Champs Diner
“Since I couldn't make up my mind on savory or sweet I ordered the "French Toast with Fresh Fruit" and there famous "Drunken Cowgirl."”
“I got the pancake slam, my brother got the country-fried seitan and my aunt got soltero bowl.”
“Try the mac and cheese, pulled pork, tempeh wings, breakfast burrito, chickn and waffles…”
Champs Diner
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Finally came here with my fiance the other day for breakfast. We got there pretty early on a Monday and were surprised that it was as full as it was, we didn't have to wait for a table but we thought it'd be emptier. The location was also smaller than I expected. The table we were at was pretty tight.
I got the chik'n and waffles, and my fiance got an egg cream and the all vegan slam breakfast. We also ordered a biscuit on the side because I don't think I've had a "real" biscuit since I went vegan. The waffles were great, the mock chicken was excellent, they even had wooden dowels inside! I tried some of what my fiance got, the egg cream was just as good as I remember non-veg ones to be, the tofu scramble was one of the best ones I've had, the veggie sausage and bacon were great, and the potatoes were really nicely seasoned. The biscuit also made me really happy. The prices weren't cheap but they weren't excessive either, I thought they were pretty fair considering the portion sizes and quality of the food.
The only complaints I really have are that my phone got no signal while I was inside, and that the atmosphere was kind of weird. The bathrooms looked like the kind of bathrooms you'd see in a concert hall or a club (stickers and graffiti everywhere), but clean. They also had some cute art up, but they also had some needle point things that said stuff like "bitch in the kitchen" and one was some variant of "go fuck yourself." It was a really weird clash of normal diner vibe with vegan punk aesthetic. Still kind of wish they didn't have bad language on the wall as I wouldn't feel comfortable bringing my more conservative family members (that already judge me for being vegan), or family members that are parents to young children here. I'm kinda bummed about that because this is the kind of vegan food I'd want to get omnivores to try. I also thought it was kind of weird that the street their on is mostly residential. Don't get me wrong, I loved the food and I will be back (despite the long ass trip to Brooklyn), the atmosphere was just weird.
Very good. Especially for a non vegan. I had previously heard about this place from a former vegan bud. So while walking down Meserole to head to an event at The Well, i saw the diner and took note.
As the event began I wind down, my friend and i were experiencing hunger pangs. We birth take out our trusty yelp app to view our book marks and I remembered walking by here.
Cuts the food very yummy options on the menu. We opted for the seitan asada fries, "chicken" wings, Philly cheesesteak and the banana pancakes.
I would have to say my favorite were those pancakes. They tasted so homemade and we're fluffy and oh my, I'm drooling just thinking about them.
definitely would go back. All the food options were good but for me them panny cakes woosh …. They should stay open all night for them good ass pancakes!
Lol almost forgot the wait staff is amazing. I think we had Rich or Rick. He helped us decide on our options rather quickly.
This review is from a Postmates delivery. I will be going to the location later this week and give a full in-store analysis so stay tuned. I do have a feeling I will adore this place as I have friends who rave about it and the photos from their instagram look delicious.
Home fries–bland and not worth purchasing.
Regular fries–soft like I like them and even better if you add a bit of salt.
Classic veggie burger–good and filling but I'd ask for vegan cheese on it next time if possible as it was a little dry and bland.
Craft root beer–Yummmmmmm. Home run.
Bleh. Should have moved on when I looked for parking for 30 minutes. 2 breakfasts for $30. I had half cooked flavorless vegetables with potatoes that were not bad. Two pieces of ok whole grain toast. Tasted like like bad hippy food. My wife liked her tofu fake eggs and seitan with gravy.
Champs is a completely vegan diner that serves "Americana comfort food with a no-fuss, laid-back attitude." I contemplated filling our table with a variety of dishes so that I could just sample a bit of everything. I wanted some mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings and seitan asada fries and a grinder and reuben and Philly Cheesesteak. Man, I just wanted the whole menu. When I realized that Champs was a cash only joint, I had to temper my desires a bit. I had come with limited cash so I'd have to stick with one menu item for me, one for the wife and one for three year old. I settled on the buffalo chick'n hero, J-Fur ordered an Awesome Bowl and we ordered Z-Bot the mac and cheese.
The Buffalo Chick'n Hero consists of spicy buffalo chick'n, greens, tomatoes, sautéed onions and ranch dressing on a hero. I've eaten a version of this at my house and I love the combo of spicy buffalo sauce and creamy ranch dressing. For some reason, and I couldn't place what it was, the Champ's version seemed overly salty. I remember having the same type of issue with a lot of the items on the Chicago Diner menu back in the day. While the sandwich was still good, it fell short of the perfection that I was hoping for.
You know what didn't fall short of perfection? The mac and cheese. This dish was total bomb squad. It was cheesy and creamy without the weird texture that a lot of vegan cheeses seem to suffer from. About the only negative with the mac and cheese is that it is very oily. Be careful with it, especially if you take it to go. You don't want your three year old to swing it and hit you and ruin a pair of your shorts.
The Awesome Bowl has quinoa, tofu scramble, bell peppers, garlic sautéed kale, home fries and hollandaise sauce. With that list of ingredients, it sounds like it should be one of the greatest things I've ever tasted. It pretty much was. But a large reason for that is because I ate from the side that was not drowned in Hollandaise sauce. Unfortunately, for J-Fur, she couldn't finish the dish because it had too much sauce on it. She loved the part that had only a smattering. Next time, she'd do it on the side.
By the end of our meal at Champ's, I was stuffed to the point of almost being uncomfortable. I knew then that I would be unable to hack a beet burger, New York style pizza or Chinese food. I threw in the white flag and headed home, satisfied, but not downright floored.
So I never knew this place existed until a fellow veghead put me on to it. Was I happy to have found Champs, it's set up like a small diner and has a semi-retro feel to it's space.
I was so excited to try many things that my friend and I ordered a few things…tempeh wings, French fries w/bacon and cheese, Cubano sandwich, mac n cheese, BLAT and kale ceasar salad. Yeah we wanted to try as much as we could in one sitting…and boy our mouths and bellies were having a food party until we couldn't stuff anymore in there.
We ended up taking half of almost everything home as we duked it out on who was taking what since every item selected was yummilicious! I was happiest to take the mac n cheese and BLAT…ooohhh sooo good as left overs.
Look forward to trying out some o their other delicious comfort items in my next visit.
Waited about 20ish minutes on a Saturday around 8pm. It's definitely a popular spot, so don't plan your night around it or get too set on coming here as you might not want to wait.
I recommend that if you're in a party larger than two that you say that you can be seated in pairs, as there are only a few booths that can accommodate larger groups and you'll be left waiting, and really, we'd all choose food over annoying ass Gina. Gina needs to calm down.
The food is all very good. The Philly Cheese "Steak" tasted just like the real thing. Incredible, actually. The Mac and Cheese bowl was very big and filling, though you have to adjust yourself to that industrial "fake" cheese taste. I wouldn't recommend that unless you've had vegan cheese before, as it's a much different taste. No fault to the diner, of course.
The Chicken Parm sandwich was very heavy (and lord knows how they make vegan chicken…) but it was also tasty. The milkshake was on point, though a sure calorie bomb that I can't in good conscious recommend without a health warning.
Service was friendly and attentive. It was relaxing and we could eat in peace despite the lines gathering outside.
So, come back on an off-peak time (aka not at Sunday brunch because holy hell why would you do that to yourself don't you have some pipe-shelving to build?), and poke around the menu. You're sure to enjoy.
Faves: Philly Cheesesteak (can be a little salty) and Chik'n Pesto
I decided to give their breakfast a try today. I've been on this weird biscuit and gravy binge, so I ordered the biscuits and soy sausage gravy. It was meh. The biscuit was soft and fluffy but the gravy was a bit overpowered with sage. I wasn't a fan of the home fries. I'll be returning of course, but for my usual lunch entrees.