Wisdom Diner

Had a great breakfast for Valentine’s Day. The place was packed and we still got great service and our food quickly

Most of the reviews here seem to have really good things to say about Wisdom Diner. Unfortunately, I cannot join my peers in writing a glowing review since I made the mistake of ordering a non-​breakfast item. I tried one of their specials, the Chicken Yum Yum. I mean it had yum yum in the name so it had to be good, right? Well… let’s just say it wasn’t yum yum. The chicken and penne dish I received was bland and greasy. The reason I am giving this place two stars instead of one is due to the kind waitress who had good customer service and was helpful in recommending popular items. Aside from that, I did like the positive affirmations and philosophical quotes that decorate the interior of this diner. To summarize, I am certainly open to giving this place a second chance since their breakfast must be something special based on how people describe it. The best «wisdom» I can bestow to you is to stick with their breakfast and avoid the lunch/​dinner menu.

The Wisdom Diner is precisely what you want it to be: a clean, fast, and friendly diner that’s dirt cheap but just tasty enough to warrant trying out.
This place is basically your cookie-​cutter small town NJ/​NY diner, except maybe a hair cleaner than most. The décor is a bit too 90s and antiquated, even though it appears new, the clientele is ridiculously elderly, and the place mats advertise everything from the local funeral home to the local church. It’s not fine dining by any stretch, but the rock-​bottom prices and fast-​and-​friendly-​but-​but-​efficient service reflect that.
I tried a small portion of the pancakes, some eggs, and some sausage when driving up to NY recently, and I was pleasantly surprised. The eggs and sausage were remarkably savory and perfectly cooked — basically all I can ask for. The pancakes were superb — fluffy, hot, and slightly glutenous, reflecting some mad skills by the cook. Nothing was over– or under-​cooked, and it all came out ridiculously fast — I’m sure it’s harder to achieve that when the place is packed, but for what I had, it was great.
Let’s be real: this is not a fancy restaurant, a date location, or basically anything but a decent diner. And it rocks at being that.

The service was pretty much non existent and the food upset my stomach. The person I was with got sick as well.

Conveniently located off of 206, ample parking, friendly and very helpful staff. Reasonably priced entrees. The Philly Cheesesteak Omelette was very large and filling. Chose to have broccoli and tomatoes instead of the home fries and toast, waitress was willing to accommodate my wishes. I definitely recommend their breakfast menu. More than enough omelette choices to meet anyone’s taste. Oh and if you like Butter Pecan ice cream you can’t go wrong here as it is mouth watering and very buttery, they even top it with whipped cream.

Cheddar’s Better! One of the many diners in Jersey but its definitely a standout amongst the pack. Fresh and delicious, i had breakfast. two eggs bacon homefries shortstack frenchtoast… for some reason cheddar cheese is not common so the fact that i was able to order this on my huevos had me pretty stoked. i like things clean and i like things hot and fresh, not to mention tasty AF. Wisdom was on point today

I am giving this diner 3 stars only because of the food. It was very good. BUT the service was TERRIBLE! We waited 20 mins just for our order to be taken. Food took a while to be served for a diner. The waitress never asked us if we needed refill on our drinks. And she was no where to be found at anytime. Go for the yummy food but leave for the terrible service.

I was excited to see the lot full but to be seated immediately. We had great service with drinks immediately. However, our wait time was over thirty minutes for 2 adults and 2 kids, thats a bit long for my taste. We didn’t get refills on our water promptly, however that isn’t killing the 5^th star. The fifth star isn’t there because it was just okay food. They get four stars instead of three because of their «Diet section», I was very happy to see this.
I got a pretty much deconstructed BLT, it came with three hard boiled cut up eggs, four pieces of crispy bacon, a whole tomato cut up, lettuce pieces and kalmata olives, you can’t get something like this too many places.
The menu is overwhelming, there are just so many options.
They have the «grill cheese factory» which totally was up my alley. You can build your own grilled cheese, I will come back here to try one, although it seemed it was a one cheese type of sandwich as you only choose between american or swiss (i think) cheeses, i like the multi cheese ones. The fact you can add bacon, tomato and other things to it makes it great.
Try it out you may find something amazing, i’m unsure as what the «come here to get» items are.

Had a fantastic breakfast here. Omelettes we ordered were very tasty and the French toast short stack was crispy, flavorful and delicious. Service was great too and the restaurant was very clean. We will definitely be back.

We ate dinner there three nights ago, after an absence of exactly two years (we’d partly been avoiding the Wisdom because of our last two [miserable] experiences — which, admittedly, were a total contrast to all of our previous experiences). Anyway; we were very relieved and glad that everything was as great as it used to be, and I’m therefore upgrading back to five stars. Our server was a *very* pleasant young woman and she was also attentive. The food was *delicious* (I had the manicotti parmesan [$ 11.25] which came with a cup of soup [I had their always-​good Manhattan clam chowder] and a house salad [I paid $ 1.75 extra for a Greek salad, because otherwise you just get iceberg lettuce/​etc.]). My husband had the chicken florentine ($ 12.95), which came with a cup of soup and a salad (including a Greek salad for no extra charge) *plus* a potato and a vegetable. We were quite full afterwards. Also as always, there were lots of cute decorations on the wall near the entrance & the restrooms were very clean — and this time (thankfully) the cashier was a very friendly (young) woman.

Not as good as all of the reviews that I read. Our waitress had zero personality, hardly check on us, and never smiled. It took a very long time for her to come over to get our order. That being said the busboy, or water/​coffee boy was very friendly! I ordered the Florentine Benedict eggs. They were very good, but I did not like the potatoes that came with it, they had absolutely no seasoning. My dad ordered the pancakes and said that they were overcooked and very dry. The side of breakfast sausage was amazing! We all said it was the best sausage that we have ever had. My mom got a simple egg meal and said it was average. We would not come back.

Food was good and time to order was good. The kitchen was seemingly slow and it took a while to get our food-​nothing difficult and everything right off the menu.

It may be true what the other Unilocalers say about the quality of the breakfasts here, but as I was here for lunch I can’t comment on the morning sustenance.
I can say that this looks to be a fairly recently renovated Jersey diner, very clean, friendly, and broadly diverse menu. I sat at the small counter next to the hostess/​manager as she was being mentored by the owner about ordering from purveyors. He was calm, articulate, and seemed to appreciate his people. Impressive. Of course, the fact that he was dealing with a gorgeous employee may have had something to do with it.
My lunch was ordinary. The Chicken Salad on Rye Toast was just okay. The toasting seemed to have taken the life out of the bread, as it was overly dry and brittle. The Chicken Salad was ample, but lacked much flavor. The cup of Chicken Noodle Soup was a nice touch, but too salty.
Given the positive vibe of the place, I would certainly return for breakfast, but lunch, not so much.

Love this place! Come at least twice a month! Food is amazing the only thing is I wish there was more parking

This place would have been a solid 4 star diner, however this place has the same issue that another local diner has… They reuse the plastic ketchup bottles, which is a health code violation and it also makes me think «what else are they cutting corners in?»
I regards to the food and service– they are both great! Gotta try the split pea soup when they have it.
The motif of the place is pretty cool. It’s called the «Wisdom» diner because they put little inspiration pieces of wisdom and positivity on the walls. If you are in the area I would try this place, but if they still keep reusing ketchup bottles, you need to say something to them. If they don’t have them the next time I come in I will upgrade my score.

First time here and the salmon burger sucks. :/​I shouldn’t have expected a diner to make a good one though. I’d come back for breakfast though.

Great quality food, service is incredible. Lovely people & great menu selections. Have been visiting the area for a week; is the ONLY place I’ll go for breakfast or lunch (there’s many other diners around).
The entire staff is tremendous, attentive, humorous & never skips a beat. Food is freshly cooked arrives always swiftly.
Ambiance is a quaint town values mixed with modern day traditions.
Décor is hysterically funny if you look around all over, I believe one of the artists is part of the family or family friend.
The owner & family are incredibly warm, welcoming.
The establishment is run like a fine tuned machine! Cleanliness is awesome.
I’ve met people who travel a great distance just to come here, travelers who are just as happy with Wisdom Diner as me & people who have been coming for generations.
Wisdom Diner has my vote any day of the week. If near to it; don’t pass it up!

Diner breakfast… CHECK. Cool staff… CHECK. New ownership and completely remodeled. Bussboy Americo is a hoot and the best employee there. I had the sweet potato pancake short stack with bacon. It was spot on and the bacon was perfectly cooked. We asked to peruse the dinner menu and will definitely be back.

I went here for the first time on Friday night (1−2−15) with my boyfriend. I live in Bordentown so we decided to try it. I got blueberry pancakes, well-​done bacon, and decaf coffee. The pancakes were very good – golden brown and had a lot of blueberries. They were served with a cup of soft, real butter, and syrup of course. The bacon was well done and tasty. My boyfriend got a bacon/​cheddar omelette which came with home fries and toast. He said it was also good.
The server was ok. She was pleasant enough but not overly friendly. She was a little slow and kept disappearing. The place was pretty dead for a Friday night so I guess she was in the back a lot.
Based on the above, we would have returned to this diner since it’s close by and the food was good. However, the hostess or whoever sat us (she had long blonde hair) and took the check when my boyfriend paid was not at all friendly. She took his money and did not say a word to him. She did not ask how everything was or even say «Thank you»! so we won’t go back to the Wisdom Diner. We will instead go to Broad St. Diner where everyone is always friendly!
Business owners need to be friendly and tell their employees to be friendly also! A smile and a «Thank you» go a long way!!!

Clean establishment, good fresh simple food, great service. Found this place when we were traveling down the NJ turnpike. Well worth the visit! Coconut cake was fantastic!