Ponzio’s Diner-Bakery-Bar

The food was mediocre at best. There were some unique menu choices like pizoles and fried eggplant sticks but these are not well executed. My larger complaints are as follows: our family had to wait for 20 minutes after finishing our meals to get a visit from our waitress to ask for a check. Not a family friendly business model! Worse yet, we paid for 2 kid’s meals that are supposed to come with a «character cupcake» for dessert. So after bribing our kids to finish dinner so they can have cupcakes, we expected Ponzio’s to make good on the offer. Nope! They said they were sold out. Of course they never warned us despite our kids’ excitement for Elmo as we ordered. Our kids left in tears after having to try to wait patiently for the check. Never returning. And we will share this nightmare with our friends… or parents on the playground who will listen.

I haven’t been to a diner type setting in years but I was in the area with a colleague who apparently came here a lot when he used to live in Jersey. So for nostalgia’s sake we stepped in. The inside is very large surprisingly and looked clean. Staff were nice.
Walking in your are greeted by a large display of sweets and dessert type items.
It was around 230pm and place wasn’t too crowded. A lot of the «early bird special» type crowd.
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I had turtle soup and colleagues had breakfast food which they loved. My turtle soup left a lot to be desired. I didn’t enjoy it. Luckily I already ate lunch elsewhere.
I never had turtle soup before BUT from what I have seen on food network & the likes, this wasn’t similar. One of my colleagues is from Louisiana so perhaps I need to make a trip there to taste what their turtle soup is like.
There is a dinner I visit in Philly that still has my heart

Good diner. However I legitimately got food poisoning here from a salad that had steak on it. 2 trips to urgent care and a week out of work. Worst pain ever. Because of that I can’t even think about going back here again.

Blech.
I got a crab cake sandwich (yes, admittedly it was stupid of me to order seafood at a diner located nowhere near the water) and it was awful. It was like 14% crab, 80% filler, and 1% God-​knows-​what. Mushy and lukewarm.
Despite my awful meal I still want to give this place another chance, hence my two stars. Some of their other stuff seems solid.

Love the Chicken Maryann. A little heavy but that just means I get 2 meals out of it. Go before 4 or maybe 5 and the lunch price is about $ 14. But even if you pay a bit more you get the basket of bread (next day breakfast) soup or salad.
I don’t care for their sauce but the eggplant in the eggplant parm is perfect always crispy like they just made it. I’m a big fan…

I’ve had an odd history with Ponzio through the years. We went occasionally for many years, we like diners and it’s convenient and pretty good. Not amazing but we don’t look for amazing in a diner. Then a few years ago we went to ponzios with a group of friends and I asked for a lot of lemon for my iced tea and the waitress told me they’d charge me for that. I didn’t complain because we were with a group but I was appalled. I emailed the owner who said I should come back and they won’t charge me next time. Geez, how generous. I swore off ponzios then, but a few years ago, I went again, and I decided to forget my poor past experience. Ponzios is convenient and it’s a diner that serves alcohol so I can deal with that.
Well, Saturday night my husband and I stopped at ponzios for a quick bite. My husband dropped me off in front because I don’t walk well. I went inside to the podium where a smug, arrogant guy was holding court. I asked him if there was a booth available in either of the dining rooms. He said they had plenty. Then turned around talking to someone. I asked him about how long the wait would be. He said about 3 minutes but very snidely. When he then told me he had a booth in the farthest away room, I asked to sit somewhere closer because I can’t walk. He got so snotty after that, smirking at me. I really don’t know why but I guess they finally got their message through that they don’t want/​need my business.
We instead went down the road and had a great meal.

Great diner-​esque food with a huge pastry bakery case up front. My friend and I were getting hungry and I’ve seen signs all over for Ponzio’s and thought it would be a great time to check it out.
Our first server was a little.odd. But she had to leave half-​way through and the next server was ok, but she was semi staring at us once in awhile. This was about 5pm on a Saturday and it was packed.
To start out, the green bean fries were tasty and the philly cheesesteak spring rolls were super hot, crispy and flavorful. Being as hungry as I was, and knowing I can’t actually eat that much I wanted something I could easily heat up the next day as well. Answer– chicken parm with a side of angel hair pasta. Huge portion! Everything was cooked perfectly with a really nice tomato sauce. My friend got a Reuben and loved every bite.
The menu was large with a copious amount of options. I was deciding between shrimp scampi, strip steak, blackened chicken wrap. I was on the point of being hangry, but the chicken parm hit the spot.

Mmmmm average. 10:30 on a Thursday and not one drunk in the place. What happened to diners?

Looks like «my cousin vinny’s menu» when Joe Pesci and Marissa Tomei went to have breakfast. No eggs Benedict for breakfast? Just for holidays and weekend pfffff.
Ordered steak and eggs medium… meat was well done and home fries greasy as hell, couldn’t eat them.
Good service thou! No more breakfast there, let’s see if dinner is better.
Bad place for breakfast.

Best diner in this area. Thursday night is POT PIE night. Really good pot pie. Breakfast is best as well. Rolls are great and the bakery is a killer for the belly. The chocolate Cup cakes are the best

I expected more from this diner. The food was fine but the portions were underwhelmingly small and over priced. The best value was the mimosas ($ 6.07 before tax).
I ordered two eggs scrambled, bacon and homefries. The eggs were delicious im sure it’s because they were drowned in butter but I was so disappointed with the homefries. The portion was microscopic and it was barely crispy as all well made homefries should be. The bacon was nice and crispy and maybe had 1 more slice than average.
The french toast order was deep fried which made for a nice texture but made my fiancé’s stomach feel a little upset because of all the oil.
The waitresses were super attentive and friendly. There was a shift change during our meal and our waitress was sure to let us know before she left. The new waitress checked on us and refreshed drinks. Actually, every staff member we interacted with was super friendly. It’s nice to know they are here when you are up for a mimosa with your breakfast but this will not be my go to for weekend breakfast.

Try their black and white cookies (the best!) and the pecan-​encrusted chicken salad (my favorite dinner from them).
Ponzio’s food is pretty solid and service can be all over the map depending on what’s going on, but otherwise it’s a fairly standard diner. They have specials that change, so even if you go here all the time there’s some variety to be had.

Had breakfast here. Fast friendly service. Simple breakfast menu without the frills. Though they offer Mighty Leaf tea which is a little higher end than I would expect for this diner. The potato pancakes are more like mini hash browns but they are deeeelicious and will always be my breakfast accompaniment of choice when I come here from now on.
I ordered poached eggs with turkey sausage. Poached eggs were slightly overdone with some of the yolk cooked but the meal did exactly what I wanted: left me full and happy.
A solid breakfast. Don’t expect fancy but you will leave satisfied.

It’s funny… I never feel like a snotty San Franciscan until I go to a place like Ponzios that just brings you back down to earth.
My mom is obsessed with this place. She lives in Montgomery County, PA where I grew up and whenever i go home, she makes me drive almost an hour to eat here.
She loves snapper soup. And there aren’t a lot of places that makes this philadelphia area traditional soup anymore. The only other place we know has it is this place by our neighborhood called the Spring-​something-​something Inn… and I refuse to go there because clearly they are a bunch of old white people who are… not nice to asians.
This is how being at places like Ponzios brings me back to earth. In San Francisco, I live in a bubble. There are asians and people of all types everywhere. At Ponzios, I am in the heart of Jersey with very Jersey people… who are… not asian. And just generally not the same. It’s strange because I grew up more or less around it, but it’s such a weird juxtaposition when I come home to it. I always make it a point to annunicate my english words very well at a place like this… as if to say, «Yes, I can speak perfect english!» And I can use the word «juxtaposition» in a sentence!
The only bread that you get with your meal in SF is sourdough. Unlike at Ponzios, they give you a basket of all types of bread — soft buns, and bread sticks and bread that isn’t even bread… it’s more like a danish.
So coming home and eating snapper soup which they do very very well at Ponzios, it’s weird. I like that they give you a huge shot of sherry with your Snapper soup, which I dump all of in my soup. Man… old school…
It makes me feel weird, but there is a nostalgia to coming here. It’s awkward, but a good awkward. An awkward that keeps me real.
There just isn’t a place like this in SF. And even if there were, it just wouldn’t be the same.

This has been one of my go to diner’s since I was a little kid. Even in my high school years, from time to time, I would skip homeroom and or first period and head over to grab some always great breakfast at Ponzio’s. I cant believe after being with my fiancé for so many years, I have never taken her there. We needed to grab some food on our way to run some errands one Sunday morning, so we stopped in to grab a bite.
One of my friends lives nearby and always rants and raves about the place. He recommended getting the eggs benedict, so I wish I had gotten his recommendation first and not after I had already ordered, but I went the omelette route with pork roll and cheese, extra crispy hash browns, and an english muffin, while my fiancé got a Belgian waffle with a side of scrambled eggs. Our server was super nice, and offered us great service throughout. My coffee cup was never less than half full the entire meal. The food was up quick, and we devoured it once it came out. Being a Jersey boy, pork roll is always a winner for me, and in an omelette, it is just as good. My one complaint about my breakfast was that the hash browns still werent crispy enough for me. I guess I like them borderline burnt, so it just wasnt quite enough texture for me, but the flavor was good. My fiancé’s waffle was excellent as well. It had a great crunch on the outside, but was still light and fluffy inside. Adding some butter and syrup created the perfect storm of breakfast goodness. It was an excellent waffle.
The service is quick, the place is enormous, and the food is delicious. It is one of the best diners I have been to in the area for sure. I will definitely be trying the eggs benedict next time I go, and I am sure there is plenty more great things on their menu. Definitely worth a visit.

First time here. I actually like this place. It had a beautiful small bar, a nice size baked goods set up with cookies, cakes pastries, yum, then the diner part which this place was quite big. The waitress was really nice. Small breakfast menu prices little higher than most diners. I had a bacon, egg and cheese on an English muffin which came with either home fries or potato pancakes. I was really torn between that or bananas foster french toast. I chose home fries they were actually really good, they had flavor. My friend got scrapple on a bagel (eeww) but he said it was really good and inhaled it. We really enjoyed the food and service, would like to try lunch next time and possibly the bar for drinks. Lol. It seems like they have completely different menus for each meal which gets kinda confusing. But definitely worth a visit.

How have I never Unilocaled about the great Ponzio’s!!!
This is the staple diner for my SNJ family. Some of them go weekly. The waitresses are all good, with some being fabulous (two of them even gave gifts to my niece for her second birthday. SO SWEET OF THEM TO DO!!).
Quick service, really good food, super hearty portions, and stoooopid good bakery items. Clean, spacious, accommodating, very hands-​free bathroom, ample parking. Even a separate, proper bar area!
Just LOVE it here! Even more than my favorite Greek diner here in Queens (read: I will wake up at 6:30 to be out the door by 7:40, do the 20 minute drive, to get there by 8, to ensure I get a Ponzio’s breakfast before catching my train back to the city)!

Won’t be coming back here.
It seems kind of cool when you walk in and see the dining rooms divided into avenues and such. However your name gets called over a loud speaker and I could hardly understand what was being said.
Unsure as to where the «garden room» was we had to ask and assumed there would be a server waiting to greet and seat us. There wasn’t, so we seated ourselves. Very confusing.
Not only that, the loud speaker calling out names sounded like a conductor announcing a stop at a train station. Pretty distracting considering it seems like it’s supposed to be an upscale diner.
We went in the afternoon and breakfast is not served all day apparently because it wasn’t on the menu. Food was good, but overpriced.
Again, I will not be coming back.

I went to Ponzios with some work friends for lunch. The menu is quite extensive, and everyone was able to find something they wanted to eat, breakfast or lunch. They were able to accommodate our large party very easily, and the service was very good. This diner is a favorite of many in Cherry Hill, and I can see why.
My omelette was great, and again– the service phenomenal. You feel well taken care of here by your server, as my coffee was constantly being refilled.

«Robbie, your table is ready in the Ellisberg room.» Where the elite meet? Well, perhaps, but there’s no denying that an awesome meal awaits you at Ponzio’s. Really no more than a glamorized coffee shop, Ponzio’s offers great comfort breakfast, lunch and dinner fare. The pretzel bun burger brings me back every time, as does the pan fried steak. Kids, the pizza pockets are memorable. Save room for dessert — all cakes, pies and cookies are made on the premises. Seven layer cake or black & white cookie? I’ll have both, please. Family owned for like 500 years. A hit!