Saugerties Diner

This place is a dump. The food is bad, the waitress was not nice and the place is run down. Many better choices in Saugerties.

Do not waste your time and money at this dinner. The waitress we had was rude and crude. The food not good.

Saugerties Diner in Saugerties, NY
Even better than the retro décor here (the pleather booths, the neon!), even better than the succulent pepper steak and rice special that we devoured, and even better than the salad bar (yes, a salad bar!), was the amazing staff. Our waitress, Donna, is a diner veteran – she cut her teeth at the Palace Diner in Poughkeepsie when she was 16, and she’s been waitressing in diners ever since.
We left the Saugerties Diner with more than just full bellies. Donna also let us in on some insider info: which diners are the area’s oldest (I-​84 Diner in Fishkill) and which are her favorites (Alexis Diner in Newburgh), giving us a whole new to-​do list.
Then, she packed us some chocolate crème pie to go. She’s got some fierce competition, but she might just be Diner Porn’s new favorite person.

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE ORDERING
(And scroll to review by Barbara K. where her group of 10 had to call the police for help)
I can not believe how the service and quality of food has plummeted here! Last weekend a car breakdown forced my family of 6 to stay at HoJo for 3 days and have our meals here! I should have ran thru traffic to get to McDonalds…
I came in for Sunday morning buffet by myself, partially filled my plate and had coffee… After 3 bites I was needed back at the room so I told my waitress I had to run but I would pay the full price of $ 9.99. I asked if I could take some fruit to go. She brought me a small container which I filled with cantaloupe and melon… suddenly a RUDE BITCHY NEUROTIC thing in a severs apron ruined the tranquility of everyone’s dining experience by screaming at me that I was stealing food and that she was charging me for another breakfast!!! I am at an all u can eat buffet, I ate 1 sausage and she’s screaming at me instead of walking over for an explanation. I walked away after telling her my waitress said it was ok… told the manager, no one seemed to care. I returned to get takeout breakfast on Mon because I was still stuck there w/​o a car. I hear this same moron screaming at a cowering old man because he asked her to wipe a wet puddle off the table! She berated him, saying he could picked any table and he picks one with a wet spot. Diners were stunned at the way she bullied him. I said to him loudly «don’t mind her… She’s just a rude nasty person… I know because she screamed at me yesterday»… Well if looks could kill… she glared and scowled at me everytime she walked by, for my calling her out in front of boss and other diners. Why not wipe the table and be kind to a frail old man? Karma is a bitch sweetheart… I hope and pray I never break down again in that area!!! I’m sure mgmt could care less… I’m just warning future diners.

Made it a point to stop here for dinner on a trip home from NJ to Albany. We had the specials – Yankee pot roast dinner and chicken picata dinner. They came with soup, salad bar, and dessert. Large portions, very tasty, reasonable prices. The soups were superb. Excellent salad bar. Lots of good stuff. The home made strawberry rhubarb pie and cherry cheesecake were awesome. Service was excellent and the owner was his usual cheerful self. We like this place and stop here often.

The biscuits and gravy were pretty good, eggs were cooked correctly, and the home fries are pretty good. The coffee was horrible and the only thing worse than the coffee is the attitude and miserable service from the wait staff.

Diamond in the rough
My girlfriend was not impressed with how this diner looked from the outside, it doesn’t look very glamorous from the outside and it’s connected to a Howard Johnson’s, but we were starving so we stopped in for lunch and we were delightfully surprised at how wonderful the place was! The wait staff was extremely nice and helpful and the food was great! Typical diner fair, I got a Patty Melt and she got a Open Faced Turkey Sandwich and the Cream of Turkey soup and all was made exactly to our liking. It was all so good, we actually came back the next day for breakfast! Pancakes were perfect and the Country Fried Steak was exceptional and the morning staff was just as good as the evening staff! Also a 10% discount if you’re staying at the HoJo’s and show your key card! Can’t recommend this place enough!

We both had turkey dinners and were pleasantly surprised. It was real, honest to goodness roasted turkey, not the usual salty processed stuff. It was really good. The salad bar is very nice and the soups were excellent. Service was first rate. We were very pleased.

This diner is in a convenient location. Their breakfast buffet is great and inexpensive. They have the typical diner fare. We weren’t impressed with their paninis at all. just toasted sub rolls. Just stick to the basics here or their breakfast buffet.

What happened to this place? It was always a sound place for a decent meal. Now, it should be on tv show that tries to save bad restaurants. It needs a remodel, a good cleaning, and a change in servers. The place was not busy at all on Saturday night and now we know why. Poor service, decent food, and depressing atmosphere.

This was not good. The server couldn’t get our coffees out to us, wrong amounts. And the buffet was crap. Everything was soggy and salty. You get what you pay for. We should have looked around a little more instead of settling with this place.

Nothing fancy. Decent salad bar. Served food pretty quickly. Easy on and off the highway. Great stop for us between Lake George and home.

Not the best diner in Saugerties (see my other reviews if you want to discover my opinion on the best and worst), but pretty good. Prices are reasonable, servings are large enough, and the food is average for a diner. The best part is the salad bar — a good amount of stuff on the bar, and you can add it to your entrée for a fair price, or just order it as your whole meal. Salad bar is about on par with a Ruby Tuesday’s salad bar.
Easily accessible from exit 20 on the Thruway (if you’re heading south towards NYC it is right at the exit; if you’re heading north towards Albany it is about a mile away from the exit). Attached to the HoJo, and I believe if you stay at the HoJo you get a discount coupon for your breakfast (no free breakfast at this HoJo). It’s also very close to the Comfort Inn.

I had the worst experience of my entire life in this disgusting diner. We live in the New York city area and work in Manhattan and we took the kids to skiing in the Windham mountain. We were late in booking a hotel and we ended up staying in the Howard Johnson Inn in Saugerties of all the places because there was simply nothing else available otherwise we would have never stayed in a stupid place like this. Anyway we were hungry in the morning and we said let’s just eat at a convenient place and we saw this diner attached to the hotel. The waitress that served our table was an arrogant trashy country woman (she must be local because she looked really horrible) and she treated us so badly it was unbelievable. There was another blonde woman that looked more normal but unfortunately we were stuck with this creature. This woman clearly did not want to be a waitress and she gave us such a miserable attitude. Every time we wanted to order something she behaved like it was just too much shook her head and when I finally wanted to order some water she yelled «how many?» and then she turned her back before I could finish to say «no ice for the kids» she came back with 6 glasses full of ice. When I told her that we didn’t want ice for the kids she said” Come ooon I came here 5 times already, what else do you want?”. I finally opened my mouth and we started yelling at each other. Anything we ordered she gave us such an attitude, said something to herself in a way we can’t hear, shook her head again disapproving it. Wow! I mean the trashy people that live in upstate New York are not my favorite but now I really hate that we are feeding these losers with the food stamps that we are paying for, they should be simply allowed to starve.
Oh when it comes to the food, it was very very bad but what else do you expect in this area?

Just an average joint where the waitress calls you «honey» (boy is that annoying). Had a jalapeño burger that what kinda bland, not spicy. The coleslaw was also below par — somewhat sweet actually, but I didn’t care for it. Finally, I had cherry cobbler that was nothing to write home about. The place was very quiet on a Friday night which only confirms to my experience. I went there because it was conveniently near my hotel, but would likely venture out further next time I were to stay there.

This was a good stop for our first meal during the slow drive back home. We got there mid morning on Monday and there were 4 customers besides us, plus the staff.
Our waitress was polite and smiled when she came to ask how things were and take our orders.
The place itself says «Johnny G.‘s» on the outside, but my husband had it down as «saugerties diner» on our to do list. Either way, we found it.
The décor was relatively «diner» with some mirrored walls, deep cushion booths, and such. I prefer that to the more decorated places. (It honestly looks like they are trying to hard and failing out loud when they add too much.)
Our food was made quick enough and tasted good. (You can see from my pictures.) It was quite a LARGE portion though. If you are a light eater in the mornings, share something! You’ll save money if nothing else and spare yourself the leftover container to bring wherever you go next.

Johnny G’s is a great place to eat at any time of the day. I had a great experience when I went to Johnny G’s. Most importantly, the food is great — one of the best places I go to in the area. It is a real friendly environment and everyone is very nice. I would highly recommend Johnny G’s to anyone looking for a great meal.

Great place. Extensive menu. Everything we have tried has been good.
Would recommend this as a stop if you are traveling the NY Thruway.

Came here again on 2÷12÷2011.
I loved to order eggs at diners, especially late at night. This time I ordered my usual (sunny side up with sausage, home fries and white toast). The eggs were cooked perfect (and beautiful). Home fries were crispy, tasty and moist. Sausage had a snap at the skin, moist inside and not too salty. The toast was light with lot of butter. Coffee was hot and good. Most of the diners will have some components good and miss the rest. But Johnny G’s gets all components perfect. What a meal after a tiring day at the ski slope!
Our group of 10 ordered various items (shrimp, pasta, steak) on the menu and all came out good.
The only bad point during that visit was the potato salad at the salad bar was spoiled. It could be due the fact that it was 10pm and near closing time. All the other items at the salad/​soup bar were fresh and good.
Looking forward to have another good meal this weekend.

Driving between Saratoga Springs and NYC it’s hard to find a quick and decent eatery along the Thruway but alas Johnny G’s is literally right on the Saugerties exit off 87 so it’s the quickest bite you can find.
There’s a breakfast bar available on the weekend. Looks pretty decent.
I ate here as a non-​vegan so the vegetarian options were good enough. I had a Tuna Melt on Rye made just like I like it (open-​faced with Tomato under the Swiss cheese) and well-​done french fries.
There’s a full BAR… the Bloodies hit the spot!
Johnny G’s might not be much of a looker from the outside (it’s attached to a HoJo’s!) but it has served us well on multiple visits.