Peppercorn Diner — Restaurant in Summit

It’s a Jersey diner, which js automatically cool. There’s a smallish counter, which seems just the right size for the place. There’s normal diner booths too. I’m old enough (58) that I almost expect there to be a jukebox at every booth. I used to love “flipping” through the pages of choices. Sigh. :/

I went for lunch and loved it. Besides the good menu, the specials are always interesting. I had a simple turkey wrap, but it was so flavorful! I returned a week later and had a sandwich with chicken. Holy cow was it delicious. I don’t know what spices they use (other than peppercorn, I guess), but they use them expertly.

A funny story. I saw two bananas on the shelf behind the counter and decided to ask for one. Instead of just handing it over, she spent quite a while “preparing it” as I impatiently watched. She skinned it, cut it into slices, then put it in a sundæ glass, put a dish under it and served it with a spoon. My first thought was that this was a way to upcharge me $7 for a $1 banana. To my happy surprise, they only charged me $1.50! (See picture of banana, sundæ glass presentation and bill attached)

Service was slower than you would get at most Jersey diner counters, but not terrible. They weren’t “chatty” (another Jersey diner expectation is an older waitress who likes to talk) but they weren’t rude either. The wait was incredibly worth it for the flavorful food.

I really like the place and plan to return whenever I’m in Summit. Which is saying a lot, since Summit has a ton of nice...

This place is small, the largest booth would fit 4 normal size adults at best. If you have a party of more than 4, look elsewhere as you most likely won't be able to sit together or even next to each other.

We went here during peak brunch hours but were able to get a booth for two. It was obvious that the staff was stretched to the max, as there were many tables that didn't have any food yet, and apparently had been waiting for a while. We did notice that the gentleman who was working as the 'host' ended up helping in the kitchen on the grill, and was probably why were able to get our brunch in a reasonable amount of time.

The food was good as you would hope for at a diner. The staff seemed a bit short handed. The tables are small, and they didn't have all items on the tables (at least the two tops that we sat at) like butter, milk/creamer for coffee, just ketchup and salt / pepper. While we had to flag someone down for anything we needed we never got the butter for the pancakes we ordered, as it just seemed like the staff was super busy at peak brunch hour.

Wouldn't mind stopping back in again, but probably not at peak...

When I ordered from them I expected that it would be an easy in and out process, yet when I arrived they bumped up the time it would to take to prepare my order on the app. While that is reasonable because it was busy, when I went in they told me that they where out of meatballs and refunded me for the item, that is no big deal. But when they finally gave us our order they didn’t even have the sense to give us utensils or napkins. Thus we asked for them to give us them and they did but after they went and got the order of someone on the other side of the diner, and the whole time we where having this interaction the person who was “helping us” was giving us a plain nasty glare. Once we finally opened the containers, to my chagrin, the french toast was burnt beyond my threshold of...