Elizaville Diner & Deli — Restaurant in Town of Livingston

I'd like to start this review off by saying that we love coming to the elizaville deli (and frequent very much) and were very excited that the diner had re-opened.

When we first arrived at the elizaville diner, around noon, it was great to see that the diner was bustling with people enjoying their meals. We waited about 10 minutes as the hostess at the door said she needed some time to clear a table for us. Not a big deal.

We get sat, and of course we already knew what we wanted to order, as this was our second time dining at the diner since its re-opening. Ordered the "rise and shine," the new "creme brulee french toast," a soda, and orange juice. There was a considerable delay in receiving our food and drinks, about 50 minutes after ordering. Another table beside us had been seated after us and within minutes had their order and check before we asked our server to check on our food. Our server had explained that there was a mistake on entering our order. Our issue was that there was no awareness on our server that multiple tables were being sat, food eaten, and checking out when your guests who have been seated for more than a natural time has nothing on the table or been checked on in any matter.

We appreciated the honesty and kindness our server had and she was very apologetic, but you'd like to think that when you go to a restaurant/diner that you are being taken care of with the best hospitality. The delay and lack of attention were disappointing, and we were very upset about this. Fortunately, it was made up by the good food. As for the food, the order was a little wrong (not the biggest deal, people are human and mistakes happen, we enjoyed it never the less), but again, this still contributed to the overall experience. When you're dining somewhere, regardless of the time or crowd size, it's important to have that awareness, attentiveness, and communication.

When we left, it was about 1:30pm and the initial crowd during the lunch rush had all gone. The entire diner had cleared out and we were basically the last to leave, yet the service and attention to our table did not match the changing dynamics of the restaurant.

I’m hoping through our feedback that management can contribute to the improvement of their...

If this posted more than once, my apologies. I didn’t see it post, so I rewrote it and posted again.

I placed an order over the phone for a wrap, a sub, 2 sandwiches and 2 hot subs. I was told the order would be ready in 15-20 minutes. I arrived 30 minutes later. It wasn’t ready. I said are you kidding, I was told 15-20 minutes. She said that they were working on the last two items. I asked how long it would be. She went to ask and told me 10 minutes for those items. I said I was told 15-20 minutes, I have people arriving at my house in 10 minutes, and I went to wait.

A few minutes later a man approached me and introduced himself as the manager. He stated that I ordered 7 items and that 3 items take 15 minutes and that since I ordered more I should expect them to take longer. He also said that I was nasty to the staff, that he saw it on the video camera. He said that the staff is well paid, and that I should be ashamed as a woman that I spoke to another woman that way, especially in front of his young daughter. He went on to reiterate that more items take longer and told me more than once while pointing to the parking lot that if I didn’t like it, I could leave. I tried to explain my point of view, but he walked away, clearly not interested.

Was I upset that my order wasn’t ready, even after arriving 10 minutes later than quoted, yes, but I was not nasty. If their standard is 15 minutes for 3 items, it would make sense for the employee to give me a longer wait time when I placed the order for 6 items.

I was shocked at the way he spoke to me. In all honesty, when he approached me I thought he was going to apologize for the wait, because at this point it was 40 minutes.

I will say that the owner did a nice job reinventing the space. I did leave empty handed though, as I will not patronize a business with a manager who would speak to a customer in that tone and fail to listen to their point of view. I do find it interesting that he didn’t have any difficulty speaking to a woman...

Looks like changing their name deleted my review. This is city people trying to make it in the country and raising prices double. Now they’re calling themselves a film location? So city people trying to have a quiet, comfortable, rural place be bothered by large film industry. Absolutely WOULD NEVER support them. I hope the sand and gravel lot next door is loud every time they try to bring some city nonsense here.

Calling me ignorant when you raised your prices, and changed your name so reviews would go away, AND ARE CITY PEOPLE. Idc that one of you went to HS up near here because your mindset is city because that’s where you’ve all been for most of your lives. You LITERALLY state you want to bring NYC business up here. Did you even read the article from the Daily Catch that you all are quoted in???? You got Stern and Redfern who founded a BROOKLYN film company, BRINGING AND ADVERTISING (NO DOUBT) IN THE CITY TO BRING MORE CITY PEOPLE UP. You got Hoefinger who actually spent time in this area growing up (and does really important work, so I’ll give her that), but works and pretty sure lived mostly in NYC and other countries after school…so hasn’t been a local or country specific mindset since maybe 2-3 decades ago. You now don’t have anything in stock for some reason and your staff says you couldn’t cut it cause of your changes. I’m a local, and I know of plenty of other locals that hate what you’re doing. You’re literally city people trying to change a small town deli and diner into a retro Brooklynite paradise. You even stated you’re trying to make it a destination area for visitors. HOW AM I IGNORANT???? And what’s with the film location? We are trying to keep our country atmosphere country. PLEASE SELL THIS TO SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO KEEP THE SMALL TOWN FEEL. Also, I hope your visible neighbors protest the town. I’m up the road by about .1mi and I will absolutely drive 10mi into town just so I don’t have to support your GENTRIFICATION. Good lord - absolutely NO RESPECT...