Metro Diner

Reviews 6

ST

Stewart Pierson

I dont often visit restaurants for breakfast or brunch, so a place like this is warranted only on special occasions or for diners that are featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Its shameful that after living in Jacksonville for nearly 8 months and having seen this place on DDD that it took me this long to drop in to Metro Diner. There are now 5 Metro Diner locations in Jacksonville but this is the original and is therefore the one I was inclined to visit. Be warned: this place is very popular. You may be waiting a while, especially if you are eating with more than 2 people. The restaurant is small and densely packed with tight, uncomfortable tables. Normally Id count a strike against a diner for uncomfortable crowded seating but its forgivable here because no one is coming for a cushy place to sit - its all about the food. And the food is good. No, the food is glorious! There was absolutely no way I was leaving Metro Diner without putting the Yo Hala down my pie hole. The description on the menu is enough to make you pee your pants in anticipation! You can even convince yourself that you may be eating healthy since it is packed full of fruit. You dont need to exercise on days when you eat food like this, right? Lets just say that food portions here arent shy. My Yo Hala was massive and is causing me to salivate simply at the memory of it. It was brilliantly concocted and will bring a grown man to tears! I also tasted a bit of a friends Fried Chicken and Waffle, which comes highly recommended, and was nearly as good as my own choice. Ive never been much of a chicken-for-breakfast kind of guy but I could change my tune for this stuff! Metro Diner is certainly one of the places that DDD got right! Its a must-visit for anyone who comes to the Jax area!

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A

A Private User

I just went there for the first time because my sister and her fiance have been talking about it non-stop. The food was AMAZING! Actually no thats an insult but I cannot think of a strong enough adjective to convey my love of the food. I had the eggs benedict. Oh my, it was incredible, perfect blend! They were incredibly busy but I dont care it was SO worth it, we probably had to wait about 30 minutes but on a holiday that isnt bad, we had enough time to read over the entire breakfast and lunch menu and narrow down our 3 choices. My sister had the Pittsburgh Salad which was massive and it looked amazing (she did not share :( ), her fiance had this amazing southwest egg thing called Huevos Rancheros which is not to be eaten unless you have not eaten in a year (ITS HUGE and worth EVERY cent spent), and my daughter had the kids Pigs in a Blanket (she doesnt care much for breads but she ate 3/4 of it). Needless to say for the food alone I will return. As far as the service, the waitresses did not like seeing my coffee cup halfway empty, they asked about 10-15 times if I would like a refill also each time they asked if our food was to our liking. I say all waiters and waitresses go here to learn how to do the job right. These people were insanely busy and yet they worried about my half empty coffee and were attentive to everyone there. They would bounce table to table checking on us. Their service was perfect.

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BR

Bruce Ostrout Jr

We were very excited to make our first visit to the famed Hendricks Ave Metro diner for a lunch date. A few years ago we went to the mandarin location and it was a good meal but we remembered seeing several people having the famed Chicken and Waffles and how great they looked. We ordered Chicken and waffles and their huge specialty burger. When walking to our table I did see someone with a chicken and waffle plate and thought that it didnt look that great but thought that might not be the case with ours. Unfortunately the chicken that came out was way overcooked, dry and didnt even look appealing. The Burger looked great and tasted decent but the way it was configured it was impossible to eat without a fork and knife. When the manager came by and asked how everything is he could tell that we werent absolutely thrilled and said the chicken wasnt coming out great and he would not be happy until we were absolutely satisfied, so he brought us a pot roast and chicken pot pie and they were absolutely great! So we were very dissapointed initially, but overall we couldnt ask for better treatment. Look forward to being fully satisfied with our main meal at the next visit and giving a 5 star.

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A

A Private User

Firstly, it must be a Southern thing, but folks seem to be fond of using the name diner even when the place is not open 24 hours a day. That said, it is a legendary place for brunch that has a lot of local cache for visitors. It, however, is a bit cramped for my tastes. One time that I went to the Metro Diner, my party was seated in the rear where the tables made it nearly impossible to move about without bumping someones chair or tripping over something. In my opinion, this is a fire hazard. Speaking of crowds, the wait time to get inside is alleviated somewhat with the complementary coffee service in the front. Once inside, the menu proves to have a nice variety of options for the most choosy of eaters. The downside is that the wait staff could do a better job when it comes to attentiveness. That seems to be a common problem with popular establishments. They reason that customers will keep returning regardless of whether the wait staff is attentive or not. The food is awesome, the atmosphere is borderline scary and the service is not above improvement.

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A

A Private User

Came here with hubby as we are frequent DDD fans. I had the meatloaf which was delicious: the extra step to grill it and give the outside some added crunchiness really made it unique. The gravy on the meatloaf was exceptional and you could tell it was homemade. Hubby got the Pittsburgh steak salad which he truly enjoyed. Where else can you get a salad with prime rib and french fries on it?? We topped off our meals with the strawberry shortcake and were pleasantly surprised that the sauce was served hot. If we lived local to Metro Diner, I could see us coming at least once a week. You wont be sorry if you come here and will leave full and satisfied. We were also visited by the assistant manager after our meals who was very pleasant and told us about all the expansions going on with Metro. We wish you much success and hope you come to the Northeast.

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DA

Danielle Singer

This was my first time at a Metro Diner after being told great things about it. Our experience wasnt bad necessarily, but it was far from amazing. Our server lacked knowledge of the menu and took about 5-10 minutes to find out what the "coffee flavor of the day" was and another 5 minutes to bring the coffee to us. When our food arrived, my plate arrived first with cold eggs and hash browns instead of home fries. My French toast was lukewarm, at best. She had messed up my boyfriends order and he had to wait an additional 5-10 minutes for his food after I had finished mine. When he got his food, it had minimal to no sauce on it and when he asked for more, the server said yes but never brought it. We overheard other tables having issues with their orders throughout our meal. Maybe we hit this spot on a bad day, but Im wildly unimpressed. Doubt I will return.

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