Casper's Diner — Restaurant in Springfield

This is a mixed review. I have been craving a good, old fashioned chili burger and frito pie. We heard Casper's was an "awesome chili house," so we wanted to give it a try. The place is small, but comfortable. The staff are welcoming. Probably 90% of the items on the menu have chili on them. However, when we got there at 2 in the afternoon, they were completely out of chili. My husband said he was starving, so we ordered even though they were out of the one thing we were there for. We each ordered a cheeseburger to go. The waitress asked if the burgers should come with "everything." I said yes for mine, but the hubbie wanted mustard only - no veggies. When the bag of food showed up, I handed the cashier my card. He told me I would be charged an extra dollar for using my card unless I had cash in my pocket. This is bad business - in fact I think it is against the credit card company rules. It certainly is not prominently noted on the menu. I felt like my food was being held hostage... a bate and switch of sorts. Still I agreed to pay the extra dollar because I had not brought enough cash. We left with our lunch. When we opened the bag, it was not as ordered. Both burgers had mustard and onion only. Mine was not "with everthing" and his was not "no veggies." We ate it. The food was actually pretty good. Still, I am not likely to go back because it was not as ordered, it cost extra to use my card, and they were out of chili at a...

If you haven't been to Casper's or heard of casper's, I don't think you've lived in Springfield very long. Casper's chili is a famous local staple. I guess I'm not here to talk about Casper's chili, I'm not a big fan of chili at all but Casper's has other things on the menu that I absolutely love. How good could a grilled ham and cheese sandwich or cheeseburger possibly be right? I know I've had a lot of bad ones but I can't really put my finger on what makes Casper's sandwiches so good. I'm going to take a stab at it: 1.) The environment is amazing. Inside Casper's you'll find lots of antique posters, nostalgic figurines, and other eclectic American kitsch filling the orange painted walls of this (ex-military?) Quonset hut. The light from the windows spills through stained glass and colored bead curtains to fill the space with a beautiful ambiance. I don't know if you'll notice what I've just described first or the mouth of watering smells coming from the kitchen. 2,) This place has been open for a hundred years in various locations around Springfield and I believe that 100 years of cooking the same menu leads to a sort of tribal knowledge/ability, a culinary culture that is passed down from each generation of employee to the next. That is why I believe Caspers is able to make such a damn good cheeseburger. Dear Casper's, may you always prosper and never close. I think I would...

I feel bad rating this place so low but that's the experience we had. When arriving we had to sit at the bar that had not been cleared of customers plates and drinks.(No big deal... they were busy) We then waited for 15 minutes to even be asked what we would like to drink. The cook was dancing around the kitchen so we didnt mind. It was fun watching him. Took about 10 minutes to get us our drinks. Then we placed our order....... another 20 minutes. They lost one of our parties tickets so they didnt get their food until we were done. Mind you, this is all happening within a very small space. I would estimate 20ft X 50ft dining room Had we been the only ones with this issue I would chalk it up to a one time issue. However that was not the case. EVERYONE was having the same problem. They seemed to be short on help and that could be the problem. Not sure. Even if the service had been better we wouldn't come back. The food wasn't good at all. We had the SR. Cilli dog, chicken sandwich, cheese burger, chilli cheese burger and fries. They all lacked flavor. None of us liked our food. I know this place is iconic in Springfield but they need to up their game in my eyes. That being said.... they were packed....