Mountain View Diner — Restaurant in West Virginia

I dined in at this restaurant yesterday, on a Saturday for an early dinner with my mother in law. My late father in law and her had been regulars there for over 20 years. Yesterday was her first visit to the restaurant since his passing 2 summers ago. There were a lot of mixed emotions involved in yesterdays visit. In a way you could say that when we pulled in to see the absolutely gorgeous floral arrangements on the outdoor patio, that it was "Like coming home". There were a lot of fond memories they shared there. Sadly the memories may have been the best part of our dinner. We immediately noticed the bakery case was lacking in comparison to years prior. It used to be overflowing with amazing pastries and fresh baked goods. Other than some pies and a few cheesecakes there wasn't much more to look at and it didn't grab your attention while leaving your eyes dancing from one baked good to the other. After we were seated at our booth it took a bit for our waitress to get to us. No biggie. We sat there soaking up the atmosphere while I listened to my mother in law share memories from the past. She raved about how good their stuffed flounder and prime rib was as well as their "amazing" bread they had. After our waitress took our order we chatted a bit more about how she used to visit before the addition had been built on years ago and about all the great meals she had shared with her late husband. Our salads arrived, which were very nice. When our dinner arrived we noticed that there was no bread and we were missing our coleslaw. We asked for bread and were informed they no longer had it due to switching bakers (which explained the empty pastry case). We asked for our coleslaw which we finally did receive towards the end of our meal after our waitress disappeared outside for a while. Our prime rib was cold but still had a great flavor to it. Upon checking out we were asked how we liked our meal and my mother in law very politely mentioned it fizzled in comparison to the years past to which the cashier very blatantly ignored as she rattled off the cost for the meal before sending us on our way. Blame covid, blame lack of people wanting to work, blame whomever you may...blame me if you would like. A mediocre meal with amazing staff and atmosphere earn a 5 star rating in my book any day over a 5 star meal and terrible staff interactions. It saddens me to know we most likely will not be visiting again after yesterdays dinner. As we drove away it almost felt like we were closing a chapter to what once was part of a...

What you want from a restaurant--Good food, good service, fair price, nice atmosphere! Easy to find location for out-of-towner. (Spring 2022)

Addendum: Visited second time on July 3, 2022. Arrived just before closing. Short wait to be seated. Server arrived soon afterwards. Drinks and food arrived surprisingly fast, with very large portions. The only problem was that the server forgot the green beans that went with my meal. I decided to wait until she returned, which was about 15 minutes later. When I told her that I was missing the green beans she told me that they had likely been thrown out and that the restaurant closed at 5 PM. All she could say was "Sorry about that!" When I went to the cashier to pay the bill she asked what was expected: "How was everything?" I told her that I didn't get my green beans. She didn't say anything nor look at me. I don't know of course what she was thinking but her nonverbal communication said "I don't give a ....." Perhaps it had been a long day and she was itching to get home. The food itself was good and no one is perfect. I'm not criticizing the restaurant, just sharing my experience. This was actually the 2nd time I had been to this diner and there were no issues the first time. However, I may not be in a hurry to come back a third time!

November 24, 2022--Thanksgiving Day. This was the third visit. Being a holiday, I can understand why service seemed to be slow today, though the room where we were sitting wasn't crowded. Similar to my second visit, when the food finally arrived, I was missing my vegetable--broccoli this time. I was told it would be coming but after a while my wife had to get up and find a server to help track down the missing item. It did come this time, unlike during my second visit, but it seemed a bit tough, not well cooked. There was also cranberry sauce with the meal but my wife and my sister-in-law tried it and decided that it tasted funny. The server was nice enough but maybe they needed help in the kitchen. Regardless, we decided we won't be coming back to this...

Ok, so I’ve driven by this place for a long time. It’s always packed, so I’m assuming it must be great. The reviews seem good, so I take the plunge and go for it. I was seated very promptly and greeted very friendly. Now to the food. According to the breakfast menu the French toast is their specialty dish. The picture looked like a delicious meal. The young lady that took my order was very polite and there was no wait. Within minutes my meal was served. Looked good but NOTHING like the menu photo, so this leads me to believe they used stock photos. Ok. I’ll cut them a break, no big deal. The syrup bottles could have been warm, but ok, the bacon not crispy but it was nice and fresh. So I take the first bite out of the French Toast and I’m not impressed, so I cut into it for another bite and to my disappointment, there was barely any egg batter whatsoever. A nice French Toast is soaked in batter then cooked. The only thing that was close to French if anything was the French bread they used. It was just a sliced bread did a quick drive-by, by the egg batter. No much flavor but butter and that was it. Talking about butter (or margarine here) there was enough for the entire row of people near me. I brought this to their attention and the lady was extremely apologetic and offered me if I wanted to order something else. I politely declined as this was their specialty item and it was so disappointing, didn’t want to imagine the average dish quality. I offered to pay for the bacon (I ate a strip while waiting) and the beverage. She refused to charge me even after I insisted so I could include a tip as I told her I had no cash. She thanked me for stopping by, while also apologized for dish.

There is no way that the amount of people that it’s always at the establishment like bad food or maybe a local thing as there aren’t that many options. I really appreciate their customer service skills. That alone is hard to...