Mountaineer Cafe

Come here and expect: super casual, inexpensive, a 100% neighborhood joint
What I got from it: Looking for a place in Madison VA wasn’t hard, and I hoped that whatever I walked into was going to be decent.
Folks, this place is more than decent, it’s a community paradise.
On a road trip with my friend coming from DC and going to Lynchburg, I could only hope that we would run into a great eatery. This place looks like a diner, and when we drove by it, the most promising thing I noticed was that it had nothing but large trucks in its parking lot, as if it was holding a truck owner meetup. I knew that meant there were men in that diner who trusted it for great grub, so my friend and I definitely were happy to give it a try.
We ordered the double patty bacon cheeseburger that comes with chips, and we split an order of onion rings. I was immediately in love with those rings: the batter was subtly sweet, and they were not over done. That burger also hit the spot with its meat and cheese and bacon just having a grand o’ party in my mouth.
The guys in the place were cool. They said hello, and the staff was awesome and friendly.
Totally worth your try. It’s a diner with no fancy frills, and for once I was please with that.

Stopped here for lunch on the way to northern Virginia from Charlottesville. Hadn’t heard of it before, but followed a roadside sign because we wanted something different.
Such a cute hole in the wall place. The food was excellent as was the service. Our server was very sweet and welcoming, and the food was great. It’s not going to work if you’re looking for gourmet, but I’m not a gourmet kinda girl. I had the salty country ham with baked tomatoes and potato wedges, my mom had the classic liver and onions. They gave her so much liver it looked like she hadn’t touched it when she was done! I had the perfect amount of food for a good solid lunch.
Will bring my husband back for him to try it out. Adding to our restaurant rotation. Solid four stars.

Excellent. Almost missed this wonderful café and diner. The staff were warm and welcoming. Breakfast was great — especially the pancakes.

Super friendly staff! I was in a huge rush to get to Charlottesville and needed a quick snack. Food looked great and would have loved to have sat down to eat. I let them know I was in a rush and they quickly boxed up some potato salad and coleslaw and rolls. All were very fresh and tasty at a great price. Place was filled with friendly locals. Will be back to sit down next time.

HUNGRY? Looking for good food that really will hit the spot? This is THE place. This is not fine dining by any means, but rather a random hole in the walls hidden on a side road for the locals. Thank you Unilocal for guiding us here.
They give you a heaping serving of whatever you may be craving for breakfast with a nice large cup of coffee to send you off on your trip. I still fondly think of this place and prob will stop by next time I’m in the area.

Stopped on the way back to DC from Shenandoah. Crab cake was delicious and fries were good too. The grilled ham and cheese was just ok. The best part about the meal was the pie at the end! Baked fresh and delicious. We had the toll house pie and Oreo pie but wanted to try everything. Appropriately priced and very friendly service. Worth the stop.

Delicious breakfast. Country ham is very good, biscuits are great… chipped beef terrific. .pancakes, awesome. Lovely, clean and fantastic service.

Had a high-​quality country breakfast here the other day. Love hitting up these small diner-​type places after long hikes. Will definitely return!

Stopped by mountaineer café on the way down to Birmingham, Va. Loved the place. Food was good for the value, won’t find any better prices! Fried mushrooms were delicious. All their pies are home made and the black berry pie was amazing. Staff are warm and friendly. Definitely recommend this place as a nice road side stop.

Was looking for breakfast with the family but most places in stop serving breakfast after 10:30am. Starting driving up 29 and bumped into to Madison and found this place. Just a good old diner with lots of locals. The food is basic and on a Sunday it was a little slow but the service was friendly. You can tell this is the town meeting place. Prices were very reasonable. And the town seems like a great place to take a walk with lots of cute little businesses and wonderful old buildings.
I would like to come back again for lunch or dinner.

A group of us ate here for a Sunday morning breakfast. The service was incredibly friendly, and the food was more than adequate. A few of us had the biscuits and sausage gravy, which we weren’t wild about, thinking the gravy lacked the proper amount of sausage. Others in our group ordered the standard egg and home fries options, and everyone was happy. The coffee kept on coming. I’d certainly come here again.

We were visiting the Shenandoah park, and staying at a near by town called Stanardvile, in the morning we decided to explore the area and we ended up in Madison.
We found the Mountaineer Café very simple place, clean, bright, clean bathroom all your need in a morning breakfast place nothing fancy at all (not that its a bad thing).
I ordered the pan cakes and they were great pancakes, I also tried biscuit with eggs and cheese which my wife ordered it wasnt bad at all.

Stopped in for lunch on the drive back to NoVa from Carolina.
Easy access on/​off Route 29 — Business.
They have daily lunch specials, Thursday is fried chicken. You get two boneless breasts with two vegetables and a bevegage for $ 7.95.
The chicken portions were sizable, I opted for the fried squash and the potato salad.
The squash was very good, the p salad… ok, if you like mustard based.
The iced tea was exceptional!
You can sit on one of five stools at the lunch counter or they have several tables.
Lot’s of glass, sunny, open and airy.
They also have a ‘wall of fame’ with old football jerseys of Madison HS players going back to the 40’s. A nice touch of local history.

Cool little spot. When I’m in town visiting Mom, we usually hit the Pig & Steak at least once for some buckets of grease. This time she suggested the Mountaineer, as she’d heard good things about it since it changed ownership (maybe a year ago?).
We rolled in on a cold Friday about 1pm to find a relatively empty restaurant; only one table was occupied, which is never a good sign. Undeterred, we sat & perused the well-​worn paper menus. I went with some sandwich (can’t remember the name): roast beef, cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, on (un-​grilled???) texas toast. Mom had the Hoagie, which was kinda a Philly Cheese steak with steakums (the real ones), cheese, mayo, lettuce, onions, etc. GMA had Chicken Fried Steak with toast, stewed tomatoes, and green beans.
The two sandwiches were good — nothing out of the ordinary, but exactly what we were looking for, and both came with crispy greasy crinkle-​cut fries. The Steak was a good portion covered in simple brown gravy, cooked well. Stewed tomatoes seemed made in-​house with plenty of sugar, while the beans were cooked southern style with plenty of salt & steamed soft. Yummmm…
Service was good & prompt and prices were wonderfully reasonable. Only complaint is the terrible cold coffee my GMA got.
Nothing gourmet, but just what we wanted — cheap, good, filling, and greasy. Well done Mountaineers.