Michael's Diner — Restaurant in Town of Ulster

I'm not sure why it's happening, but the food is just not what it used to be. Tonight we had instant potatoes. I've never had instant potatoes there before. They were poorly made, no flavor and somewhat runny. We were very disappointed. I can honestly say the best part of my food was the salad. The host told us to sit anywhere. We sat in the first booth on the left of the first aisle. We then waited over 8 minutes for a menu. We had to ask for them. He walked by us four or five times and would nod at us but gave no service. As I watched him grab menus and seat people and we still had nothing I was getting more and more annoyed. The man who brings the silverware and water to the table finally came over, looked at the empty table and went back where the water is and never came back. My wife ordered a mini meal. I asked her not to, but that's what she wanted. I've never ordered a mini meal. Yet I've gotten quite a few. Anytime my wife orders one I get one too. On every bill my wife's meal says mini, mine does not and yet I get it every time. I guess not the smartest people working in the kitchen. Between being ignored, having to ask for menus, silverware, and water and them getting my order wrong, it was not a pleasant visit. The food is not as good as it once was, usually the service is good, not today though. I asked the guy if there was a specials sheet for in the menu. He said if it isn't in there we don't have any. Just the two on the board. I asked the waitress who shook her head and said "John didn't make any." WOW!! I have noticed that John is usually in his office when he's there. Or he's eating in one of the booths with family or friends. We love John, but I don't think he's on top of running the diner. I'd hate to see it fail, but I foresee that happening if he doesnt get on top of his game. We're going to back off for a while and sincerely hope changes are made...

I found Michael's diner to be very clean. I had a waitress and her name is Stacy. While we were having our breakfast. Not only did she serve the woman who came in after us 1st because she was a regular. But she was sitting down and having her own breakfast while we were eating. Not one time within that moment that she got done eating did I see her actually wash her hands or anything like that she continued serving customers befopen customers before washing her hands. She not only touched her face with a napkin with her hands near her face but then still did not wash her hands. There was another waitress by the name of Mary and I find Mary to be one of the most hard working waitresses in the entire restaurant this morning. She was very attentive she moved her behind quite a bit throughout the entire time I've been sitting here watching the staff working she is the only one that continuously and checked on other customers. She's the only one to notice that myself and my mother were out of coffee and brought us more coffee. Mary deserves all the credit and if I could if I would have tipped her instead of Stacy because Mary is the hard working one hard working 1 and Stacy would rather feed herself then check on her customers and whether or not their food is cooked the way they like. She did not come back to check on us until we were almost done eating. Otherwise the food was absolutely delicious Mary was a fantastic waitress. I would have given this restaurant 5 stars if it hadn't been for the fact that my server Stacy paid almost no attention to us. As always I thank all of you for reading my reviews and remember have fun with what you're doing and to keep it real because you know I do each and every day.

Yours...

We are visiting from another state and we were ready for some great food,ready the menu and I noticed you make pancakes from scratch..... Awesome waited as it was busy.... Coffee and tea to start....no issue with the wait for the food..... But you are busy and my food is barely warm when I get it.....Noel is the name on the receipt she never said her name when she came to the table..... I don't even mind that..... She was able to walk past our table 4 times never checking to see if everything was ok. So after sometime I asked for a Manager..... She said that there is not one here, so I expressed my issues to her...... Then I get nothing but excuses.... after she tried to justify the behavior.... We are so busy..,.( She was not so busy to check back in with the other tables she had we watched her) ..... She did eventually get a weak apology..... We get the check and go to the register...... only to find the bills don't match.....my receipt vs what the cashier is saying.....then I ask is there another tax..... Then she goes back to get the waitress..... Only for her to come and take a look she grabs the receipt and throws it in the trash prints another one and says I forgot to charge you for an extra tea ...... Now I don't know about how you think that is okay...... The food was amazing the service was not.... I have attached the picture...