Al’s Diner

Al’s is your basic small town diner. I grew up with this place and always loved to go through their drive through on the way to school to get the tiny fried hashbrowns with cheese on top. I recently went back with my husband and a friend for breakfast and it did not disappoint. Service was slow, but we were there on a Saturday morning and the place was packed. My over easy eggs were cooked perfectly and the hashbrowns were exactly as I remembered. All of us left completely stuffed. I can’t speak for their lunch or dinner, but their breakfast is solid. The portions are huge and you can’t beat the price.

Just had the worst rueben.
The pastrami didn’t seem high quality, and the swiss cheese was some kind of mayonnaise and cheese sauce mix, and there was a lot of it. Yuk.

Small town diner just west of downtown Pittsboro. If you love diner food, this place does it right! It’s the kind of place where the waitresses know all the locals and «y’all» is heard often.
Very supportive of the local community and worth a trip from Chapel Hill, Apex, etc. if you want a down-​home meal. They have a drive through too! Patty melt was one of the best I’ve had. Their breakfast is also great. Prices are super reasonable.
P. S. They just voluntarily gave me a tea to go!

This is a basic diner in a small town. Breakfast, especially the biscuits, are great. They serve very good vegetables at lunch and dinner and have daily specials. The hot chips with ranch are delicious as are their collard greens and sandwiches. Poppy Seed Chicken usually served on Mondays is a favorite. If you are looking for a place to eat quickly and simply, especially for breakfast or lunch, this is the place.

I went here about a year ago ordered a vegetable quesadilla. Literally got home and was dying of food poisoning. I got a fever and was throwing up for hours. I will never go back there.

Egg and cheddar cheese biscuit and a jumbo tea. Yum. Nothing fancy here, but decent food and really friendly service.

I took a class at the CCCC campus in Pittsboro as a refresher for grad school. It met twice a week in 3 hour sessions and, inevitably, I wanted a snack. Al’s filled this hole admirably a number of times. ;-)
To be fair, I’ve only done their drive-​thru and generally gotten their fast food staples, not breakfast or veggies. However, their onion rings are some of the best in the area with homemade ranch on the side, which is addictively good. Burgers are a solid choice, as are other sandwiches. I like my chicken with grilled onions and they oblige me. I’ll agree with Fred that the hotdog is not a shining example of the genre.
If you want some quick, down home food on a budget and Cookout’s no where to be seen, stop by. They’re sweet and prices are nice.

It’s hard not to love this place. A lot of food for a small price. Breakfast is great here and lunch and dinner only gets better. The meatloaf is my favorite. On a side note, you know a place is good when your inlaws from NJ, where great diners are plentiful, say this place is great.

Tiny, plain place on the western side of Pittsboro which serves classic diner food — good breakfast choices, nice burgers, decent enough hot dog, and some daily lunch specials — you walk in and would not be at all surprised to hear Flo yell «Kiss my grits».
I like the breakfast items here, usual suspects, but well done, and fairly quick. Hamburger is very nice, diner thin and greasy. Hot dog is serviceable, not my first choice in this area, Allen & Son down on ¹⁵⁄₅₀₁ has a killer dog, and great BBQ — but I’ve eaten one or two from here. Skip the fries, no taste, and probably little nutritional value.
Good, friendly small town folks here. Prices are reasonable. And they have a drive thru, as well. Stop by.

Wait staff: Four stars. Food: two-​and-​a-​half stars. Al’s Diner serves standard fare at a very reasonable price. Very reasonable. Al’s is a small diner that looks like it may have been a converted bank — or maybe it always was a diner with a drive-​through window. It’s hard to tell. The interior is unremarkable, standard diner, décor. The wall on one side is decorated with Elvis memorabilia.
In any case, I’ve only been to Al’s once and that was for breakfast. The food was basic but you get a lot of it for the price. Even with coffee, you can still come out stuffed with food for ten bucks or less. What really makes the place come alive, though, is the waitresses and their interactions with the locals. Holy cow! I learned a lot about Pittsboro politics from the non-​politicians and what to expect if you were idiotic enough to pinch one of the waitresses (you’d better duck — fast). It took me a while to finish eating since I kept laughing at the conversation between one particular waitress and a customer. Good service and some laughter can make anything memorable. Al’s gets five stars for this experience, alone.
If you’re looking for haute cuisine, don’t stop here. If you’re looking for passable food, lots of it, but don’t want to spend a lot, Al’s is a good choice.