All Night Diners

Beezer

Beezer

Well-known Member
Are they mostly a thing of the past?

I love driving around town during the wee hours of the morning when it's quiet/ no traffic...etc. I'd love it if there was a 24 hour diner nearby. The nearest is downtown and I'm more in the suburbs. But nothing beats an all-night diner with an all-day breakfast.

Are there any of these types of establishments in your area? And do you frequent them?

diner.jpg
 

We have a few here. I seldom go out after midnight, unless I am already out. I don't know what happened to Denny's. They had a really good breakfast at one time, but now it's gone the other way. I judge a restaurant by the taste of its coffee. If the coffee is good, that tells me the owner isn't scrimping on nickels and dimes to run the place and he is buying quality food.
 
We have one in town. At least last I knew it was all night. They have very good food there. I haven't been there in ages. Come to think of it there's another all nighter up the street from the other one. They both have good food šŸ„‘šŸ„ and a pleasant atmosphere. Well someone got shot in one of them a few years ago.

But now they have undercover police on duty in there. I was there for lunch last year. A very attractive place.
 

I don't go there but we have a 24/7 place called Waffle House. It is a chain franchise that has a pretty large following around here. They are not a large place but serve good food at a reasonable price. It is very popular with the late night and early morning crowd.
 
Well I no longer go out at all...but the title reminded me of
the amazement I had when seeing all-nite diners after joining
the Navy and starting my travels in life...being from a tiny country town of 1800 souls we had nothing to compare....
 
I remember reading maybe 25-30 years ago, Denny's corporate decided to close on Christmas for the first time ever. There was a scramble to get locksmiths for a couple locations because it had been so long since the doors had been locked, nobody knew where the keys were.

Covid pretty much killed most of the 24-hour-service around here. There are a few, but only a few.
 
as said before Covid killed the 24/7 store and restaurants in my area they all close at a reasonable hour like 11pm or midnight
one city that is on a crossroads of highways in my area used to be open but now even gas stations close and lock the pumps i would hate to find that out if i had assumed they were open like they used to.
Some places found out they did not lose much business closing at night or will say they cannot find help to work that shift or crime is a concern.
 
Waffle House is the only all-nighter we have. Back in the early 80s when I worked midnights, we used to get carryout from two long-gone all-night hole-in-the-wall that had great food.

As a kid, my Dad was a truck driver & always ate at a diner on US 40. It was close enough that on Sunday, we would go their for their fried chicken after church. I grew up eating that food & took my kids there too. Sadly, it closed about 7 years ago. We still talk about them.
 
Ha! Sometime, in everyone's life they should experience sitting beside a rain soaked window, at three in the morning,
wallowing in your stark aloneness and your lowly thoughts, in a faraway diner while somewhere in the background you
hear a Hank Williams song whistling. It's something so timeless and soul-comforting.
 
Gaer said:
Ha! Sometime, in everyone's life they should experience sitting beside a rain soaked window, at three in the morning,
wallowing in your stark aloneness and your lowly thoughts, in a faraway diner while somewhere in the background you
hear a Hank Williams song whistling. It's something so timeless and soul-comforting.
Click to expand...
lol..or it could be like a scene from ''In the Heat of the night''...
hqdefault.jpg
 
@Beezer, two questions. What do you consider a classic diner food dish? What is your favorite dish to order at a diner?

For me, a old-fashioned diner needs to have a Beef Manhattan, sometimes called a hotshot depending on your area. For those not familiar, it's a roast beef sandwich on white bread cut diagonally in half & then placed on each side of a scoop of mashed potatoes & everything is covered with a savory brown gravy.
th-680702534.jpg
 
Lilac said:
old-fashioned diner needs to have a Beef Manhattan
Click to expand...
Yummy!

Bacon, sausage, eggs with toast and baked beans...I like the breakfast menu. A club sandwich is usually a staple of diners as well which I enjoy.
 
Beezer said:
Are they mostly a thing of the past?

I love driving around town during the wee hours of the morning when it's quiet/ no traffic...etc. I'd love it if there was a 24 hour diner nearby. The nearest is downtown and I'm more in the suburbs. But nothing beats an all-night diner with an all-day breakfast.

Are there any of these types of establishments in your area? And do you frequent them?

View attachment 291724
Click to expand...
what we do still have are our service stations on the motorways... which are open all night. Once upon a time you could get a meal as one did in the truck stops...a good fry up.. or a big doorstep bacon and egg sandwich... but now the Service Stations which are pit stops for all drivers to get fuel as well).. have mostly been upgraded to have little franchises in them like KFC or Burger king et al..

like this one I took exactly a year ago today at the services near the miniature village I visited...

IMG-4649.jpg


services-beaconsfield.jpg

after midnight, only one or 2 food franchises remain open in the larger ones..in the smaller ones there's only a coffee place open, and a Vending machine for snacks
 
Last edited:
Gaer said:
Ha! Sometime, in everyone's life they should experience sitting beside a rain soaked window, at three in the morning,
wallowing in your stark aloneness and your lowly thoughts, in a faraway diner while somewhere in the background you
hear a Hank Williams song whistling. It's something so timeless and soul-comforting.
Click to expand...

(y) (y) (y) Been there... done that, and you are spot on.
 
Being the largest city in Canada, Toronto has a multitude of 24 hour food choices. By that I mean places that you can sit down, order a meal and eat it in peace. JImB.
 
Way back when I was young and "single", I'd get all dressed up in my bellbottoms and head for the nearest Disco club. At 2 AM, they threw us out, and we all wound up at Chic's Diner. There was a line going out the door. Getting a table was like winning a prize. There was nothing better than being a little buzzed and having brecky at 3AM.
 
Gaer said:
Ha! Sometime, in everyone's life they should experience sitting beside a rain soaked window, at three in the morning,
wallowing in your stark aloneness and your lowly thoughts, in a faraway diner while somewhere in the background you
hear a Hank Williams song whistling. It's something so timeless and soul-comforting.
Click to expand...
give us a hank williams song to go ma'am!!
 

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