Duncan’s Dairy Bar

The kitchen was backed up approx 50 minutes when I came here in late April 2016 HOWEVER boy was it worth the wait!
By far the best Corned Beef Hash EVER! Good fried eggs, and legendary pancakes with the berries in the pancakes, not in a sauce on top. I would have given 5 stars if it wasn’t for the wait.
Legend has it that you can get their massive cinnabuns grilled?!
I will be back soon!

Good omelettes and toast, (the pieces not burned) but come on, how hard is it to actually cook the home fries? A pile of boiled potatoes sans skins, cut up with charred, black edges is not the way to do it, especially since they charge extra for them. If they’d add onions and cook until brown these could match the quality of the eggs and toast. Coffee, like many diners was weak and tasteless. This place has a lot going for it, but falls down in some areas. Fortunately, if they are interested in improving, serving fresh ground coffee in decent-​sized mugs and improving the potatoes is not very hard. Could be a 5 star diner with a bit more effort.

A diner, pure and simple. (Not a dairy bar. I do not understand the name at all.) It has no design sense. It is not charming or quaint. But the service is fast, friendly, and attentive. The coffee is good and the food is deeeeeeelicous.
Go to Duncan’s Dairy Bar. Eat like a pig. Be happy.

This is a hometown diner. If you are not local then you can’t understand where the five stars is coming from. Would I travel to another city for Duncan’s no. It is the hometown atmosphere and great maybe not always healthy food.

They make so many things from scratch! Donuts, cinnamon buns, hard rolls, bread, pies and much more. I have not made it through the whole menu but I am a fan of the egg sandwiches and donuts!

I lived in Troy/​Brunswick Ny all my life and finally stopped off at Duncan’s Dairy bar where all I heard is how great this place is! Well I was freakin grossed out, not one person in that place was wearing any gloves or hair nets, I watched the guy and girl preparing the food touched bacon roast beef turkey lettuce tomato bread door handles etc and his own person with no gloves the dirty hands made us not finish are meal that was average at best!!! Used a dirty rag over and over again spreading contamination on every thing, the kicker is they do it right in front of you!!! Wow never will we eat there again!!!

Been coming to Duncan’s for over 25 years and it’s still as good as ever! Best service and home cooking, like mom used to make.

A good old fashioned breakfast at very reasonable prices. Portions are large so come hungry. The bread, muffins and cinnamon rolls are homemade. This is the type of diner that the locals love so we travelers can’t go wrong.

This is a great place with a simple, down home, salt-​of-​the-​earth appeal. The menu is very basic. Pancakes, French Toast, Eggs, Hash, 5 kinds of simple omelettes. Don’t expect to find a lot of options or anything fancy, just good food.
Sit at the counter and watch the inner workings of the restaurant. Everything moves smoothly, comes out quickly, and is somehow very organized, even though the atmosphere is fast paced. Most things are homemade, including all baked goods, even the toast! Try the cinnamon roll, and get it grilled.
I ordered the western omelette, and it was spectacular. The ham and onions are finely chopped. They made their omelettes in a unique way. They spread a thin layer of eggs on the grill, then a thin layer of the ham and onions. The omelette is about a foot wide in diameter at this point. Then they flip it on itself 3 – 4 times. This ends up with flaky, lights layers, and allows for consistency of flavor and toppings in each bite. In my photo hopefully you can see the artistry!
My husband orders eggs, bacon and potato hash. The hash is rough cut, and grilled nicely, with lots of brown crunchy bits. Yum!

Great local spot and amazing food. The corned beef and hash was incredible.

This is exactly what a diner /​dairy barn should be. For the last 27 years, I have been nothing but completely satisfied. Duncan’s hold a special place in my heart and will always be my standard! Thanks!

Such a kitchy cool diner! Solid diner food! Great fries and homefries! And the service was awesome ! Sooo worth a try it might my new favorite place for breakfast or lunch !

In for our annual breakfast. As usual my sausage, egg & cheese on their homemade hard roll was right on. This is a busy place so get here early to get the hard rolls, when they are out, there out! Cash only and they close on the 21^st of December for 10 weeks. I guess I’ll have to cook breakfast when we are up here! Not a problem since I buy their cinnamon raisin bread not sliced and make my own french toast, sliced thick!

Good comfort food. Breakfasts are awesome. LOVE eating here when I visit my daughter at RPI. Everyone here exemplifies excellent customer service.

I thought food was yuck! Eggs were greasy. Just yuck!

Food taste good. But I like my eggs WELL DONE. Same with the home fries. They didn’t execute to how I requested. I sampled the French toast which is real good.

Can’t knock this place. They’re open extra early, they’ve been around for three generations, and make lots of stuff from scratch. Very friendly atmosphere, and family run, which is getting rarer and rarer to find.
The food I had was all satisfying. Homemade corned beef hash and not that canned crap you get everywhere, fresh muffins (try the corn muffins), and the pancakes I had were perfect and fluffy.
Plus you got the owner right there to talk to, John, who was telling me about how it was his grandparents’ place and then his parents.
Yes Duncan is a good little diner to know about.

Are you really hungry and want a HUGE breakfast to satisfy your appetite? Ok then, this is the place to go for a large portion of breakfast food at a great price that won’t bust your wallet. The thing that I like about it is that everything is homemade from the bread on down to the pancakes and your home fries are cut up seasoned potatoes that aren’t deep fried or anything crazy like you’d see at a chain diner. Inside it’s no big treat for the eyes and needs some serious updating but really — who cares? It’s all about the food baby and I challenge you to walk away hungry. Generally if I eat the whole plate I feel bogged down and ready for a nap and that’s when I know that I’ve had a hearty meal.

It’s a dependable breakfast joint my family has been going to for years that serves the basics: pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, OJ, the usual. It’s never going to be the best meal you’ve eaten, but it won’t be the worst.
I would warn «foodies» in search of that perfect brunch to keep driving. You won’t find attentive service if you walk in the door and wait for a hostess. It’s a «find your own seat» kind of place. And yeah, all the waitresses are high school kids, the silverware has water stains, the plastic water cups are foggy and chipped, the toast is soggy, everything is slathered in butter (this could be a great thing, depending on your M.O.), and the tables are wobbly and somewhat mismatched.
Big deal. It’s a low-​key, rural (well, it used to be) diner in the greasy spoon tradition. It is by no means trying to wow you, but I’ve had a consistently middle-​of-​the-​road, a-​ok breakfasts here for a long time, and it will always be there if you need a meal a step above the slop they serve at Dennys.
It does get packed, so get there early on the weekends.

As the first stop in the Lame Ass Monthly Breakfast tour of local diners, Duncan’s Dairy had a tough roll to fill. Gathering local Unilocalers is like herding cats, you have to have some good bait to get them together.
Duncan’s was busy, which I guess is important for a true diner. I mean, if the local people don’t go there why would anyone else? Busy is one thing, not having any interaction from the waitstaff about seating is another. It seemed like the type of place where you might just go grab your own table, but usually someone passing by would confirm with a quick order to seat yourself. That didn’t happen, staff really just walked around us.
My breakfast of choice is usually Eggs Benedict. There is something really telling about ordering a classic breakfast the first time you enter a diner. Do they use canned hollandaise or do they make their own? Do they add their own spin to the classic? Duncan’s does not have Eggs Benedict in any form.
I decided to have two eggs, sausage and hash browns. When asked what type of toast I said I didn’t care. Waitress asked «Whole wheat?» and I confirmed that would be fine. After my wife asked for chocolate milk, I thought a small glass of tomato juice would be nice to start off the breakfast. When my meal arrived they brought orange juice instead of tomato and the toast was white bread. I sent the juice back to be corrected but didn’t bother with the toast. I really didn’t care what type it was, just found it odd that the waitress would be so specific and not bother with it.
The meal itself was OK, but nothing special. I guess it’s not fair to expect culinary bells and whistles from sunny up eggs, but nothing really had much to stand out at all. Hash was pretty plain. I’d be willing to put money on the sausage being Jimmy Dean.
Sadly it was the service that did Duncan’s in. Little mistakes with the order that seemed to generate not an ounce of care. I don’t think I was anything but polite when I corrected the juice, but not so much as a shrug from our server to acknowledge the mistake. Six of us at a table when they come to refresh coffee, waitress says she’ll get to Jes as she walks around the other side… they just walks by.
I guess if Duncan’s was local it might be different. Just not worth a trip from Albany for mediocre.