The Village Diner & Pancake Factory — Restaurant in Town of Pleasant Valley

I had been driving a bus to Massachusetts from South Jersey and needed to stop somewhere for breakfast. I had checked the reviews of a few places before leaving including here but had wanted to stop sooner than the time I figured on being here. As I passed several of the other spots that I was at least willing to check out I saw that the only that had adequate parking for the bus were those that had bad reviews and so I kept going. Upon arriving here I did not realize it but drove past it and had to turn around to find that although their lot was not one where I felt good about parking the bus there was a lot across the street that since this was a Saturday morning it did not seem as though there was a problem with me parking there. If there was I do apologize for taking liberties not given to me but assure you you it will not happen again. As I said I was coming from South Jersey so the chance of my coming through here again is quite slim. Upon walking in I was seated immediately but as usual since I was alone I was given one of those tiny tables that you have to pull a few inches away from the wall to be remotely comfortable. I'm sure I could have asked for somewhere else but why bother. I was asked by the hostess if I wanted coffee to which I said yes and as I was overlooking the menu my coffee was brought out even before the regular waitress came to take my order. Since I of course had never been there before I wanted to look over the menu and then when she did come I asked a couple questions about some of the offerings and was able to decide quickly what I wanted. As I waited for my meal I was able to listen to some locals talk about race cars and bicycles which made the place seem more like the kind of place I would enjoy if I lived or even frequented the area. The breakfast I had ordered was a dish that had 2 eggs, 2 sausage, 2 bacon and 2 pancakes as well as home fries which is something I always will use to show me how good a diner is. The food was okay and seemed to be fresh but nothing to write home about and the service was also just okay with no problems. The only downside to others might be that the place is looking like it is getting a little run down but that could have just been my perception of it after driving almost 4 hours. As I said if I lived in the area I would probably return but should I ever come through the area again I might want to try another spot. They are however worth a first chance and then you can decide...

My broccoli and cheese omelette had two pieces of ham in it, which I didn't find until I had eaten half of it. Being a vegetarian, this was very upsetting. When I brought it to the waitress's attention, she said they couldn't do anything about it because I had eaten most of it. d. One of my companions ordered plain pancakes, and one of the pancakes had a blueberry stuck in it, and the other had something green in it, not sure what that was. The owner was argumentative and rude.We waited and had to ask three separate times to have our coffee refilled, while staff members could be seen hanging out behind the outdoor tent, not doing anything. I will not be back!

EDIT: In response to your response, nobody wanted their check comped, but an apology for giving me food that could have made me sick would have been nice. As far as "proof", I wasn't aware we were going to court; however I did show you a picture on my phone of the ham, and you are correct about it being mostly eaten. Unfortunately for me, I didn't find the ham until I had eaten half of it. My elderly mother's pancakes, however, were not eaten; but your waitress had taken the plate before you came back. Also, if you weren't so busy arguing instead of listening to a customer, you would have heard me correctly. What I said was, "Do you realize that if you had served this to a Muslim, you could have made the person very sick, because many don't eat pork products at all." I was trying to explain to you how dangerous it is to cook dirty, that cross-contamination could make someone very sick. Unfortunately, you made it clear that you were not concerned. My family frequented this restaurant quite frequently when it was under the previous owners. It was a cute family restaurant, with friendly staff and good food. What a shame to see it go so far downhill.

EDIT: Samantha, I get that you thought that the "very small piece of ham" wasn't worth the attention, but being a lifelong vegetarian, to me it was a big deal. You are right, an apology would have gone a long way! Making excuses, blaming "these trying times" for subpar food , and accusing customers of "trying to get their food comped" is not ok. But don't worry, I won't be...

Honestly im so over the whole experience. Go here as you wish. The previous comments were not lying about the personality and behaviors of certain staff. I wouldn’t say out right racist but definitely gives “you can’t sit with us if you aren’t a regular” energy.

Pros plenty of parking good variety of pancakes (ordered the turtle pancakes) pretty good tasting food (garden omelet was also good) Average pricing The young girl Server was very knowledgeable and even gave our visitors recommendations

Cons co-server was lackluster almost dismissive they started to put up chairs while we were still eating (arrived at 4:44p when their sign said they close at 6pm) Ordered “chicken N” and the buffalo tenders were put right on my pancakes making them soggy (personal preference) Every request was made to seem outlandish (asked for extra butter and warm syrup) both requests yielded disgruntled faces and a no 18% gratuity was added to our bill (yes receipt states party of 5 is 18% added but 2 of the guest were kids under 5 so it seemed a bit ridiculous but not earth-shattering)

Takeaway Would I return? No. Should you try it? Sure. Asked to speak to a manager because it made me uncomfortable that the servers were putting up chairs while we were eating at 5:25-5:33p. When I asked the server “Sam” he said “technically me and her (our server) is senior managers here so like both of us is in charge.

I told him I felt it was very rude for the busboy to be putting up the chairs while we were still actively eating and packing up our food. To which he gave a very rehearsed “I do apologize but we have to leave the building at 6, it’s a hard 6, so like we have to leave on time.”

When I asked why didn’t they put the chairs in the most back room up first, to allow us to finish our food and pack up our leftovers he just stared at me.

So, again the food was pretty good but the service itself would make me never...