Lori’s Diner

Sadly a beautiful view to a very scummy restaurant. Owners are gone for sure. Food was poor quality. A lot of food left on customers plates.

I have Celiac Disease, and went here in hopes of a decent breakfast. My mind was blown. I got the Del Mar omelet, with millions of little bay shrimp in there, and it was amazing. I told the server I had a gluten allergy and he was very accommodating and made sure that I knew that the hash browns were safe to eat as well, since they’re cooked on their own little grill area. I got the feeling my request was somewhat unusual but the staff still dealt with it well and the food was AMAZING.

This is the first time I’ve been, just visiting the area. It’s located in Ghirardelli Square so the windows have a great view of the San Francisco Bay. The décor is diner and bright and they have some really cool vintage cars as furniture pieces. The edges of the tables were kind of oily looking, though, that’s extremely picky of me to even notice because it wasn’t at the main table surface. There were booth style tables that my group sat at which were really close to the neighboring tables. It didn’t take long to be seated and our waiter was averagely nice and helpful but I gave him about a 15% tip instead of a generous 20%. The food was pretty average and the wait for the food was fine. However getting the check took a while, and we noticed because we were on a schedule. I ordered Alfredo pasta and it was averagely good. The flavor and texture were fine, plus it came with chicken for a reasonable price, considering the area. My companions ordered burgers and fries and other stuff, and the fries were really good with ketchup. It didn’t stand out too much as a restaurant for me besides the great location.

Very average American food… Came in during lunch time, and their price is much lower than the neighbor restaurant. But the food and service are really average. Food is just u boil/​fried, taste is also average, nothing special

This is our second time eating here. The reason that I give 3 stars instead of 1 star was because all the staff I saw here are Latinos, same as myself. Also my wife and I both have had waited tables back days.
But the difference is the servers who working here seems don’t know they are working !
There were only two tables when we walked in. But 4 or 5 employees or their primos are sitting by the bar watching soccer on their phones. So exited about soccer teams. Didn’t even looked at us.
I am cool with that.
Sat down, still had to wait for the server taking our order. Later he drop the food, never come back again. That’s cool too.
But what wasn’t cool was my 2 kids sitting there had to listen those guys laughing & talking dirty words in Spanish to each other.
Never go back.

Wasted my food credits on a burger that tasted like a shoes inner sole. I guess when they didn’t ask what temperature I wanted it cooked I should have clicked. Heck, even chain restaurants at airports ask temperature.
The service sucks. They spent the entire time yelling back and forth at each other from the kitchen to the dining room. Seriously, it was unbelievable how non/​stop noisy they were.
Never ever returning

Maybe I just got lucky but this place wasn’t as bad as all the other reviews make it out to be. Was seated immediately with a great view of the harbor. The food was very overpriced for what it was but I expected it knowing the location we were in. The chicken tenders were decent and the clam chowder was very good. Would come again

Surrounded by fairly expensive boutique type stores and next to a decent steakhouse, you could be forgiven into thinking Lori’s retro diner is something to behold. It is not. Really unfriendly, ridiculously overpriced and super basic, shitty food. The guacamole with the greasy quesadilla looked old and the salsa was dry. The iceberg lettuce thrown on everything was wilted and brown at the edges. I know it’s a diner but we eat at Mel’s occasionally and they are way ahead of their game. And what’s with the no kids menu? It’s a diner FFS. Not sure why I’m giving it 2 stars. Maybe because there was enough leftovers for a hefty takeaway box that I gave to a homeless guy.

Absolutely amazing! When in this area, this place is a must! Especially everywhere else is long lines and much $! Check out the pix to get an understanding of best food ever! Btw… they treat you like family! Great restaurant and food!

Overall: 2.82÷5
Staff: 2.5÷5 — The service was definitely sub-​par. They did not make customers a priority whatsoever. They also seemed to want to rush you to decide what you wanted to eat so they could go back to doing whatever it was they were doing before you came in.
Atmosphere: ³⁄₅ — The atmosphere was pleasant. Very much what I expected from something with the word ‘diner’ in the title.
Menu: ³⁄₅ The menu was also acceptable. It didn’t have the best descriptions, and for some reason there was not quite as much food to choose from as I was expecting, but the design was fine.
Price: 2.8÷5 — Maybe I’m just used to Minneapolis prices, but it seemed a little pricey for the fish and chips to be 13.95 when it came with three fish sticks and minimal chips. The anchor steam was also priced at 4.95 which, for the quality was overpriced.
Quality of food: 2.8÷5 — It wasn’t bad. Not as good as I was expecting, and not as good for the price, but I ate everything I ordered and though I had to add some salt and pepper for flavor, it wasn’t awfully bland.

Really bad service! We waited about 10mins before a server greeted us. We would have walked out, but we were with our 2 small kids that were «HANGRY». While we were eating a couple got seated next to us. They waited a good 15mins with out anyone even noticing them so they left their menus and walked out.
Food was so-​so I split the spaghetti and clam chowder with my daughter and my husband ordered a burger with onion rings.
The burger came out with French fries instead of onion rings like we ordered, but instead of leaving the dish and just bringing out onion rings the waitress took the whole thing making him wait even longer while they swap out the fries.

Service was a bit slow for 2 pm lunch and the Clam Chowder sent back as it was undercooked. underwhelming BLT. Average place and average price and average quality. Get what you pay for here at Fishermans Wharf and Ghirardelli Square.

Ya know, my experience was NOT as bad as I thought it was going to be. I ordered the BLT and was given the choice of french fries or coleslaw. I asked if the coleslaw had a lot of mayo on it but the server just said, «There’s no mayo, it’s a coleslaw dressing.» I was confused because mayo is a huge ingredient in coleslaw (either that or they use ranch or something). I opted for the fries.
The BLT wasn’t horrible. It was as expected with a healthy amount of bacon.
The bathroom had poop smeared on the wall. You can’t give a restaurant on Unilocal a score above 2 when the bathroom has feces smeared on the wall.

Had lunch here! The food wasn’t too bad (I had the chicken tenders). The food that my friends had (burgers and fish sandwich) was «middle of the road» in taste. Our server was friendly but a little slow. With all that said, I would come back to this place.

Came here with hubs to grab a bite right before Ghirardelli uncorked festival. It had a amazing view of the harbour but I wished I had Unilocaled this place before letting hubs bring me here. It was a cute little diner type restaurant that looked like 50’s style décor.
We get seated or more like we seated ourselves. We get water right away and a little time to decided what we wanted. Hub went with their house burger and fries and I go with clam chowder bowl. It starts to picks up a little there and it seems there’s one cook, one server (who’s also doing the cashier) and one making drinks and busing tables.
I watch a table that came in after us get served and get their food first. Made me scratch my head a little. Food finally comes, hubs burger was decent with the seasoning, grilled onions and mushrooms but the bacon was way over cooked to the point where it was kinda rock hard, I took a bite and it hurt my teeth. My soup was warm not hot and not to mention my bread bowl was super hard and not soft like it should’ve been, right then and there I knew they microwaved it. I pretty much took 3 bites and pushed it away from me. We waited for the server to come back but hubs needed up going to look for her instead, told her the issue, she said she understood and that it was a new recipe they had and it changed after 13 years. Why would change something if it was good to begin with? Any who she offered me something else, told her no I was ok and she told us she would take it off our bill and apologized.
I ended up eating part of hubs food just to fill my stomach. At that point I just wanted to leave, never again will I make the mistake of not Unilocaling a place before going in before hand.

Bad service, expensive, dirty tables, chairs, and flatware. Food was decidedly mediocre.
$ 32 for 2 coffees, a plate of French toast, and 2 eggs and bacon (with hash browns and toast)
There are only two things that keep this from being a 0 star review. The spectacular view, and that Unilocal won’t let me give it no stars.
If you decide to go, at least get the 20% off coupon in the local guide/​map book.

Despite bad Unilocal reviews, I came here for lunch because of the great location and outdoor patio. The fact seats were actually open on such a beautiful day should have been an indicator.
Took forever to seat us. They were grossly understaffed for a Saturday. Took forever to take order. While ordering, realized they don’t even cook breakfast after a certain hour (weird for a diner…) and also some items on menu are never available. Took over an hour to bring our extremely basic orders. Naturally, I said something and they acknowledged that this wait time for a sandwich was ludicrous, ended up getting free milkshakes and 50% off our order. Acknowledging their fault is the only reason they got 2 stars instead of 1. When the food arrived, my lactose intolerant friend, who repeatedly specified a regular hamburger, got a cheeseburger. Waitress admitted she lost our ticket and tried doing it from memory. Clearly a fail. My turkey sandwich was bland and not worth paying any sum of money for a restaurant to make for me.
Anywho, I won’t be back. At least in the ridiculous wait and lousy meal, we sat in the sunshine overlooking the Bay. That’s what attracted us to Lori’s in the first place and probably the only reason they are still in business.

This was a fun themed place to try in San Francisco. We stopped in here while visiting Ghiradelli Square for lunch and it was a good meal.
Themed after the old diners our food was served quickly and it was all cooked perfectly. I would definitely eat lunch here again, and there was a lot to choose from if you are traveling with children.

This place has a gorgeous view, but that’s about all that’s super fantastic about this place.
My friend and I had about an hour before we wanted to go somewhere else, and the service was really slow. We were out at a table for about 15 minutes before we gave up and ordered food to go (which took about 20 minutes). The food was decent and decently priced, but I’m glad we didn’t wait around based on what others have said about the service.
Too, there was a weird surcharge on our bill to cover the worker’s health insurance. I’m all about preventative health care, so I didn’t mind, but it was strange.
I’d recommend trying somewhere else before trying this place.

The service here sucks. There’s is seriously no other way to put it. I know it’s hard to get good help. But really? This place is disgusting. I watched the waiter pick up a pitcher of water with his grubby chubby hands half in the water. He then sets it down and picks up the handle to pour a glass. The grubby handed water was toted to another table and I almost screamed as I watched the woman drink unaware. I chose not to and may forever regret not helping a fellow human being in need.
Food was mediocre at best. At least it was edible. However, I’m a little nervous that Grubby Hands might have been in the kitchen. Ugh. Whatever. Last time here.