Tamaqua Diner

Stopped at Tamaqua Diner for breakfast while passing through on the way back from camping. The place has an odd layout with the dining room separated into smaller rooms.
Food was very good — 5 people had 5 different meals and everyone was complimentary about their dish. I had biscuits and sausage gravy, which was excellent.
Service was quick if a little clinical, but no complaints about the service or the food.

I ordered the steak stir fry over angel hair pasta and it was good, slightly bland but nothing a little salt didn’t help with.
Service was a little lacking our waitress seem to take a long time in between checking on us. She spilled some of the juice from the vegetables on the table, she was forgetful; she forgot to get our boxes when we were leaving so we could pack our leftovers, maybe she was just having an off night. She was friendly though and appear to be trying very hard.
I’ll definitely go back and try it again hopefully this experience will be better than the last, it wasn’t unpleasant by any means it was just a little slow. The hostess was very nice she was on top of everything with the refills for drinks.
I’ll definitely update the status after we revisit.

Good family food at good prices. Great portions. Breakfast is great, but so is dinner. They feature daily specials and have great prices on steaks and seafood.

When traveling through the area recently my family and I opted to stop in at this diner for some much needed grub. It’s a nice but odd little place, especially design-​wise. The main building is very clearly a classic diner, down to the booths and long counter, but there’s an obvious wooden add-​on that hosts a secondary dining room. The extra seating is nice, admittedly, but the add-​on does kind of ruin the otherwise classic look of the place.
But enough about that — what about the food? Nothing here is fancy, of course. It’s just the kind of grub you’d expect from a diner. My family and I admittedly noted that it was odd how we all ordered the same salad yet received slightly different toppings on all of them. For example, only one person got croutons. You’d think the same three salads would come out looking, well, the same. Not sure why that happened, but oh well — they tasted just fine. As for the main courses, two of us split a chicken quesadilla that was absolutely jam packed with cheese — just the way we like it! Since we could add as much salsa and sour cream on our individual pieces as we wanted we were both pleased, although we did note that the quesadilla did not come with the lettuce or tomato as pictured in the menu. One family member got a burger and commented that it tasted like a standard diner burger, so they were happy with it.
I do need to note that the floor was sticky under our booth, so the place was admittedly not as clean as it could have been. That said, I still really enjoyed eating here. The food was good, the prices were low by most standards, and you could tell from the snippets of conversation that the staff knows the locals well. That all makes for a great place, I’d say. Definitely keep this place in mind if you’re in the area.

How do they do it? Was here Saturday night for dinner I sit in the back whenever possible because it’s cozy, quiet and friendly. Now they have specials that go along with the dinner but I think they change them up so I will just tell you what mine was. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan & Pasta. It came with soup or salad and bread to slop the plate. I took the soup (NE Chowder) which DID NOT taste like it was out of the can, BIG piece of chicken which WAS NOT a processed breaded patty. pasta was average and the sauce okay but it came with a free appetizer p&e shrimp or steamers (I took the steamers yumm!). and the best part? It was only 9.99! Not bad eh? Parking lot isn’t that big so you might have to park at BK or the Market or out in the street. Wait staff are local folks that have been there so you kind of get to know them. It’s a great place and I always try to stop when I’m going through Tamaqua.

If you come here, you’ll often wish you went to the Burger King across the street. And the other way around. Food is okay. The word, «best.» will never come close to anything you have here. «Adequate» is a better descriptive. Breakfast and lunch are your best bet. I’ve seen the workers here head over to BK. Maybe they’re just getting change for a dollar.

Stopped here for breakfast after a rainy night in a tent. The place was clean and we were waited on quickly by a nice young lady. I ordered pancakes and bacon and it was very good. My brother was pleased with his French Toast. Someone else ordered a monstrous bowl of pasta and beef casserole that went over well. Not expensive and would stop here again.

We used to eat here a lot, there is not many options for late night dining in Tamaqua. Unfortunately I can not bring myself to return. It is always dirty and the service is slow. But my main reason for not returning… there were bugs in my soda, some of them were still alive swimming around, ewww. The waitress didn’t not seem surprised and simply said she will take the soda off the bill.

I would eat here again. It’s a diner, it’s simple. I had a burger that reminded me of burgers I had in diners in the 50’s. Not haut cuisine but honest food served by some interesting people.
Hey, where else are you going to dine at a non chain place in Tamaqua?

Great for breakfast, not much else. Regular diner food.

i want to like this place. i REALLY want to.
2 of the 3 times i’ve been there over the past 6 months i’ve had to wait 45 minutes for some fries and a grilled sammie at an off hour with 5 other people in the place. the food tastes fine when it finally arrives, though the temperature is variable. it appears as thought the staff tend to have a hands off attitude to customer service. i can imagine if i was coming here after a few hours at the bar, i would be satisfied.
24/​7service, lovely diner desserts, and gravey cheese fries. i find the prices to be a bit high compared to other similar establishments in the area… but by no means out of control.

Excellent. 24 hour service. I’ve been going there for years and have never had a bad meal. Best prices around.

The Tamaqua Diner. This place used to be this nasty diner that people stumbled into after too many shots at the dive bar of their choice. Some of the servers were pretty nasty. The menus looked like they were printed in 1965.
A few years ago, they remodeled and expanded the place. Now, it’s all shiny and neony and people stumble in after too many shots at the dive bar of their choice. Some of the servers are pretty nasty. The menus look like they were printed in 1965.
Do stumble in this place at 2:30am some night. Don’t just do it because it’s the only place that’s still open. If you can remember your visit to the Tamaqua Diner, you’ll have a story to tell for a long time.