Mel’s Diner

Staff were friendly and efficient, place was clean, food was so bad I took activated charcoal when I got home to prevent food poisoning. SO BAD!

Don’t let the outside fool you. The exterior is original for the 70’s. The inside is clean and renovated. This place has its regulars which should speak for itself, the servers are very attentive and friendly. The food is your usual diner fare no twists and frivolity Ed. It’s the original location for the sitcom Alice so there is a little nostalgia. Over all its a good place to eat breakfast or lunch, i would come back again.

I had intended to come here in the 70s when the sitcom was popular, but never made it. I had forgotten about this little gem until I Unilocaled restaurants in this area of town. The iconic sign brings back memories of «Alice». I stepped back in time as I walked through the door. The walls are adorned with autographed photos of the stars that made this place famous. The diner is showing its age. Some of the linoleum tile is lifting and the restrooms are out dated. The wait staff is friendly.
I ordered biscuits and gravy, sausage patties, and scrambled eggs. The breakfast was average the service was good. Except for the nostalgia of eating here, there’s nothing special. I would try the all you can eat fish fry on Wednesday or Friday if I happen to be in the area again, but I wouldn’t make a special trip.

I am so sad to write this review.
My December review was a glowing one and since then I went back to try their all you can eat their fish and chips for $ 9.99 We tried the bargain meal and found it to be delightful. Didn’t bother to write it up because I had already given Mel’s Diner a great review so why repeat myself?
We decided to have the fish and chips again. Why not? Delicious is delicious, right?
Well today not so much. The fish was heavy and thick and we discovered why. The crust was so thick it was an entity onto itself. I mean rolls of thickness. This was NOT the case the last time we ate it. I left my food but hubby decrusted all the fish, ate it and did not ask for any more. This is highly unusual since this is an all you can eat promotion and he can put away quite a bit. To give you an idea of the heaviness of the crust, please note the photo. I have never experienced something like this before. I even thought that the fish I tasted was not fully cooked on the inside because the crust was so thick it kept the fish from fully cooking.
The waitress was nice enough when we explained what was wrong with the fish but it is really not her fault.
Not returning.

Had to try Mel’s — grew up on Alice My first impression was ‘this is a place that has a lot of regulars’ and I know why! Best pancakes I have had in a while — and as I ate, my impression was confirmed. Waitresses knew so many customers by name and knew about their lives. Very friendly fast and efficient. Fun to see old photos on the wall too.

The real Alice TV Show Restaurant, enjoy being there like the show without cast, and reminisce and have great food, but no Grits

I’ve been to Mel’s Diner a hand full of times in the past 6 months. Nothing fancy, but clean, and comfortable. The food has been pretty good, portions large, and my coffee cup full. I love the chili… really good flavor with a bit of heat… service has been good and I have always been able to be in and out in under an hour.
My experience yesterday has me wondering if I will go back. Two of my coworkers and I went to Mel’s for an early lunch around 11:30. The place was busy, but once seated, our server (younger female, lots of tats) took our drink order which we got right away and soon after took our food order (3 chef salads and a BLT)…we were engrossed in conversation and about 45 min later we notices most of the other customers had left and we still had not received our food. We continued to look around for the server. When spotted she did not make eye contact with us but continued to buss tables and attend to a table in the back room. When we finally got her attention… with a really bad attitude, she made excuses about being busy… the other side was full and there was a large group… no apology about the delay… or when our food would be out (the only thing we ordered that required «cooking» was the toast for the BLT). She didn’t even offer to refill our empty drinks… she went about bussing tables and tending to customers coming in… we were hungry and continued to wait… each time she came around the corner we hoped to see our food, but nothing. We had to get something to eat and get back to work, so we got up to leave. When walking up to pay for our drinks, one of the servers thanked us for coming in… our server never said a thing. We made a comment to the woman at the register about our situation and still no appology. Just told us how much we owed, and took our money… as we left we saw what appeared to be our order in the window behind the counter… very disappointing. I’ve worked in restaurants myself and know things get busy… that’s what you hope for in that business, but this is no way to treat customers… we would have stayed if the server had left the nasty attitude behind and apologized for the delay… a refill of our coffee would have been nice too. Instead, we left and went to McGurkeys… great service… great food.

I arrived at 11:50am. I got my food at 12:30pm. The food was fantastic but the service can use a little work.
The servers seemed stressed and hectic and the dishwasher was walking around giving dirty looks and slamming things. The service was slow and the cooks were behind and were being yelled at by the manager. The restaurant was pretty clean except the dirty dish bin located underneath the bar counter. I ordered a burger with onion rings. The burger was juicy and very tasty. The onion rings were also fantastic. Reminded me of burger king onion rings. I would consider coming back to try a different item on the menu

We love Mel’s Diner and have been coming here for years. They have excellent service and fabulous food. We have had many different breakfast and lunch options and all are very good. I am particularly fond of the gyro Omelet and my hubby likes their pork chops and eggs. Come visit. I don’t think you will be disappointed. We never are!

Great atmosphere reminds me of the old diners I used to go to growing up reasonable prices and good service and highly recommended

Fantastic!
Don’t let the old, vintage sign fool you, Mel’s is very clean inside and has great food! The staff is all friendly and smiling. Ask for Marianna, she will treat you like family!
Give this landmark diner a try! You will not be disappointed! If you don’t like it, kiss my grits! :)

Was in the area visiting a friend and came across this little diner (that I guess was featured in a show before my time). The selection of food is just what you expect from a diner, quality is good and everything I had was done well. The waitress was friendly and they move pretty quickly. I’ll be back if in the area

I came here for the nostalgia and was pleasantly surprised that the food was yummy too! If we want to keep places like these open, we have to keep supporting them. Be a shame to lose a place like this

Fun historic place to eat where the television show «Alice» was filmed. Good food and friendly service in a clean, classic diner setting.

Underrated and overlooked. Mel’s for breakfast is awesome! Generous portions at a fair price.

These are the hash browns that elicit paragraphs of purple prose on the art of the perfect hash brown: crispy outside, creamy inside.
The bacon is pretty damn good, too,
It’s important to remember that Mel’s is not a loving, Disneyfied, hipster recreation of a vintage dive diner. It is an actual dive diner, divey continuously for however many decades, originated in the era when Phoenix was the spot on the highway where your radiator blew.
As a genuine dive. It’s quite magnificent. Service is quick and unpretentious, food is good, prices are low, and you can have gravy on your biscuits and salsa on your eggs.

I want to give this place 5 stars but I’m saving that for a meal that gives me an orgasm. This place was close! Super clean, friendly staff and fast service. The food had a home made feel and was prepared perfectly. Some of the nicest and funny waitresses yet and they never let my coffee get cold. Very reasonable prices. Five star worthy.

I was looking for a place to take my parents while they were in town. Let’s just say this wasn’t one of my finer selections. I called ahead to see if they took reservations since it was noon on a Sunday. They just said «we close at 2.» Ok… My parents called for directions and were told «I don’t know, I only know how to get here from my house.»
It’s a novelty that the movie «Alice» was filmed here and the outside was used in stills for the tv show, but other than that there’s no reason to attract visitors. The service was not very good, it took awhile for a waitress to take our order. We waited 45 minutes for our food (nothing too complex, eggs, French toast, a salad). I will say the waitress did a great job with quality control because she sent one order of eggs back before it came to us since it wasn’t cooked over easy as we’d ordered. Food was mediocre. The potatoes and eggs were dry.
We won’t be back. They get 1 star for being featured in «Alice» and one star for serving us edible food.

I can’t believe I’ve been in-​out-​around-​about Phoenix-​Tempe-​Scottsdale for more than twenty years, let alone the fact that Mel’s has been here all this time and I only just learned of it via a friend who takes photos of vintage signs.
«There’s a new girl in town… and she’s feel in’ gooood!»
The premise of the 1976 – 1985 tv sitcom «Alice» (played by Linda Lavin) is that she’s on her cross-​country way to L.A. but her car breaks down in Phoenix. She gets a job at «Mel’s Diner»…“and if things work out, she’s gonna staaaay aaaawhile. bum bum bum bum baaaaa.” Intro theme song:
(just in case you want it to get stuck in your head too.)
The diner inside is not as seen in the show, but the sign is still there and there’s local history behind it. There are framed newspaper clippings and the menu acknowledges the show’s three waitresses: Alice, Vera, Flo and the owner: Mel.
Besides the history, you’ve got present day diner goodness. Fresh coffee, omelets, eggs, pancakes, biscuits and gravy and did you try the grits?! Unlike the show’s Flo, there was no loudmouthed, beehived-​redhead shouting out those three words at us but I still had a flashback:
In the ‘80s, iron-​on t-​shirts/​jerseys were all the rage. My mother wouldn’t let me get Flo’s «KISS MY GRITS.» Do I digress? I don’t! Regress, maybe. A reason this place speaks ‘50s diner is that it has those «space age» tabletops that were popular in kitchens during that era. I sat at a kitchen table like that, wearing my second choice «I was the kind of kid your parents didn’t want you to hang out with» iron-​on jersey and scarfing down my food like all good kids who had to «hurry up and eat so you can go watch tv!»
Now, at a retro-​tabletop window-​seat booth in Phoenix, all of my little worlds collide when I come to Mel’s. Side note and further collision: we’d seen Linda Lavin perform at Chicago’s Goodman theatre awhile back with a truly all-​star cast:
Enough of memory lane! (Though if you feel like continuing, note that «Mel’s Diner» is located just shy to the west of Phoenix’s historic F.Q. Story Neighborhood District.) Ding!
What about counter seating? It’s always been full at the counter when we’ve arrived, but I do intend to hop up there and watch the food come hot off the line. I may have to bring my own little bell though. I don’t remember a bell at modern-Mel’s. (Now, I’m digressing.)
Ding!
Dingbat! Birdbrain! Oh wow, I’m remembering more… that’s what Mel used to call Vera. Bum bum bum bum baaaaa.

I love the old diner feel – not old look new but truly old. Had a standard breakfast of poached eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast. All was fine, none was the best I ever had but there isn’t much one can do to fancy up a poached egg.
Went at 11am on a Sunday and there was no crowd.