R & M’s Southside Diner

Sunday afternoon dinner was quite delicious. Roast beef, fries and stuffing was smothered in a flavorful brown gravy. Strawberry shortcake with ice cream was the best. Great service, wonderful atmosphere, and reasonable prices.

Food was amazing. Stopped on a whim and will be coming back. Connie had great suggestions and an even better attitude! She was spot on with recommending the prime rib sandwich and the chicken and dumplings. Make sure to save room for pie!

This was the first place we ate when moving into town over 16 years ago and since then my wife and I have eaten here numerous times. It’s not always been perfect but we’ve enjoyed it and always came back. Yet with literally hundreds of options for eating out within 30 minutes, it sometimes takes the little things to really turn you off.
Tonight we ordered the meatloaf special and decided to split it between us. We each had the wedding soup (loved it) and ordered green beans to go with the standard mashed potatoes. Then my wife had a craving for apple sauce and asked the waitress for a side. At the end we decided to order a piece of pie to go. The meal was what we expected — diner food and we were fine with that.
Then the bill came — over $ 28! For a split meal at a diner! OK, so I’ve become immune to $ 1.99 drinks everyone charges now (or more) but what caught my eye was $ 2.49 for a saucer of apple sauce. Yes, $ 2.49 for a few tablespoons of apple sauce from a can. Like, REALLY? Give me a break, this was just blatant spit in your eye greed. Making it worse, when I mentioned it while checking out all I got was a shrug and a, «Yeah, that’s the price.»
OK then, maybe we’ll make more use of those hundreds of options in the future.

Although the interior décor could be updated just a bit, it’s nice to look at memorabilia from years past while you converse and wait on your food. They serve mostly comfort food but also have a fabulous variety of desserts.
What my favorite part of the place is the amazing, large candy selection that it is widely known for.
The peanut butter cup pie rocks btw. SOOO good!

I’m assuming that you understand when giving stars to a restaurant it doesn’t mean that out of ALL the restaurants you’ve ever been in, this one ranks 4 stars.
No. Not how it works.
It means that out of all the restaurants of this type, it gets four stars. There’s no way this would rank a four against Pok Pok out in Portland or Wasabi in Seattle, two of my favorite restaurants.
But, when you’re talking about a small town in Ohio that tends to lean towards home cooking, then this restaurant is a four. The place is über kitschy. Games and toys and posters and media from long ago times.
I felt like playing a hardcore game of Twister after eating here.
The food was good, the kraut salad reeeeaaally good. Comfort food, no frills (at all), old booths, ample portions, and nice staff. On the menu: jello salads. Yes, jello salads. Several kinds. So old fashioned it was endearing.
Our server was just brimming with excitement that it was our first time there. She really believes in this little restaurant. No joke.
The folks of Mt. Vernon like it to. I can see why.
Eating here made me feel good about small town living. Plus, they have a whole hallway of old time (and current) candy.
How can you miss?

My party of two was here for a Sunday dinner earlier this month. No wait for a table although it was really packed, and we saw a number of families leaving as we arrived. Prompt service appreciated. We each selected one of their specials of the day, chicken with dressing. Flavor far surpassed what I was expecting; the dressing really tasted homemade, and the mashed was tasty and made of «real» spuds! Other choice of sides reflected the down-​home atmosphere with baby lima beans, cottage cheese with pineapple, and other fresh-​prepared vegetables. A great meal and when I’m back in Mt. Vernon, this is where I’ll head. I’d love to be there for one of their hearty breakfasts next time!

Great food and service at an old-​fashioned all-​American diner. Great value for money. Desserts are superb. One of the best around!

This is a typical greasy spoon diner. I usually get the south side omelette and I love it. The downside here can be the food is not always consistent. There are also some servers that you definitely don’t want to get.

Best place in town for «down home» cooking, especially for weekend brunch! Always have great service, decent coffee, and good company.

I got eggs over easy and they were hard, hash browns crispy were not even close to being crispy and the server said that is as good as we can get them, TERRIBLE,
country fried steak was not done. Will not go back!!!

I’ve never understood the appeal of South Side Diner. But everyone, and I mean everyone in this town loves it. If I had to rate this place on the food alone, I would have to give it a 3. There is really nothing spectacular on the menu. It is really just old fashion home cooking. So if that’s what you’re into, you’re in luck. And the products they do try to branch out with «anything including egg plant» steer clear from. Just greasy and unappetizing. The price however keeps me going back because it’s a very affordable place to go. I must warn any out of towner, if you want to eat here, Avoid Sunday, avoid this place like the plague on Sunday. It’s packed to the max because I guess all the older people don’t know that there are other restaurants in town they can go to after church. I’ve never had poor service here, the staff has always been friendly, I guess that’s small town charm.
If you do find yourself eating at this establishment, try the pie. It’s excellent. The peanut butter is my favorite, and I truly don’t like pie all that much.

Absolutely fantastic. I’m very picky about eggs, especially, and these are among the best I’ve ever had. Everything else was great too. Highly recommended.

We went here for breakfast. I got the banana and nuts pancakes. The toppings were just thrown on top of the pancakes where I expected everything to be cooked in together. The water cups were super small and the service was okay. The reason I gave it two stars as opposed to one is that the place is huge and has a cool atmosphere. There is a lot of stuff on the walls and to look at.

Whenever I visit Mount Vernon from out of state, I always go out of my way to come here for breakfast. The best diner breakfast around. Portions are huge. I love the big dining room and nostalgic décor as well.

We stopped in for dinner after a afternoon on the Kokosing GapTrail. The place was fairly busy and the people were very friendly. We were seated right away and promptly waited on. The regulars were going on about how good the food was. My gal had the real McCoy burger and I the Spaghetti and Meatballs.
Here burger was pretty good, but the frozen fries were undercooked. My Spaghetti was served with those previously frozen meatballs. The sauce had a strange smokey taste to it. Not something I would try again. The server was nice and the place was decent. The food-​not so much.

Southside always serves fresh, hot food! I’ve had the breakfast once or twice and it was good, but the thing I have always raced about is their hamloaf! It’s better than my grandma’s (which is hard to do), and their sauce is outstanding!
Other things that I love are their curly fries with beef gravy and their hash brown casserole! Everything is scrumptious here!

If you’re looking for fresh, this isn’t your place. But then again, there aren’t really many fresh options in Mount Vernon! I’ve been here several times with my family. Generally speaking the waitstaff does a fair job (minus one awful waitress). I would never go for anything other than breakfast. You just have to go expecting greasy diner food. I didn’t get to try it, but two family members ordered the Southside omelette recently, and it looked like a good choice!

We tried this place based on Unilocal reviews and were not disappointed! My daughter and I were staying in Mt. Vernon overnight to visit Kenyon College, and tried Southside Diner for dinner. Atmosphere is quirky and nostalgic with old signs, toys, and random stuff lining the walls. The menu has an insane number of specials, a really lengthy list of salad permutations, and an equally long dessert menu.
We had some delicious deep-​fried macaroni and cheese (much better than the various hipster takes on this I’ve had back in Boston) and then I had the chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes and my daughter had the hamburger steak with mushrooms and gravy. The chicken was moist and flavorful with delicious noodles that seemed homemade, and it tasted exactly as I was anticipating: good old-​fashioned comfort food like your grandmother would have served. The mashed potatoes were instant, but then that added to the overall comfort-​food effect.
For dessert we had a slice of the fresh peach pie and a slice of the strawberry – wow to both. Each was a shortbread-​like crust filled with tender and flavorful fresh fruit in glaze, topped with whipped cream (from a can – again, it’s that kind of place). Delicious! I’d love to return and try the other 24 varieties of pie, not to mention the cakes.

Visiting a old Navy friend he took us to this quaint little place. I loved the atmosphere and the service however i was very disappointed with my entrée. i ordered to pork chops but what came to my table was a plate with to big bland ham steaks with a bone attached. I couldnt doctor it up whatsoever. The rest of my party were thrilled with their meal. So i attribute my experience to not selecting one of their specialties. Even after all of that i would still go back there to eat again… just not the pork chops! Stay classy Mt Vernon

My dad and I stumbled into this place on a country drive from Columbus. I ordered the roast beef with stuffing, macaroni salad and French fries. My dad ordered the lake perch with coleslaw and fries. The initial service was a little slow, but it seemed to fit the pace of the town, so no qualms. Water service was lacking but the food made up for it. The potroast was delectable, moist, fresh, as was the stuffing. The fish was fresh and crisp, very tasty. Fries were nothing extraordinary. The macaroni salad and coleslaw tasted exactly as they should. For desert, we had a piece of strawberry pie, scratch made by an Amish baker. It was unbelievably good. Light cream topping, fresh strawberries, not too surgery, with a light flakey crust. The pie alone was worth the experience.