Middlesex Diner — Restaurant in West Middlesex

Middlesex Diner is even better than I hoped, and I went in thinking the food would be awesome.

The wife and I visited on a Saturday late afternoon. I was immediately impressed by how clean and new the place looked on the inside. Every chair and table looked brand new. The decor was nicely appointed. Pictures on the walls, booths and tables, all great.

We ordered lunch. I got the country fried steak with mashed and gravy with a side of vegetables. Because they have chicken gravy or brown gravy, I asked for and got the chicken gravy, over everything. The wife got the four piece fried chicken dinner. The waitress said it would take 25 minutes for the fried chicken 'cuz they make it fresh when it's ordered. That sounded great to us, and since the meal came with a choice of salad or cup of soup, just dawdled over the soup and talked.

Oh, and they have bottled beer. So got a couple Buds and glasses. That was nice. Anyways, when the food came out it was hot, all of it. Her fried chicken was the best fried chicken I've had in the past few years. It was crunchy! It was HOT! And she got fries and they were PERFECT! And the side veg (fried cabbage and carrot) was served in a side dish so it didn't get into the chicken and fries. Wife said it was the best she ever had. It was four huge pieces, breast wing thigh and leg. She finished the thigh and leg and half the fries.

My country fried steak was a breaded beef patty, perfectly seasoned breaded and fried, every bit as hot as her chicken (which means the cook timed it so both meals were done at the same time great job at that!) and the mashed and veg were fantastic. The fried cabbage and carrot was cooked just right. Just a bit of crunch in the cabbage and carrots. Not overcooked at all. And delicious. Country fried steak is one of my favorite meals but I rarely get it because, well, it's also easy to mess up. Middlesex diner has as good a chicken fried/ country fried steak as I've ever had anywhere. And I've lived in the South, where fried food is practically a religion. Both our meals were perfect. Could not have been better.

And the soups also great. The only problem was it was a cup. Next time I'm here (and the wife made me promise we would be back soon) I'm upgrading to a bowl of the French onion soup. The cheese was melted over the top, the broth was tasty, and there were a bunch of croutons in the onion soup. It was excellent French onion soup.

The service was outstanding. There is no way any server could have provided better service, along with a little chit chat with the wife. Yes, customers appreciate a nice little conversation along with the meal. And a smile. As busy as she was, the waitress provided both effortlessly.

All around, and I haven't written any reviews in a couple months, Middlesex Diner was downright perfect. It's about a mile off the I-376 exit in West Middlesex, PA. A short drive from New Castle. A really short trip to Sharon and Hermitage.

I did not think it would be as great a meal as it was, but it was. Kinda and I will be back, and look forward to many tasty meals here going forward....

I got the worst meal I have got there tonight. Changed my rating from a 5 to a 1. Super waiter was trying to take every table he could and then couldn't keep uo. He was rude to anyone that asked for something and made everyone wait 15 minutes for the check. I'm old myself, but when he talked rudely to two tables of people older than me, I was furious. It was hard to keep my mouth shut. When people would ask one of the other waitresses because they were waiting so long , he wouldn't let them help him. Then seemed to take longer to punish the people and came back and sarcastically said I told you that I would be back. I go there because they are one of the few places that serve creamed beef over toast. It was so awful, but I ate it because I hadn't eaten all day and I knew it was going to take another hour if I asked to replace it. The home fries were mushed together or something. I'm usually good at taking pics. They're lucky I forgot. They looked like leftover lumpy mashed potatoes. Which they covered up with my cold toast with cold butter on it. He gave us our meals and never saw him till we were done and two out three of us had left. Mind you I waited 15 minutes after they left. When I asked him what the potato mush was. He claimed he didn't know or notice when he gave it to me. I asked if it was a new cook because their creamed beef is usually delicious. He said no.Didn't offer a discount or even a desert. Just sorry. Not much to the meal and I only ate half, so here I am looking for something to eat!! I've gone there often in the last 20 years . He knows that and I'm usually a big tipper. I don't know if that's why he stole us from the waitress that sat us and took our drink orders. But he only got $5 tonight. Especially since I had to get my own coffee on top of everything else. Lucky he got anything. He was handling people paying with cash out of his pocket. Not sure what that was about? They had some great waitresses, but they all left. I believe I know why now. Not sure if I'll...

Every single time I've eaten here we've had problems with the staff. The first time I came recently we waited about 20 minutes just for the waitress to come back to our table after the initial drink orders I had to flag someone else down to get our waitresses attention. She very sparingly came back to the table after that and was not friendly whatsoever. Second time we went yesterday our waitress was at least friendly but completely wrote down my sister's order wrong. When we caught the mistake I asked if she could just get what she actually ordered and she told me that they would just charge us for a second entree if we ordered something else. Originally she ordered a chicken sandwich and got chicken strips the waitress offered to bring her a bun for the chicken strips but then took about 15 minutes to do that and didn't ask if she wanted any of the sandwich toppings that would have come with what she ordered originally so we had to ask for those again and wait for those. I totally understand that the waitress isn't responsible for kitchen mistakes but she was the one who put in the wrong order initially and I think it's ridiculous that if she ordered the wrong thing that we would have had to pay again to get what we actually wanted. I really do like coming for breakfast here but it's getting kind...