California Diner — Restaurant in Town of Brookhaven

Ate here tonight with the bf, his cousin and cousin's gf. We all decided on complete dinners, angel hair pasta with broccoli, Romanian steak, Yankee pot roast and veal with stuffing. The soups were meh, they all tasted a little funny. The salads were a joke - dried out iceberg, one piece of tomato, one slice of cucumber. The Greek salads had some feta and a few olives added.

As for the entrees... The angel hair and broccoli had a weird after taste, don't know if that's better or worse than the steak that had no taste. The pot roast was drowned in gravy, but likely the best of the meals, although the potato pancake it came with had more of the consistency of a corn fritter. But the veal, oy! Problem 1, no stuffing. We called the waiter over, and he explained that they no longer do stuffing with it, but the menu hasn't been changed. Ok, whatever. Then he tried it... Awful! The waiter offered to change it, but we were afraid of a "kitchen special."

After choking down what we could of the meals it was time for dessert. Bf and cousin's gf got the chocolate pudding. There was some sort of flakes in it, and tasted like an old refrigerator. Cousin and I upgraded for a Napoleon and Boston Creme cake. The Philo dough was soggy instead of flaky, and the whole thing pretty much tasted like stale refrigerator. The Boston Creme cake was a slab of cement, and the "whipped cream" on top was dried out.

We tried explaining this to the manager/owner guy at the register... "Oh, the veal? Yeah we get a lot of complaints about it being fatty." Hello? Isn't the point of veal it's lean tenderness? And if you get a lot of complaints why not do something about it. We told him that basically everything had issues so he politely told us that next time we come in he'll get us a better waiter. Um, the waiter was fine. "He rang in your order, he brought the food, so it's his fault!" Um, no. It's your crappy diner with crappy food. Left the waiter a 20% tip to prove it. We won't be back, and hopefully he finds a job with better management and better food.

With the food burbling in our tummies no one felt safe leaving without a visit to the facilities. I can't speak for the men's room, but the ladies room stank of sewage and the sanitary napkin dispenser fell off the wall onto cousin's gf.

Home now and stomach's still talking. Off to the...

The California Diner is consistently above-average. Like many diners the menu is extensive, and in my experience there really is not a weak spot to recommend avoiding.

For me, the California Diner is an excellent omelette, or damn near perfect cheeseburger, and yes I would like the deluxe with the french fries!

I would be remiss in not mentioning that the Greek cuisine on the menu is very good, not a surprise at a very good diner owned by a Greek family.

It's in a great spot for people heading out east, located approximately halfway from the city line to Montauk Point.

It's also good if you're coming from the East, however you need to exit at Nichols Road, and take the exit for Blue Point, then immediately take the exit 427 East, stay on the exit Road, and it will be a quarter of a mile on your right. please be careful when you exit that parking lot, as the people on the service road are doing nearly highway speed... There have been many unnecessary accidents because people pull out of there like they are pulling onto a side street. Please use caution when exiting.

If you need to continue West after having eaten at the California Diner, simply continue to Waverly Avenue State, make a left at the light, and I left again to get onto the Sunrise Highway North...

Let me start off by saying any great business starts with a great leader, at California dinner that great leader is Paul the owner, my wife and myself and some family members were in patchogue for a funeral, I had remembered being in the dinner previously and had a good experience and good food, So I chose to recommend California dinner after the first service , as we walked in we were greeted by Paul who was very friendly and polite, as the bus boy came with water he was also friendly, as was the waitress and each person who I witnessed working that day, my seat was such as I was able to see Paul greeting each guest as they walked in, being an italian guy who grew up loving to talk, I commented to Paul and said I noticed how friendly everyone had been and he had said that all of his staff had been there for many years, the place is very clean, the food was plentiful and the service outstanding, Paul treated me to a piece of cheesecake that was incredible and I've eaten the best. I would drive out of my way to go back because going out to me is about enjoying yourself as you would with family, it doesn't get any better than this. Stop by and enjoy, tell Paul Frank from NJ sent you. He will get a...