I ordered a sandwich the bread was over toasted almost burnt and when we left we asked the manager and if we can get some sort of discount and they said no they would not accommodate us until finally another manager came and said he would give us the sodas for free. Never again will I put a foot...

I asked for soft french fries because they stay hotter longer and would still be hot by the time I got home to enjoy them. When I got my order the fries were brown instead of yellow, indicating the grease needed to be changed or the fries were cooked to crispy. My face frowned and asked why are the fries so dark?.. Then I opened the container and touched one and indeed they had been cooked to crispy. Nevertheless, the cashier asked me if I wanted a new set of fries, and I told her "Yes...please." ... I received a new batch of fries, and they were the right color, yellow and soft. Furthermore... their french fries has a different taste to them than any other restaurant I've been to e.g., the grease is peanut oil or some other type of frying oil, meaning I don't particularly care for the type of oil it is cooked in. My Turkey Burger was good though, and this is what I usually order when I go there. I ordered a Hamburger on one occasion and I didn't like it all!.. I will stick to ordering only the Turkey Burger. . . The cashier/waiters are very nice and...