Bonnie's — Restaurant in Town of Greene

Really enjoyed the several breakfast stops I had at this gem of an upstate NY diner during my latest trip back to the East Coast to see family.

My mom and her husband have a small group of friends that they gather for breakfast with as often as possible around 7 AM on Saturdays...Bonnie's in Greene is their go-to place for over a year now (especially with the chains on Upper Front becoming such consistent disappointments...I cannot stress enough, review readers, how much you will gain from ditching the chain and going to a real upstate NY diner. This is a NY staple!).

SERVICE: The staff are so welcoming, friendly and on top of their tables/orders.

ATMOSPHERE: The vibe is small town, diner casual...which means hearty, reasonable priced portions and lots of locals. It can be loud when busy, but we went early enough to avoid crowds. This is the kind of place where you'll start to feel like family the more you go, from servers remembering your go-to menu items/requests to engaging with anyone around you in some friendly conversation.

In short, come as you are and there is something on the menu almost anyone can afford!

FOOD: I did give this 4 out of 5 stars simply for some of the food. The avocado is not fresh and the homemade corned beef "hash" is a mushy pile of corned beef with no hash components. Honestly, these are such small complaints!

*Note: I have only tried their breakfast menu. No one in our party had the waffle or pancake options.

All of that said, the eggs and other sides were cooked exactly as everyone at the table ordered...including the great chewy or crispy bacon debate. The homemade english muffin and sausage patties received rave reviews, as well as some of the baked goods.

OVERALL: If you are looking for a top notch upstate NY diner experience, this is it! Stop reading all the reviews, there is no where else nearby that you...

Definitely a diner vibe. I personally prefer places a little more gourmet; the coffee, for example, is definitely diner coffee. But Bonnie's is not trying to be a Berkeley bistro, and it's doing fine for the diner it wants to be, so full five stars.

I thought the place was really nicely freshened up since I was last there a few years ago. It looked brighter and cleaner. Still homey, but more cheerful.

I had breakfast for lunch, build your own plate: two eggs over easy, one pancake, and the homemade maple sausage. All exactly as you would expect. I believe the sausage was more or less homemade: it tasted like real meat, and wasn't perfectly round, and was just a bit tougher than an industrially perfected sausage would be designed. With that promising start, I'd try the homemade English muffin if I happened to be...

I went to Bonnie's for lunch with two friends and we all enjoyed our food. They had just added to their menu and we ended up ordering a few of their additions (like the California club and poutine). I had the chicken spiedie sandwich and a side of poutine. While both were delicious, the poutine was particularly outstanding. They had both fresh and breaded/deep-fried cheese curds and let me say that the breaded cheese curds blow mozzarella sticks out of the water! (Also, maybe all mozzarella sticks should be served with gravy instead of marinara?) The restaurant was cute and the prices seemed very reasonable. It was a very nice place for a casual lunch. I would definitely go back if I were visiting...