Brown Gardiner Fountain

Brown Gardiner is a place I’d passed by a hundred times without realizing it, and now that I’ve eaten their food, I take comfort in the knowledge that I was not missing out on a well kept secret. Half of Brown Gardiner is a pharmacy, the other half an unpretentious diner. To cut to the chase, the only thing worthy of mention is their «freshly squeezed» orangeade. Everything else was on par with cafeteria school lunches, but at least the prices were in line with quality.
Keeping this short, here’s what I ate:
Double bacon cheeseburger ($ 3.90) — sort of reminded me of Burger King, particularly the plasticky American cheese. Not dissimilar from what one might get at some big fundraiser cookout event.
Fries ($ 1.90) — frozen crinkle fries. Not to harp on the nuances of such a ubiquitous food, but these were boring beyond the baseline. Don’t bother.
Orangeade ($ 2.20 for 20 oz.) — actually good. Not too sweet, not too watery, contained actual orange pulp. This is the only thing I’d return for.
«Trash omelet» ($ 5.60 with two eggs) — this is really what they call it despite the obvious flaw in doing so. This omelet contained sausage, bacon, ham, onions, tomatoes, and American cheese. Better than I expected in some ways. Biggest problem was the cheese.
Hash browns ($.95) — frozen cake similar to what you might get at McDonald’s. More bland though.
Lemonade ($ 2.20) — much inferior to the orangeade. Very sweet and tart, though this may be to the liking of others.
I don’t want to hate on this place. The people there were quite nice as a matter of fact, but the food is just not very good. Sorry.

Have eaten here since I was 16. Cheap prices, good food, breakfast and lunch. Lime aides and orange aides are awesome. Daily specials under $ 5.00. Typical neighborhood drug store lunch counter. Great for kids! A throw back in time but clean, good, worth the stop!

Everything is there — the throwback, neighborhood soda shop atmosphere (stools snaking along a worn, but clean counter; a booth or two, a few tables, with one large communal table where the gray haired gentlemen gather for coffee and such); a functioning pharmacy with no drive thru; displays of sundries (you know, drug store stuff) actually for sale; a magazine rack; friendly, attentive service with a «what’s the hurry» pace.
But, the food simply falls short — it is pretty ordinary, not bad, mind you, just ordinary. The breakfast is not bad, just stick with eggs (fried or scrambled), breakfast meat, grits (hashbrowns are the frozen kind), and toast — biscuits are not made in house. If you opt for an omelet, stay with bacon and/​or cheese.
Little of the lunch items appears to have been made in house or was not previously frozen — Ham & Cheese, Grilled Cheese, or a BLT is not a bad choice — stay simple. Tuna, Chicken or Egg salads are not bad, but nothing special here. The hamburger patty is thin and rather small, with out much flavor on its own, goes for $ 2.80. The hot dog is not a favorite — the wiener is decent, but the «chilii» is really a thin, sweet, tomato based hot dog sauce, very little meat detected here — goes for $ 1.50.
The «Nanny» Special is steak’ums with grilled onions, layered cheese (not melted), and a sweet tasting barbecue style sauce on a small sub like roll, accompanied by fries or onion rings. Sandwich is not bad, taste grows on you, but it is a small sandwich, with limited content, and the combo (no drink) goes for $ 5.85.
Fries are the infamous ridges of no taste, and the onions rings are the frozens kind, where all the coating comes off with the first bite, leaving a thin, unadorned strip of onion. People here are nice, friendly, relatively efficient, and it is a rather popular neighborohood lunch spot, and you will see a number of high school kids here when school is in.
There is some limited parking in the front, but you have to back out on to North Elm which is busy here. There is plenty of parking in the back, and much safer, and there is a back entrance. Stars are more for the old school ambiance than for the food — there is better, in some cases much better, food available, and nearby.

A quaint little down home southern diner and pharmacy. We went for breakfast (they only serve breakfast and lunch). The staff was very, very friendly and attentive. We both had omelets for breakfast and we both were underwhelmed. The biggest disappointment was that none of the ingredients were homemade including the biscuit, hash browns and grits. Instead, frozen products were used. In this area, you can find excellent homemade breakfasts all over the place. However, having said that, the price was excellent with the bill coming to just over $ 10. While the people and price were great, the food wasn’t competitive enough to make us want to go back.

A real old-​fashioned soda fountain where you can get fresh squeezed lemonade or orangeade. It shares its location with a drug store and pharmacy where you can still charge prescriptions to your account. You can buy a grilled cheese and toothpaste at the same place!
The anti-​chain drugstore, with a warm, southern, neighborhood feel.