Carmel Diner Inc.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the food was here. It tasted better than just your typical diner. Pancakes were large, buttery and soft, same goes for the french toast. County fried chicken was delicious with the sausage gravy and chicken and waffle was great with a perfectly fried piece of boneless chicken breast paired with a buttery waffle. Would come back.

Review edit after second chance: it took almost 50 mins to receive food and we never recieved water or coffee refills even after asking twice. The servers were however very kind and the atmosphere was wonderful. The food however leaves much to be desired. Both times i ate here i was very disappointed and when i ordered thick cut bacon with my eggs i recieved what appeared to be pan fried spam.

Straight-up old school, no frills diner. Food and service are about what you expect: nothing to cheer about but also not much to complain about. You can always get a decent meal here. I wish I could give it four stars… but I can't. It doesn't excel at anything specific and your experience definitely depends on what time you get there to eat and who is serving you. If you order your bacon “crispy” it’s 50/50 that’s it’ll actually get to you that way. And when your toast is covered in butter that hasn’t melted, you know that toast was buttered cold. Little things like that keeps this joint at three stars. Post-covid The Carmel Diner dramatically reduced their menus from a classic 10 page diner menu to a more streamlined, concise format. Not a huge loss – would you ever order "Clams Casino", etc. at a diner? – but it’s kind of sad simply knowing things have changed. Oh well.