The Harvest Diner — Restaurant in Town of North Hempstead

We were just leaving a graduation ceremony and wanted to grab a quick and small bite to eat before dinner later that night. We were greeted by warm, friendly staff who accommodated our larger group (7 of us) and moving tables and chairs around so we all could sit comfortably. Everything we ordered also came out promptly and accurately. Nothing had to be taken back to be reheated or corrected.

We only got some appetizers and small entrées, but they were very delicious and cooked to perfection. I ordered a pizza burger with French fries, medium rare cook on the "burg". The burger was cooked perfectly, the mozzarella cheese was nice, the fries were fried a nice golden brown, and the cocktail sauce for the fries was great. I also asked for Mushrooms on the burger since it's not part of the order, and they came through.

The marinara sauce was odd. It was runny, darker red (almost the color of BBQ sauce) and didn't look right at all, but the flavor was there and then some. I was very impressed with how good the flavor was on the marinara considering the texture was weird, to say the least. Having said that, in the end, flavor is what counts and not presentation or texture.

Overall, I give Harvest Diner a 5/5 stars, which I don't do often. For a quick pit stop, the food was great and the wait staff treated us as if we were spending hundreds of dollars vs $50-$60. When we come back to Long Island to visit family again, I will definitely look forward to my return visit to try some Red Velvet Cake that we missed out on due to time...

Here's my experience / you be the judge. I was waited on by a very young and inexperienced waiter. I had a bad feeling about him when he arrived with my sandwich without any pickles or cole slaw - being a long-time diner eater, I knew that should come with any sandwich without me having to request it. Next, the cole slaw came spoiled, no problem, he took it back. He never once returned to tell me anything about the cole slaw or offer me anything else (i.e. potato salad, extra pickles, etc.). Not that the cole slaw is such a big deal, but it's the principle; so I walked over and approached the also very young manager (owner's family?) to explain the situation - he listened very courteously (and told me "they are fixing the cole slaw" - I didn't know cole slaw could break), but also did not offer me anything, and I noticed that when he walked away, he was shaking his head in disbelief (that I was making a stink about it). I told him that his staff is unprofessional, joking around, not checking on customers, etc. but he seems the same way (young & non-caring) since he seems to spend a lot of his time fraternizing with his staff around the cash register area. Not good. My meal ended and I was never offered anything else, just a thank you and...

Though I like booths, their decor needs updating. The check pattern is similar to that of an old bbq joint.

There were three of us dining and the two soups and one salad should have been served at the same time. Instead, one of our party had nothing while the other two waited and one soup chilled before the other came out.

Patrons should not be served pre-formed frozen buger patties. How difficult is it to form fresh ground meat into a burger and slap it on the grill? One of us got beef and another got a turkey burger. The only difference was the amount of time they were tanning under the sun lamps.

The sweet potato fries were greasy, but I did...