River Star Diner

It’s a perfect Jersey diner with classic diner food. It’s very clean, bright, friendly and the food is what it should be. It’s right on par with any of the top diners in the state.

It took foreverrrrrrrr to get our food. They forgot to bring some items to our table as well. Other than that, the food was good and I enjoyed it.

Backing off of my last review. For some reason they haven’t been up to their usual par with breakfast. The coffee has not been good the last 4 or 5 times I’ve been in. I’m not sure if they changed type or if it’s something regarding water. It is not the same as it has usually been.
Same thing on the breakfast. I got stale rye bread the last time and there’s a noticeable difference in overall quality the last few visits.
I’m going to stay away for a little while and come back and see if things improve.

Has gotten better over the years. Huge menu. Had the Eggs Benedict and surprisingly it was delicious. No where around Hackettstown do they serve that so I was very happy when it turned out good. We will be back more often!

Overall, I liked my experience. Restaurant is clean and fairly updated. We were seated right away. Portions are HUGE. Server was on point. She could’ve been more amicable but she did a good job so friendly or not, I’m not going to make complain. My ONLY gripe was that the chicken in my Greek wrap was rubbery. It was almost as if it wasn’t done enough. I even spit it out & broke it up to make sure the chicken was done. It looked okay but the texture was strange. Nevertheless, I recommend this place. Everyone should try it at least once.

Spider Web City!!! I ate at this diner and the windows were covered in Spider webs. The food was disgusting because I was staring at spider eggs in the web the whole time.

The bacon burger with a milk shake is outstanding. The waitress recommended the Italian panini, the best panini i have ever had. The portion was huge, the chicken was cooked perfect. Great local diner with excellent food and good service. We like to sit in the back with a view of the river. Two thumbs up!

Heading through this town to visit some farms and spotted this diner! I hadn’t read Unilocal reviews for it until after the fact (and kinda glad I didn’t because I probably wouldn’t have stopped), but I had an average (what you would expect) experience for a diner. Thus the 3 stars.
The waitress was friendly, food came out pretty quick, the place looked clean, and it did have a pretty good crowd of locals going. The food was okay, not 5 star cuisine, but good. I honestly wouldn’t hesitate to come back if I was in the area, but it wouldn’t be a «make a special trip» sort of place.

WORST PANCAKES EVER!
Went here Sunday morning for breakfast with my wife and a friend. I ordered the blueberry pancakes — completely inedible. I’ve never eaten cardboard before, but I can imagine this is what it would taste like. The blueberries were like little pebbles. My wife and her friend had french toast, they liked it — I tried it, they were ok. Service is a bit slow. The waitress took our order right away, but it was a very long time before the food came out.

Since my last review the river star has upped thier game. The food quality is good and diverse, the wait staff pleasant and efficient.
It has become a favorite of the family for a quick bite in a nice setting

I’ve come to the River Star Diner a couple of times seeing as I live in Hackettstown, between this one and Budd Lake diner I could honestly say I’ve had more satisfying experiences here.
This diner is an honest hands down diner, the wait staff are friendly, the food is genuinely tasty, and the portions you receive for the price you pay is AMAZING
Some diners I have been to either jack the prices or squash the proportions, and River Star does neither, for the price I pay and the meal I get I am incredibly satisfied.
I will continue to bring my business here as it is closer and in my opinion more delicious than the Budd Lake Diner.

Breakfast is OK– Service is good, girls are friendly HOWEVER there is a funky smell in the air-​dirty mop water, mold in the basement and stale grease– I could still smell it in my nose after I left. I would love it if it smelled better.

Flavorless food, incorrect menu descriptions, disconnected staff.
Food: My husband got a pork chop special. It basically tasted like cheap bbq sauce on over cooked pork chops, served with canned veggies and boxed mashed potatoes. The brown gravy had no taste and the portion was sad compared to the price.
I got a chicken dish off their sauteed menu. Description said Garlic Marinara, what I got served was brown water with no taste. Anyone who cooks can tell you that just a dash of salt and pepper is enough to make most foods tasty, but nothing we received was seasoned at all.
Staff: the wait staff seemed disinterested. I am not sure if this is due to their knowledge that the food us terrible, the reactions of customers who have had bad experiences, or just bad attitudes, but without more than one experience at this establishment I cannot make an honest assessment. I did notice that when our waitress came by, as long as we smiled she seemed genuinely happy to help us, but I got the feeling that she was waiting for us to complain.
Overall, I would suggest avoiding this place unless you are in the mood to stuff yourself with flavorless things.

I’ve gone here a few times. Sometimes the service is decent, other times you can’t find a waitress to save your life. And yeah, stick with the foods you know, for the most part, although the last time I was there, there was barely any tuna in their tuna club sandwich. BARELY. And I’ve gotten that sandwich before and it was usually decent. Just not that last time. Again, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it sucks. And that goes for food AND service. Don’t get me wrong, not ALL of the servers there are bad at their jobs… there *are* some real good ones there (too bad I don’t remember her name, but she’s a young woman, college age maybe). Anyway, I think I’m going to just find a different place to go for diner food. They need better management there.

Great bacon cheeseburgers and shakes, decent prices, good breakfast deals. Don’t stray from normal diner food when you order, it doesn’t look fancy cause it isn’t.

Only been here once, but I was not impressed. I got a «panini» that came on a pita (???) and had clearly never seen the inside of a panini press. My fries were unsalted, which is an irreversible condition once they’ve been out of the fryer oil for eight seconds. My boyfriend got a burger and thought it was good, but we hadn’t eaten all day and I feel confident saying his standards were low. However, the waitstaff was perfectly lovely and timely.

This place is gross! GROSS! It is filthy, dingy, and the food sucks, and the waitstaff are not that good. Everytime i get a cup of coffee, the cups are dirty. I finaly just stoped going there. With so many choices in Hackettstown, why would you ever want to go there?

Standard diner fair. Standard diner service. Nothing more, nothing less. Completely satisfactory.

Outstanding food and terrible service. Out waitress was sick tonight and was coughing up a storm and using her hand to cough into. Then she was carrying our food.
She also forgot my coffee.

I thought the diner was a decent place my first two times going there. Food and service was satisfactory. Then my third and fourth visits there were disappointing. I had major issues with the service and food. I give it a two stars for cleanliness, menu selection and overall price.