Blue Moon Diner

Can’t speak to the food. But came in out of the cold on a Thursday night and got to admire the diversity of people in a tight diner like enviroment. But the coolest thing was the live music/​open mic going on in the corner. I just nabbed a solid vodka soda and listened to some pretty cool music (cello and banjo… gotta love it). Cool place to check out. Lots of personality.

I’m a sucker for a diner. Especially one with a retro feel. And the Blue Moon Diner met all my expectations for a diner. Great service. Quirky, retro interior (the diner has tons of records in it, and they were playing some pretty great classic rock all through our meal). Simple, delicious coffee (no Starbucks fanciness there). And great, simple food. My boyfriend ordered the French toast. He has a serious sweet tooth and he loved it — especially the house-​made vanilla-​ginger syrup that came with it. I had the Huevos Bluemoonos — 2 eggs (however you like — for me, that’s over easy) over hashbrowns with melted cheese, salsa, and your choose of toast. I LOVED it. Eggs perfectly cooked. I can’t abide eggs once the yolk has cooked. Rather than hashbrowns, they were delicious home fries… It was delicious, and I would order it again. I also appreciated that they had a vegan option on the menu for breakfast — the vegan garbage plate (sauteed tempeh with hashbrowns, sweet pepper, spicy vegan chili, and crispy onions). As a former vegan, I still like having the choice of vegan options on the menu! If I lived in Charlottesville, I think I’d be there once a week with a book or a newspaper for a relaxing breakfast!

I really liked the diner feel and the service was good but the food was just average for breakfast.

Came in on a Saturday for brunch and was pleased at the variety of menu options. I sat at the bar and was served immediately. Tried the blue cheese burger with hash browns and the hash browns were overcooked and my medium burger was more well done than medium. Overall the atmosphere was nice, but I was a little disappointed with my food. I’d be willing to give the place another shot down the road.

I’ve been to Blue Moon Diner twice now. After the first visit, I stayed away for a long time until friends suggested going for dinner one night. Blue Moon is a Charlottesville classic, and other people seem to love it, but I’m not a fan. During brunch hours, this place is totally packed, so be prepared for a wait. On my first visit, which was for brunch, I ordered the Nordic omelet. It was extremely lacking and super, super greasy. After waiting for a long time for a table, I was starving, and the food was extremely disappointing.
On our second visit for dinner, the place was not crowded, yet somehow we ended up waiting for about an hour for our food with a party of six. I went with the veggie skip burger. It was decent, but there are a lot of other places in town that have awesome veggie burgers. I really wanted to like Blue Moon this second visit, but once again, the food was disappointing, and the service wasn’t great either.
I may go back for brunch just to try it one more time, but I definitely wouldn’t go back for dinner.

My friend found this place also on Unilocal,and we decided to start our Saturday morning here.
Although they were slammed by numerous customers and lines were waiting to be seated, nice and interactive waiters and waitresses made the wait enjoyable.
After 15 mins, they gave us three seats at the bar.
I had their BBQ platter which came with two over easy eggs, pulled pork, two toasts and some hash browns; remember to ask for steak and hot sauce. it makes it amazingly good!
My friends went for steak platter and breakfast burrito; they both enjoyed them very much.
All the staff wore UVA T-​shirts which kinda made it authentic!
Our waitress took a very good care of us although she was unbelievably busy!
Their country interior design made our visit even better.
Overall, we paid about $ 40 for food and $ 7.50 for coffee, very decent price for such place.
I definitely would come back sometime soon!

This is a tough one to write. Have to first say that the food was fantastic. From the peach beignets, Apple omelette, hogwaller hash and vegan garbage plate that were ordered at the table, they did not disappoint. In fact they were pretty darn good. Add some of the hot sauce to the mix and your mouth will tingle for days.
The opportunity is on the clock. Following a 40 minute wait and with a train to catch an hour after sitting down, our table of four ordered immediately. While it was full, it didn’t seem busy per se, nor was the turnover high per table. There was no concern on our end that being in and out in an hour was doable or any issue of concern. As time went on and on and on, and only a handful of dishes were leaving the kitchen for other tables, we began to get nervous and of course hangry. Decided we should pay and get to go boxes brought to the table well before the food actually arrived.
With about three minutes to spare, we got food, scraped into to go boxes, scarfed down on the trunk of car, and jumped onto train.
The food didn’t disappoint, just be sure you have 2.5 hours to spare to get food and enjoy.

DELICIOUS! I had one of the most delicious diner burgers at Blue Moon Diner. We were staying down the street at the Hampton Inn & Suites in downtown Charlottesville, VA (we were visiting for a wedding) and were hungry for some brunch. There was quite a wait, even at 9:30am on a Sunday. We JUST missed the large rush of people who came in right after us, but still waited about half an hour to order and receive our meal. I ordered the Skip Burger (one-​eyed (fried egg) bacon cheeseburger). DELICIOUS. Seriously, one of the best diner burgers I’ve ever had. My fiancé ordered the Hot Mess Burger (bacon, chili, cheeseburger), as he was feeling adventurous. He liked his burger a little less than I did, but we still both had a good time!
Service was friendly and efficient. And the ambiance is pretty cool — we sat in the back of the restaurant (they have an area in the back too, which is nice because this place gets SUPER packed on the weekends).
Definitely recommended if you want to get the Charlottesville, VA diner experience.

I like Blue Moon Diner. I really do. I wish I could come more often, but I don’t often want to wait 30 to 45 minutes to sit down, and then I don’t often want to wait another 30 to 45 minutes for my food. It’s just what happens when a very small place is very popular for weekend brunches, and I think they do the best they can, but the wait time is a little ridiculous sometimes.
That being said, the food at Blue Moon is great. The atmosphere is very eclectic, and they have a great set of vinyls playing. Their specials are always on point, though I have to say I was a little disappointed in their beignets. They weren’t as light and fluffy as I would have preferred. But I’ve had a couple of their special eggs benedicts, their breakfast BBQ, and a pesto chicken sandwich all at some point or another, and they’ve all been delicious! The coffee is pretty intense and earthy, so if you’re into that the coffee is great, too! If you’ve got the time, Blue Moon is fun. If you don’t, I’d go elsewhere.

I wanted to like this place. Everyone in town raved about it and said it was worth the wait. They were not kidding about the wait. The front staff were frustrated. Based in other reviews, this seems to be the norm. I frankly don’t blame them. I would be frustrated too. The place I small and cluttered. Definitely a tiny diner feel but they have outgrown it with their popularity. We were seated at the bar without a ridiculous wait outside (~30 min). We ordered and waitress saw to us in a decent time frame. The food however did not arrive for an hour. Not an exaggeration. The food is nothing fancy. We got a scramble and an omelet. If a place is going for «diner-​esque» this is typical fare. The cook makes a good dish but seems to struggle with efficiency. Not something you want in a diner breakfast. It was talked up too much and I was very unimpressed. I’m wiling to wait long for food and I don’t mind rude people or even scummy dishes/​glasses/​silverware. But I’m only willing to do so if the food is worth it. The food was good. But not that good. This place was not for me.

This is one of those local places that if you’re a local and enjoy bad service and mostly decent food you’ll flock to. It’s a small adorable diner. I have one where I live that I frequent, I know it’s going to take forever and the waitress is occasionally a little surly. However, the difference here was there was zero consistency. She said they sat tables first come first serve. They sat several tables of 4 before us that showed up far after us, we had six people. It took us over an hour to get a table. Which sucked, but was acceptable. THEN after we ordered it took us over an hour to get our food. We all ordered breakfast. Several tables that came in after us and ordered after us, got their food, finished and paid before we were served. To me that is absolutely unacceptable.
By the time we got our food we were all so grumpy it could have been the best thing we’d ever eaten and we still wouldn’t have loved it. That being said, it wasn’t. The food was good don’t get me wrong but it didn’t offset how bad the service was. The hostess was downright rude on several occasions. Our server did try and was pleasant enough, but it was too little too late.

We were in town for a Doctor appointment and had missed breakfast. I «yelped» Breakfast and brunch and Blue Moon was in the list.
I’M SO GLAD IT WAS! The ambience was quirky eclectic with vinyl records as the main theme. The music was perfect for the feel of the place.
Our server was great! He knew how to help picky eaters get their order just right!
My vegetarian hubby built his own scramble of eggs, onions, and fresh jalapeño. It was perfectly cooked and seasoned! I got the vegan scramble and added sausage. Delicious! The sausage had spice, the onions and mushrooms grilled, and the hash browns were simply Devine. The egg was seasoned correctly and cooked to perfection.
The coffee was REAL. The coffee was GOOD. Get their coffee!
I’m really glad we chose Blue Moon! Definitely will be back again.

Stopped in after our tour of UVA for a late breakfast. Had the breakfast burrito with hash browns and my daughter had the veggie scramble with hash browns and biscuit. I don’t know why it tasted so good because it’s the kind of thing I can make at home, but it did! My burrito was piping hot, lightly toasted tortilla, just the right amount of cheese and black beans mixed with scrambled eggs. And the hash browns didn’t look all that special but when I tried them they were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, just right. My daughter didn’t leave a bite on her plate of her veggie scramble. The only reason I don’t give it five stars is the décor is a little dilapidated (but feels like a good olé fashioned southern diner) and the salt shaker was clogged up but the food was super yummy.

There is hardly a conversation that my boyfriend and I haven’t had that started with «TBC Coffee?» and didn’t end with, «We’re going to Blue Moon!» The Trager Brothers Coffee Blue Moon blend is simply tops. This is the closest thing to a magic caffeine elixir at a brunch that I’ve seen. The caffeine has a nice build and smooth taste that works perfectly with rough weekend mornings.
In addition to the coffee, we keep finding ourselves here because of the friendly service, food, and killer vinyl collection. But more importantly the food. I have eaten my way through a hefty part of this menu.
Here are the dishes I enjoy the most:
Breakfast: Hogwaller Hash, the pancakes, and the Nordic Omelet with scallion cream, all with an order of the weekend beignets with honey ginger dipping sauce and/​or a side of pancakes with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Hogwaller Hash is a blend of scrambled eggs with sausage, jalapeños, and other vegetables. It hits the spot when I want a little bit of everything and don’t know what to get. The pancakes are sweet and almost cake like, but delicious on days when I want something filling and tasty. The Nordic Omelet has a nice smoked salmon and scallion cream that brings it together.
Lunch/​Dinner: The Blue Burger or the Hot Mess, all with a side order of the regular fries, sweet potato fries, or hash browns. The Blue Burger has just the right amount of mild blue cheese that blends nicely with the onions, lettuce, and the natural beef flavor of the burger. The Hot Mess is, as it sounds, messy! But don’t be scared off: the chili and burger pairing is delicious. It’s a little spicy, but not intensely. This is a good dish for something hearty and simple.
Regarding the very controversial topic of the «THE WAIT»: Yes, this place tends to have an insanely long wait on the weekends. Having been on an +1 hour plus wait, to a mere 5 – 10 minutes, I can say that if you come with the mindset to chill out without much of a schedule for the day, you’ll enjoy yourself. If you come during rush hour with a large group and need to be seated immediately, you might find it to be a frustrating experience. What’s worked in the past for us is to send a philanthropic friend first as our «scout» to act as a physical «call ahead» since they don’t take reservations. That said friend will put our names on a list and we all tend to make it by the time our wait is up. This doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s great. Also, from time to time they’ll have complimentary coffee at the check in counter which is nice to take and stand outside on a nice day and relax while you wait.
All in all, we love this place. It has the right vibe of «we’re down to earth, don’t have a lot of bells and whistles but serve damn good coffee and play great music». Also, they serve artisan bacon, their bar is surprisingly stocked, and they have live music some nights. Just writing this review is inspiring me to go back. Guess I know where I’ll be eating this weekend!

My girlfriend and I love this place! The coffee is amazing and the food is good every time we come. This is a great place to bring family and friends when they are in town. We come here regularly for a reason! I highly recommend eating here.
Important side note … don’t skip out on the burgers, they are surprisingly amazing (blue and hot mess are the best)!

Terrible service. We’re about to walk out actually, after we get our check. We were going to have a full breakfast but the male server with the pony tail is so rude we decided to just pay for the coffee we already ordered.
So we walk in the «bar area» and he was standing there and very rudely told us to go to the waiting area. So we do and we get sat very soon by a female server who was much nicer.
So we’re sat and my sister is outside on a phone call so we were sitting at the table and he comes by and doesn’t introduce himself and just says «you ready? Oh no you’re not» (he noticed someone was gone) and I was like «uh excuse me wait, can we get drinks first? And beignets» And he was like «sure» and seems super impatient. So then he comes back after forever and sees she’s there and asks again (impatiently I might add) and he still didn’t ask her for a drink. So we decided to go back to Lemongrass by that point cause we had it yesterday and liked the service more. So then he decided not to help us at all and I had to go track him down for more coffee even though I had already asked for more coffee. He never brought it and kept passing our table without saying anything.
And by the way, these beignets suck. I’m sorry, but it’s true. They were burnt and super dense.

To be honest, the food was okay. It was not as good as I thought from all the reviews. I got veggie scramble which was too oily for me.

I can’t think of a single reason to deduct a star. We ate breakfast here on a recent Sunday morning and couldn’t have been happier with the experience.
We arrived 15 minutes before they opened and there was already a line about ten deep. For those not in the know, that is a VERY good sign. We had passed another breakfast spot on the way to Blue Moon and not a single soul was standing outside shivering in the cold, waiting for something delicious. Glad we passed it.
As soon as they opened we were able to snag a two top near the counter. In no time at all we had coffee and were able to place our order.
Within ten minutes, our food was at our table. My wife ordered the Pink Poachers special, which had poached eggs over english muffins, hash browns and stewed pink lady apple slices on the side. Perfecto!
I had the Hogwaller hash, which had all sorts of goodness inside it. Potatoes, both sweet and hot peppers, eggs and sausage. I spurted some luscious hot sauce over the top and it made for a fantastic breakfast that held my hunger in abeyance all day long. It was the best $ 9.95 I spent all day.
The Blue Moon Diner is a Charlottesville gem. If you are in town for a quick visit like we were, don’t miss out.

Great brunch — one of the best in town! There’s one place in town (bluegrass) that has a better brunch which I can’t help compare to blue moon (hence 4 instead of 5 stars).
I got the pancakes, which were good and I especially enjoyed the powdered Frida Kahlo face!
Overall great place, definitely recommend for brunch. Slightly slow service sometimes but the food is worth it.

**Stop 5 of 7 on the Taste of Virginia Charlottesville Food Tour**
The food here is quite good, but the quality of your experience will vary depending on the day.
I’ve been to Blue Moon Diner twice, most recently on a food tour. The diner is definitely a hole-​in-​the-​wall, and is immensely popular to the point where it is always packed with people. The sign-​in system isn’t obvious if it’s your first time here, but you need to go inside and write your name down to be called if you want a table. The wait can be from 15 minutes to an hour, so be prepared to wait (preferably outside because the interior is so small). The restaurant has a brusque attitude — think Continental Divide — that newbies may find off-​putting.
My first experience here was three stars. The food was good, but it took forever to be seated and served, and our server was never around. Granted, it was extremely crowded, but the overall feel from the wait staff was just so off-​putting, so it was what I remembered the most from that experience (I can’t even remember what I ordered). Considering the popularity and the long wait, I was expecting to be blown away by the food.
The second time was on a food tour, which was definitely five stars. My girlfriend and I tasted the Golden Beet Salad, which contained marinated golden beets, a sliced granny smith apple, sunflower seeds and aged Parmesan with Blue Moon vinaigrette. I’m not a fan of beats or vegetarian dishes, but the golden beets were delicious and it was certainly something I’d be inclined to order again.
So, my overall experience after coming two times? The food is pretty good (hence the popularity) and it’s a neat hole-​in-​the-​wall, but your experience with the service may vary drastically. Try to come during an off-​time, and god help you if you come during breakfast/​brunch/​lunch hours.