Coach House Diner Restaurant

Reviews 3

CA

Carl Ungar

Poorly trained staff working the diner last night! Shortly before 8pm last night we stopped in for a quick bite to eat on our way home to NYC. Weve had meals here many times over the past few years as the diner is conveniently near my Mothers home. I wouldnt call myself a foodie but my wife has been dining out in fine restaurants her whole adult life as a hobby. Her souvenir menu from The French Laundry hangs in our cooks kitchen. Im always careful to order basic diner food in these places and Im usually not too disappointed by whats served me. Im 60 so Ive had ocassional mistakes on a plate plopped down in front of me. My temperament leads me to suffer in silence and eat what I can. On rare occasions Ive been so disappointed I dont eat anything on my plate. To be fair, a few ot these fails have been my fault. I had eyes for something on the menu that just didnt please my taste. To be brutally honest, once or twice in my life I was so hungry or occupied with a personal problem that it was gonna be damn near impossible to make me happy with anything less than diner food perfection. Last night... I ordered a BLT with well done fries. My wife ordered a Greek salad with grilled salmon. It took around thirty minutes for our food to arrive and my wife was visibly distraught that her grilled fish had been seasoned and crusted with something in the kitchen before cooking. She tasted it and was not going to be able to eat it. Heres where the amateurs started ruining our night. Instead of removing the fish from the salad and brining it back to the kitchen on a bread plate, the waiter took her plate. He stopped to speak with a manager about thirty feet from us and in full view of my wife had an animated discussion complete with gestures and displeased facial expressions. My wife said the manager looked like he wanted to approach our table after the waiter went off to the kitchen but he did not. The waiter returned after his visit to the kitchen and told us the cook was going to try again. I reminded the waiter that my meal was in progress and a quick remedy would be appreciated. The end... I finished my meal before my wifes came back. I assured her it was no problem to sit with her and be good company while she ate. The plate of food they served the second time was worse than the first. I guess the kitchen help put the salad plate on the warmer while they redid the fish because the lettuce was wilted and warm. The new piece of grilled fish was a nasty, olily mess and my wife was beside herself. At this point the manager arrived and began his mission of righteous indignation. The food looked good to him he said. My wife told him that shed dined here on several occasions and never had to return food to the kitchen. I suggested it might be a case of eyes versus taste bud disappointment that weve all experienced at one time or another. This is when he informed us that he never had that happen to him because he carefully studied the menu and ordered correctly when dining out. I told him he was insulting and directed him to step away from our table. I asked my wife if she would be willing to find food at home, she agreed and I called for the check. Fools... The waiter brought the check and while I was getting cash for both meals and the tip sorted out he cluelessly asked if we needed my wifes food wrapped to bring home. I asked if he was kidding. As we passed the manager on the way out he couldnt resist calling out that we should please come back again. Nice...

LI

Lisa M. Cataldi

This is one of our local hangout spots because my young daughter loves it for some reason! ; ) She always gets the child chicken and fries [regular, not sweet potato usually] and chocolate ice cream for dessert. The childrens menu is not cheap for the most part, as it cost me the same as what my dinners usually are there. However, it works for us and it doesnt blow the bank. Hee. Hee. I usually order the days special with salad bar, as their salad bar is the highlight of the place. It has a ton of delicious items and includes banana bread, which is a good version of it although not totally traditional in my opinion. I love to bake, so my versions are usually the traditional route. So, she goes for the chick/fries combo and I go because she makes me, but always get the salad bar in some fashion. You can get a salad bar meal in itself, but costs the same pretty much as the special with salad bar. Depending on what wait staff member you get, your experience will vary. Any food Ive ordered has usually been middle of the road, but they do an okay job. I think their other highlight may be their desserts, but I dont usually order that. They have an extensive dessert selection. Crazy extensive. Their other prices can be high, but I dont usually stray from my usual at this joint because I am not super crazy about their food other than the salad bar. Its a huge place with plenty of parking attached on both sides and across the street. They are in a major intersection so easy to spot and get to. It will continue to be one of our local spots and I am okay with that. I do like the place, just dont find their cuisine to always be to my liking. But, whaddya gonna do?! : P Bar, most likely happy hour type stuff, big screen televisions if thats your thing, and plenty of seating. Friendly enough staff, but not overly anything. There are only two wait staffers that I like and I heard one of them is no longer there. I will now need to ask for the one every time I go. Hope she will be there each time! ; )

CH

Christina

We traveled from Upstate, NY to NYC for a mini vacation and ended up booking a hotel in Secaucus. This diner was one of the "better" reviewed locations to eat his late at night so we decided to take a swing in and eat. The server was very attentive and polite, at first. He took our orders and refilled what needed to be refilled. The review is solely based on the food I was served. We had a table of four and it seemed everyone else enjoyed their meals... except me. I ordered the lox platter. It looked good upon being placed in front of me. But the first bite and I was instantly turned off. The bagel was so damn hard, I couldnt take a bite without struggle. As if the bagel had sat on a counter for a week before being toasted. I could literally stab at the bottom, with force, with the pointed end of my fork and would not even damage the bagel. I ate 1/2 of one of the bagel halves because it was late, I was hungry, and our server didnt come to check on us until after we had all finished. We had been sitting there for 5 minutes after we were done, looking around and wondering where he was. He finally came back over and I showed him the bagel and how hard it was. He apologized and asked me if I wanted a new one. At this point we had already been waiting for him to acknowledge us our entire meal and it was late after our 5 hour trip. I just wanted to get to the hotel and finally sleep. He stressed that he wanted to "make me happy", which was understandable. I said that I did not want a replacement because we didkt have time to wait anymore and just assumed, being a server myself, that he would have taken the meal off our bill since the plate was still almost full. Yea, no. We still paid $10.95 for something that was expired and not fully eaten and tipped a server who only did his job the first 10 minutes of our arrival. So, for that reason, I am giving this place a 1 star review and will not be back next time I visit.