New 401 Diner

No Longer in business

I was really disappointed when I was just there. I had been there several other times and the food and service was always good. The service was extremely slow, not just getting our food, even having someone stopping by the table to see if we needed anything. The food was okay, not as exceptional as before.

This was my second time eating at the 401 Diner and I was not impressed.
The décor is beautiful; I love the earthy and warm vibe and the old church pews as seats and the hand-​tiled tables. But the reality is, while it looks beautiful, the food and service leave something to be desired.
My chocolate chip pancakes were bland and flat. In addition, the chocolate chips were not even IN the pancakes but on top (and there were hardly any)! At that rate, I should have just brought my own chocolate. My company ordered the Tofu Scram, which was basically a flavorless mix of tofu, peppers, and onions with a side of home fries and toast.
Food aside, the service was awful. We had to ask our waitress 3 times for water and coffee. Sandy the waitress was sullen, haughty, condescending, and overall extremely unfriendly. She slapped the bill on the table as soon as we got our food and never once checked on us or refilled our waters.
The indifferent service and the sub-​par food make this diner one to skip if you’re looking for a decent meal.

For a lunch buffet that I just happened upon, I am quite impressed. All selections were delicious but the stone fish and the chat masala excelled. Great chili chicken also. Delicious gulab jamun for dessert. A definite return some day.

Went there on a sunday night, for Indian food.
I am impressed.
Short menu. But covers all the different types of gravy. Rest assured if you pick two items off the menu, they will not share the same gravy.
The Missi Roti — was fresh. Wow, After so many places, this was the first place that actually made a really GOOD roti, that too fresh! not reheated, not frozen. but Fresh!
The Chicken Tikka Saag, again, the chicken and the saag seemed to be its own dish, not a reheated gravy, to which the chicken pieces were added. But they were cooked together for a while, so that the chicken had a good flavor of the saag as well!
the rice is also long stemmed jeera rice with cardamoms. very well balanced for a customer with a light palate as well!
Short — Really good place, helpful portions, I liked the ambiance on sunday night as it was quiet.

It’ll be tough not to go back, because it is literally just around the corner. There were, however a few things very wrong with the meal and the service.
We were seated on the side of the restaurants in a booth and it was so windy we had to move. Once we took a look we realized there are vents above every table!
I ordered Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict and I was not happy with the Hollandaise sauce. I’d like to direct the chef to this video:
It’s not difficult, I’ve done it, you can do it too, but most importantly it is not what you were serving that day. They served me juicy, cloudy butter.
Mom ordered the Gouda and wild mushroom omelet which had neither wild mushrooms nor Gouda. We later found out that they no longer order Gouda and neglected to tell us. Sounds like a story the local news would love. New 401 diner, this is not a detail to overlook. You can’t say it’s gold when you’ve spray painted a chunk of concrete.
Dad’s dish was supposed to come with home fries, it came with chips.
They were out out jelly (until the waitress looked for some) and wheat bread.
A sign on the door said they take LevelUp. I’ll choose a place that takes LevelUp over one that doesn’t faster than you can read this review. But! When it came time to pay nobody knew how to use it! They debated calling the owner (manager?) to figure it out. The whole system is a mobile phone menu based app, not difficult. Eventually they figured it out, but it was an awkward 10 minutes of waiting at the register that just made the flow of the experience that much worse. In the end LevelUp did work; I’m just glad I was there to show them what to do!
Lesson learned: don’t eat there on a Monday morning.

Came in after work figuring why not their open I’m here. I drive by them all the time lets give their breakfast a shot.
I was greeted by Paige and AnnaMarie, two lovely ladies with a smile to boot.
I was asked what I wanted to drink, I had asked for coffee and a glass of orange juice. Out of the 2 the o.j. was good, but the coffee stayed on the burner too long. This was not drinkable by any means, little depressed by this. Diners are known to keep a pot fresh at all times, especially in the morning seeing its the main beverage of choice in the morning. That’s ok I’ll stop at wawa and grab some coffee.
My breakfast of choice was their french toast. This thick cut slices of bread was ok, little under cooked, but nothing to write home about. From what I understand it is made from Challah bread. No sides come with this, kinda odd I thought, you always have something I thought. I guess from what I am used to some kind of side always comes with this bacon or sausage nothing. Again this was huge plate so their play in this paid off.
Plenty of seating, with tables and old school wooden booths, open spaces, very clean inside, with a flat screen tv hanging off in the corner.
As I was leaving I was asked how everything was? I expressed to the what I believe was the manager that the coffee was burnt. I guess I offended her, then goes and tells me its a dark blend, maybe I am not used to it. Negative, I know coffee, and I’m sure we all know what burned coffee smells like. I’m sorry, but if it takes more than 5 creamers and 5 packets of sugar to even make a dent in it appearance, you have issues.

The food was good. Had a Turkey Club and house salad. Everything was fresh and presented nicely. However…
I was here for lunch with some co-​workers on a Wednesday. The restaurant was not crowded and we got immediately seated. The waitress got us drinks and took the order within a normally reasonable time. The unfortunate part of the experience was that it then took about 30 minutes to get 4 turkey clubs and a salad. One of the turkey clubs which came out incorrectly.
They did help by comping us the one meal, but it’ll be a while before we can risk taking an hour and half lunch again.

Really? This had to have been the worst food experience I have ever had. We came here on Valentines Day which was easier than a fancy schmancy spot for my almost 2 year old niece. Here are the issues we encountered.
*no children’s menu
*floor was unusually slippery like it had either just been waxed or not clean of soap suds properly
*drinks took 20 minutes
*food took 45 minutes
*my dish was wrong
*my sister’s grilled chicken was RAW (cool to the touch even)
*my mom’s lamb chops were RAW (cool to the touch)
We sent all of the food back and were afraid to eat anything else. We left the «diner» without a morsel of food.
The server was polite.
I wish the 401 lots of luck. I will NOT be returning.

I stopped in to the 401 Diner because I finished lunch with a friend and wanted to get a cup of coffee to continue the conversation. We figured that this diner would be a fine place to accomplish that goal.
The diner was nearly empty around 2 when we arrived, yet we seemed to be seated at a table that hadn’t been wiped down and wasn’t set (there was still a water ring where a cup had previously been). The table wasn’t a mess, but when we ordered coffee it quickly became clear that there were no spoons. And I already had to ask for cream when the server brought the coffee without any. We ended up swiping a set of silverware from a nearby table and the afternoon carried on. The coffee was fine and the server checked back in with us several times to see if we needed a refill.
The other thing that bothered me about this place was that it smelled kind of unpleasant when we walked in. And then after we sat at our table, I noticed there was a fairly torn up wad of napkins shoved under the leg of a table beside us (to keep it balanced). It just looked like trash on the floor (even though it really wasn’t), and left a poor impression of the place overall.
I’d consider going back for breakfast when it’s more crowded and I have a chance to taste the food. Perhaps if there are more people and I was there during a regular hour some of these little atmosphere things wouldn’t be as noticeable. And if the food is as tasty as some others indicated, perhaps it would help me to see things in a different light.

From the outside, it looks like your average diner, but it’s a lot better than it seems!
The décor is a lot classier than I expected. I really liked that each booth had stained glass and different kinds of coat hooks. It was playful and sophisticated without being tacky or snooty.
Our waitress was really friendly and attentive, even though it was crowded. My boyfriend and I both got eggs benedict, which were amazing. They were perfect! Looking around the restaurant, everyone else’s plates looked delicious as well.
There was one thing, however that was average and slightly grimey diner-​esque: the salad bar. Salad bars generally don’t excite me, but this one was lackluster compared to everything else at the diner.
It gets really crowded for breakfast, so come early and be patient!

I’ve been to this place more times than I would like to admit, mostly because I like a couple of blocks away and it’s nice to walk to get a meal. I’m at the point, though, where the proximity is not worth it and I’ve pretty much stopped coming here. It seems to do pretty good business, especially for brunch, so I guess a lot of people like it.
The best thing about this place is the décor. The booths are revamped pews with stained glass — it’s just quite beautiful. I gave the review an extra star based on the décor alone.
Service is fine, I guess. Nothing spectacular. Food is meh. I really dislike the brunch food. I’ve gotten the pancakes 2 or 3 times and they’ve been served to me still oozing. I’d say serving raw pancakes is a pretty big no-​no, but the servers don’t seem to think much of it. Also not crazy about the breakfast potatoes. They’re kind of limp and sad.
However, if you go for a meal aside from brunch the food is much better. The sandwiches are fine, and the veggie burger is actually quite good. It’s not like a boca burger and feels much more substantial.

I have come to this place a few times since my friends bought a house in Conshy and I must say, it’s not your average diner.
Their food is so good! I had had the grass-​fed beef burger, which is delicious, and my friends had the reuben and the chicken salad. All of us loved our meals. They seem to offer a lot more healthy options than your average diner as well.
The service is also very good. But for some reason, every time we have come here, the place has been empty. I can’t understand how a diner with great food wouldn’t do better. Are we just coming on the wrong times? This place needs some good PR and needs to do a better job of marketing itself. If the atmosphere was a little more fun, I would want to come here more often when in Conshy. But being the only table in the restaurant is a little boring!

Such a disappointment. I had high hopes when I saw the menu, but to my dismay, this could be one of the worst breakfasts I’ve had in a while. I got an omelette with fresh mozzarella, spinach, and roasted tomatoes. Sounds good? Well, it had no flavor. Come on 401, you should know that it is absolutely necessary to salt and pepper eggs. The omelette also came with home fries and toast. Toast was fine, the home fries… oh the home fries. They had clearly just been microwaved. They were cut like thick chips and were so spongey. No seasoning either. UGH. The service is also terrible. Our waitress, who didn’t deliver the food, didn’t come over to us again until we had finished. Isn’t it diner law that a waitress asks if you want a coffee refill every 5 minutes? It was so aggravating.
I would not recommend this place. Don’t bother.

Co-worker’s have been telling me the new 401 is pretty decent. I finally made it there for lunch and I was extremely disappointed.
There were a lot if little things that don’t typically bother me but added to an overall negative experience. Dirty glass, no menu, no spoon for my coffee. I can stir my coffee with a fork, drink from the other side of my glass, and share menus. Not a big deal but it set the stage for the rest of my experience.
After we discovered that there were two versions of the menu floating around (with different items and descriptions), I decided on having breakfast and ordered the tofu scramble. If you’re unfamiliar with this dish, just do a google image search for ‘tofu scramble’ to see what I was expecting. When my food came out, I thought I had accidentally ordered tofu fajitas. If corn tortillas were involved, the food might have been enjoyable.
After slugging through a meal of mostly red pepper and onions, I realized the accompanying home fries were pretty firm and likely under-​cooked.

The thing about the 401 Diner is that the food is generally awesome, but the service is terrible.
I love that they have healthy vegetarian options (the tofu scramble is soooo goooood) and that you can get breakfast all day.
That being said, even after they closed for a week and retrained all of their staff after opening, their service is just awful.
I’ve been there 4 times and it’s been bad every time. They forgot to bring my toast twice, they forgot to put spoons on the tables so we had to stir our coffee with our butter knives, and the waitstaff never ever checks on you, so you’d better make that cup of coffee last because you’re never getting a refill.
Also, you’ll wait for your table on the weekends for 20 – 30 minutes at least no matter what time you go.
So the food is really good, but the tradeoff is that the service really sucks.

There is a mild psychiatric condition known as «red meat regret.» This affliction most often strikes 30 somethings and beyond and arises from a profound sense of remorse from not having eaten more hamburgers whilst young. The most common symptoms of RMR are over consumption of salads and day dreaming of cheese steaks, pork chops, and bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast bagels.
Sadly, I suffer from this malaise, and like the poor lost souls of Dickens’ «Christmas Carol» am forced to wander the earth, eating endless salads, while regretting not having done more carnivorous activity in my youth. I can but lament while munching my rabbit food, and perhaps offer a review for those shackled to this affliction. The 401 Diner serves up a delicious tangy oriental grilled shrimp salad, with a sweet sesame dressing. My burden is lifted ever so lightly by a good… salad.
Dear reader, perhaps it is not too late for you. If you still enjoy youth then by all means consume vast quantities of bacon, and ask for extra salt and extra mayo on your roast beef sandwich. Then, when time works its machinations upon you, at least you can dare utter, «I have truly lived.»

The only thing that remains from the former «401 Diner» is the name itself. Honestly, I believe that the did themselves a disservice by keeping the name, formerly associated with a mediocre, greasy spoon breakfast joint.
The menue at the New 401 is very creative and offers many locally grown and healthy options. For breakfast, their buckwheat pancakes are exceptional. At dinner, my daughter ordered their turkey dinner. It was very tasty with hommeade brioche stuffing and cranberry sauce.
Overall I would return, although it is a bit pricey.

Onion raisin pancakes. That delicacy, from the original 401 Diner, will always be the culinary floor I use to measure all other bottom feeding dishes. Unilocal has its 1 star, I have my onion raisin pancake level.
That dish wasn’t on the menu but instead was a parting gift from a disgruntled fry cook to my friend who ordered chocolate chip pancakes, according to the most popular theory of my friends. If you never had the pleasure, the old 401 Diner had all the quality of a Waffle House and the charm of a gas station bathroom. And not one of those nice ones on the turnpike. The kind where you have to get a key and probably played host to a guy named Elrod sodomizing his cousin. *That* kind of bathroom.
Sodomy aside, the new owners seem to genuinely care about putting out a quality product and the beautiful redesign of the building is a testament to that. Born-​again church pews fit for Tim Tebow’s ass itself and hand cut glass mosaic speak to someone who takes pride in their work. But 401’s high ambition of comfort food with a conscience isn’t executed. The service is well-​meaning but disjointed.
My omelet was dry and in a First World problem of the highest order, the caramelized onions weren’t cooked slow enough or long enough to caramelize. It was a cruel time-​saving tactic by the trigger-​happy hands of a cook likely suffering from the ticker-​tape parade of order tickets flying in on a busy Sunday morning. I get it, but lower your aim if you can’t execute. The hash browns are cooked in a fair amount of paprika. It’s a different take and was OK. The sourdough toast was legitimately great.
As I dragged my omelet through a pile of face-​saving ketchup, I thought longingly of the deep, rich, sweet flavor of what my onions could’ve been and I remembered the onion pancakes my friend was gifted. Progress, I suppose. 401’s making it and they won’t hang around 2 stars forever.

After reading the reviews, when the bf suggested coming to the 401 diner for a new years day brunch. I was a little unsettled for more than one reason. But mostly because of the different varieties of alcohol in my system.
The place was packed with a small wait outside at noon on a Sunday. I was an even bigger unhappy camper. Tired, hungover, and now had to wait for greasy food. As I was casually pointing out, «hm, look over there at that sandwich place! It’s so close and looks like there’s no wait.» our name was suddenly called.
The place is super tiny, much smaller than it appears from the outside. It looks smaller perhaps because of all the tables crammed together in the middle. No big deal, my stomach just needed food. Weirdest part of the meal was that even at noon, the menu consisted solely of breakfast items. Weird, but again not a huge deal even though I never eat breakfast. Managed to find something that looked delicious, so I moved on. The menu was not fancy or large, but had some unique touches and twists and everything sounded good. Handful of omelettes, a few sandwiches, pancakey plates, and other standard breakfast dishes. Our server came right over to take drink orders, and two seconds later came back for our orders. This seemed very promising, despite the busy rush; however, we barely saw her again before the bill.
My dining companion ordered the bacon, cheddar, and caramelized onion omelette. I’m not a huge fan of several of those ingredients, and didn’t try it. However, the LeBus multigrain toast and his side of cheddar grits were delicious. I ordered the corned beef hash, my favorite (despite being my only) breakfast dish. The corned beef was great, very tender and tasty. but there was a scant amount of it. It was mixed with a scrambled egg, and shreddred hash browns, and served open face on toast? Normally hash is centerpiece, with some eggs on top or on the side, and then the toast on the side. I think the idea of serving this to resemble a sandwich made the hash seemed larger, because otherwise the serving would have looked a little sad. But overall, it tasted great and only cost 7 bucks. Can’t complain about that!
So yeah. I liked my time there. The three stars are for price, tastiness, and the friendly albeit absent server. Took off one star for the lack of corned beef in my corned beef hash, and for the not so speedy service.