Merry Ann’s Diner

Went here for breakfast on a trip to Normal. The booths were too tight for four adults. The food was simple but good.

This place was horrific. I ordered «fresh» lemonade and I proceed to see the waiter pouring lemon flavored powder into a cup of water and calling that fresh lemonade?! Also the food was bland and cold. Skip this unless you’re up late at night, want to go out and are completely desperate.

Ordered a rare double hamburger. I received the driest most well done double cheeseburger I’ve ever encountered. The fries were very cold and the portions were tiny. A friend of mine did not get her full order and her biscuits and gravy were unable to be cut with a fork and knife. Another friend got food poisoning from hash browns somehow?

Solid go to spot on the ISU campus. Above average food, good value, and a friendly staff. Not a celebration or treat place but definitely a step above fast food if it’s not a brown bag kind of day.

They served me a hot dog on a moldy bun, which I noticed after I had already taken a bite. After showing my waiter, he only offered me 15% off of my meal so I paid my bill and left. Will not be returning.

If you’re intoxicated and need a greasy spoon this is a reasonable place to go. We decided to head here when we made a short stop in town, the recommendation came from an employee in the train station. We were disappointed with the quality of the food. The wait staff was courteous but could not beheld responsible for slow service time. A silver lining was that there was no hair in the food!

Decent food. I only go there when it’s late and everywhere else is closed. The employees are not the friendliest but who is at 3 in the morning:

Great prices, great food and coffee, and cool retro style.
Had bacon mushroom cheese omelet with Hash browns well done and short stack sub for toast plus coffee all for under 10 bucks.
What more could u want.

Ok I get it, it’s a college diner. Coffee was very good and our server kept it full. But any diner needs to be able to cook the diner basics: eggs, sausage, bacon, toast.
Eggs were way overcooked and dry. Bacon was burnt and toast was stale. But the grossest part: the sausage links were raw and cold in the middle. They are going to get someone sick.
Add to that the fact that all of the food came out at different times and we had to wait the longest for the raw sausage, I don’t think we need to hit this place again.

Cute little diner, took our son there today. He starts ISU tomorrow and he had biscuits and gravy! Great way to start the school year off and even got him a gift card to use later!

I was in town for a baseball tournament and our hotel was not providing free continental breakfast (seriously?!). So, my assistant coach and I needed to find a restaurant that would: 1. Satisfy our massive appetites and 2. Not break the bank. We are baseball coaches, after all!
We had walked by this diner the day before and noticed the 2−2 – 2-​$ 3.99 poster in the window. Every day. 2 eggs. 2 pancakes. 2 pieces of ham. For $ 3.99. Amazing deal. I wasn’t expecting much, but the portion was very generous… and the flavor was delicious!
The pancakes were just like you get from any pancake House back home. The ham was smoky and flavorful and the eggs were… well eggs. Overall, I think I paid $ 6 for the meal. I also got to fulfill one of my lifelong goals: eat breakfast at the counter of a local diner.
They also have a special for each night of the week. Sandwiches, burgers, etc. Great prices, great food. Loved it and will definitely go back if I’m in town again.

Cute little place! And very good to have an all nighter place on a college campus. This place has a cool little retro vibe going for it with a few pieces of modern art, but it sort of felt disjointed to me, however they did have very good service.

I was worried that the food was plain, but I was so wrong.
The fries: perfect.
The burger: perfect (my datemate got a double and they put tomato on both layers, not just the top)
The biscuits n gravy: only complaint: biscuits were smaller than expected, but I’m from the south so it’s probably just a southern thing to have giant biscuits.
Toast, eggs, sausage, hash browns: all perfect.
We’ve also had dessert. The strawberry milkshake was so rich and topped with so much whipped cream. Best milk shake I’ve ever had.
I feel like the cherry pie was average, but hey, it was cherry pie, so it was good.
The coconut cream pie was so light and fluffy.
The best part – it’s all cheap. Staff was friendly and got along well. Cute interior.
It was over all, a wonderful experience. They’ve found themselves new customers, and new regulars.
Disclaimer:
I did not eat all of that at once I had bites of my datemate’s food and we shared the milkshake, which we, unfortunately, couldn’t finish because we were just so full.
TL;DR:
Food was portioned nicely, cooked to perfection, and all super delicious as well as super cheap.

The staff is really nice here! I love coming for the daily lunch specials and the free wifi! Great place to eat when you need something cheap but don’t want to swing for fast food.

I can just imagine people stumbling home drunk might pass this diner at the wee hours of the morning and instantly become hungry. Good thing they’re open 24 hours to accommodate those drunk needs, and even more, the food is greasy to soak up the alcohol. The sober person can venture here and find decently priced diner food as well.

First walking into the diner I was pleased with the simple lay out of the building. Staff was friendly and were persistent with checking on our water cups. Food hit the spot, however a bug did crawl on my friends shoulder which made him distraught for the rest of his dining experience. We will try this place again, and have their milkshakes which supposedly bring all the boys to the yard. Bathrooms were so clean I could eat of their floors.

So I was in Uptown Normal. The Rock was closed (whoever told me it opened at 9am lied) so I tried Merry Ann’s instead.
Merry Ann’s is average at best. I had the mushroom omelet. It came with hash browns and toast. Service was quick and the waitress was nice. The food was meh. You’d be better off going to Denny’s or IHOP. But if you’re stuck in Uptown Normal and it’s late and you don’t have a ride, then I guess one could settle for Merry Ann’s.
Ideally, I’d give this place a 2.5, so it’s very hard for me to decide between a 2 and a 3. I’ll give it a 3 because the service was good. The service saved this place from being a 2.

I had the #1 breakfast combo which included two eggs, ham, toast and hash browns. Seems like a pretty ordinary combination that a diner should excel at. .. Unfortunately, it was mediocre. The ham and eggs were both overcooked and the hashbrowns were too crispy and I like crispy hash browns normally. The coffee was also only okay.

This place is awesome! Their daily specials are a great deal!
The service is great and food is excellent. If you are a breakfast lover you HAVE to try this place out! They allow you to substitute pancakes or french toast for FREE instead of the standard toast that comes with the meal.
Dinner food is great too.
All credit/​debit cards are accepted!

Based on other reviews, some people are a bit picky for a college-​town street corner diner. I certainly preferred this place to Zorba’s who once sold us a hair with ‘breakfast’ around it…
We had 7 in our group on a Saturday morning (in town for a wedding) and it felt good to be back in Blo/​No even if it was just one night, but basically I had no idea this place existed until those equipped with smartphones came to the rescue.
They seated us at two tables, five ladies at one, two gentlemen at the other, which was great because us dudes could spread out and enjoy our meat… then losen our buckles to recover from the meal.
The server did scramble our orders (see what I did there?) but corrected it right away and no one’s feelings were hurt in the process. Unfortunately some at the other table didn’t exactly enjoy what they ordered, but that was not the case for us. Can’t go wrong with eggs bacon and hash browns. My second yolk was overcooked but we charged in there as a larger group and ordered at the same time… I can overlook the slight imperfection; the egg still tasted good.
I’d like to go back to try other items on the menu, so I’ll have to save that for the next visit to central Illinois. I certainly wish Merry Ann’s was around when I was a student, I won’t miss the days I bought breakfasts at CVS.