The West 22 Diner

Had a horrible lunch today! My brother and I went this afternoon. The waitress was pleasant we both ordered a lunch special. The lentil soup was watery and hard lentils. I ordered a turkey burger that actually tasted «sour». My brother had a a chicken sandwich which was a“thick” piece of chicken that he found completely unpleasant.
The waitress never returned to check in or refill my coffee.
Never ever again! Yuck!

This place is okay if you need a late night meal. The service is okay and the food is okay. Its nothing amazing, but if your hungry and want more then the traditional Mcdonlds or wendys then this is a nice option. The servers are attentive and for pick up they will often get your order wrong so check and verify your order is there.

I was here this morning for quick breakfast. I’ve been here at least 4 to 5 times already. Based on my previous experienced i would say 2 – 3 star reviews. But today everything just perfect, our food came out fast and our server is just perfect. Her name is Rachel and i would suggest to everyone to look for her and seat on her station. She is very polite and always checking our table if we need anything. I was so happy about the service and i decided to give her 30% tips.

When we came for an early dinner on a Sunday, we were seated right away.
The diner is pretty much your standard diner.
The service was friendly. Meals were about $ 10 and up. Portions of course are huge.
Sadly, they didn’t have any soups that day because of a power outage earlier that day.
I got the penne vodka, which was alright. Not the best but not the worst. Also, split an order of onion rings with my boyfriend, which were alright. I’ve definitely had better.

Don’t go here! I got food poisoning after eating there. I called to tell the manager and he was so rude! I would never go here again.

I am posting this review after contacting the owner via their email provided on their site. I have not heard back from anyone and just figure that they do not care about their customers, which goes against what they advertise on their site. This is a copy of the email I sent to them.
Since we believe in giving businesses a second and third chance, we stopped for breakfast. We came to this diner again 6÷28÷2015 around 10:00 am or so. We have been coming to this restaurant since it opened as well as your other place in South Plainfield for longer than I can remember.

We were sat by a very nice young lady who was very polite and very prompt at seating us.
The restaurant was not busy but it took at least 10 minutes for our server Alyssa to come over to us. She acted like it was a joke that we were just sitting there, waiting to place our order. Food came out maybe 20 minutes later. We ordered a #5 and #8. The #5 was supposed to have rye toast dark (it arrived after she brought the food out and it was just normal color. The #8 came out cold except for the eggs, over easy. The ham came out cold and it looked like it came out of the trash, cold bacon had one piece and a small piece that was about half of the other piece. Sausage was also cold. Waitress brought the food out then forgot the toast and had to come back with it. After waiting another 5 minutes for her to be seen, I flagged her down and told her that the food was cold. She brought another piece of ham, sausage and bacon, but by that time… the eggs were finished.
We asked for our check and a box for the meat. I told the young lady at the register about it. She apologized.
I noticed that the owner was not in while we were there. Usually, he is a strong presence at this location and things generally run very strong and issue free when he is there.
I am disappointed that the cook did not care about the quality of what he plated for us and the server did not even care enough to have toast made the correct way.
Thank you for your time.

If ratings were done on a curve, this place would easily get 5 stars. West 22 is a bright and shiny example of what a diner should be, especially when compared to the other local greasy spoons that live up to the dirty title with their plastic plates and slop piled upon them (I’m looking at you Slopwood of Scotch Plains). West 22 earns points simply for being a diner whose space, service, and food quality can be relied on. You still get some down to earth sass from the servers but it all comes with a smile. The last 3 servers I had all brought little things I asked for (extra napkins, new straw, and such) faster than I pour coffee#1 down my gob. Food is seasoned, veggies are fresh, and for $ 20 you’ll have stuffed the king’s share of grub in your belly. I’ll drive extra to get to either West 22 or The Prestige in New Providence. These are my goto diners.

Food was great and def. worth the $$$$. A must go, if you are in the area.

Great service and clean layout. Their fresh-​ground turkey burgers are really good. Solid local diner.

We have been coming here for the past 3 months at least once a week and I have to say that in the area they have the best food and we eat out a lot! So far, every thing we ordered was deliciou with the exception of the *eggs Benedict* the sauce is not fresh so it tasted really bad :(but every thing else we ordered every single time tasted delicious! ! Good Job West 22!

Pass By This One.
We were going to the movies across the street, and decided to try this diner. Not a great choice. For a Greek Diner, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Food-​We had figured this was not going to be good when the salad came out with packets of dressing for you to open up and put on your food. The pot roast came out with small pieces of dry meat, with nothing. No gravy, no side, no nothing. It looked like 10 pieces of beef jerky. I asked the manager over to see if she would eat this if it came out to her, and she said no also. The meatloaf was just 2 small slabs of meat-​no gravy, juice, nothing. Maybe these people are minimalists, but the food is not from this country.
Service-​They seated us in a group of 8 other tables in the center of the diner. There was no one sitting on the outer tables, but my wife and I were seated next to 4 children running around on a sunday night, with their parents not caring what was going on.
All in all, this is a diner that doesn’t care what comes out of the kitchen, or how it is served.
To my followers:
Definately give this a miss and go down the street for a better meal.

I was next door at the Christmas Tree Shop when I noticed this dinner. We were hungry so we came here to have a late breakfast. I loved that there was no wait since that is hard on a Sunday and we got our food pretty quickly. The food was decent but nothing spectacular. This is a regular diner with regular diner food.

After waiting 10 min for our coffee after we sat down as we saw others getting their coffee as they sat. After ordering we got our food about 20 min later. For a diner and sitting with 2 kids that’s a long time. Also this is a personal issue but the Taylor ham (AKA pork roll in NJ) was cut way too thick. My wife had to remind the waiter that my kids meals came with juice and he still never brought them and had to remind him. And my biggest complaint, is that the coffee tastes burnt! Honestly they seem nice here but this is my third time eating here and my last.

The food is average for the NJ diner scene. Nothing stands out as a reason to choose this diner over some much better, well known ones. The biggest problem here is the service… lack there of… I asked for a refill on my coffee, which had been empty for 5 min and the waiter told me one sec before I could finish my sentence. Coffee never came, someone from our party had to get up and grab the manager, just to get a refill. Same went for the hot sauce. It was as if the waiter could care less. The worst part was there where two large tables empty in our section so they were not even that busy. This is a solid 2 Star, with no chance of a 3 in the near future.

This review is based only on breakfast omelettes and their split pea soup
I don’t normally like eating at diners at all but I have to say that this place isn’t bad at all. This inside is clean and updated. Service depends on who u have. Prices aren’t bad either for breakfast/​lunch.
I like their omelettes. And I love the split pea soup. That’s all I ever get if I go. Lol. Sorry wish I can add more.

I’ve never waited for a table. There is always ample parking outside and plenty of seats. The interior layout is different from most diners. You are not on top of other patrons.
You really can’t go wrong with any meal. I love their moist, turkey sausage. Their omelette and Belgian waffles are also delicious. I really like this diner.
The wait staff is also very friendly.

New Jersey is not hurting for diners, which is why I don’t go to the West 22 anymore. Nothing about it stands out, and the service is _​really_​slow. The layout is strange which results in nowhere really… good to sit. It’s just a poorly planned out diner, and the food and service to nothing to make up for it. The prices are also really high, and are even more disappointing when compared to the quality of the food.
Do yourself a favor and go to the Union Plaza Diner… or anywhere else.

The food is good quality, and the servers and hosts/​hostesses are nice. The only problem is the very slow service. It takes food way too long to get out, which ruins the experience.

WORST SERVICE IN THE HISTORY OF DINING.
I took customers here for what was supposed to be a quick business lunch. After searching for someone to seat us, we made it crystal clear that we needed to be in and out in an hour. It fell on deaf ears. It took 20 minutes to get menus, and another 15 minutes of me walking around the diner to find a waiter to take our order. Food arrived quickly and was good, but the orders were all wrong. We ordered salad and got soup, without even so much as an apology or offer to fix it. Every time we needed a refill, I had to get up from the table and literally chase someone down. What a joke. NEVER AGAIN. I was mortified and didn’t get to discuss business because I was too busy chasing down the ‘help’

The friendliness of the staff unfortunately does not make up for the shoddiness of the food the kitchen puts out. Most of what we ordered was under-​seasoned and tasted as if it came straight out of a walk-​in freezer. My burger was completely bland, the fries were mushy and lukewarm, and Surly Boyfriend’s toast on his similarly bland turkey sandwich was untoasted. How do you not cook toast properly?
Our waitress was sweet, but spent way too much time sitting in various areas of the diner chatting with two other waitresses, which made requests for refills and extra napkins difficult as she was otherwise engaged. She did check in to see how our food was, but this was at the point where we were nearly finished.
Normally I like to give a place at least two opportunities before I review it, but I think I got a good feel for the place after one visit and we won’t be back. There are too many better diners in the area to try, or I can just stay home and under-​cook my own burger and fries for much less cash.