Sunrise Diner
Sunrise Diner
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
5 reviews
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Typical diner. They decorated for St. Patrick's day early. For $7.95 I got a turkey blt, pasta salad, and a small bowl of vegetable soup.
When I first came to New Jersey about five years ago I had my first diner meal in the area at the Sunrise Diner. I found it nicely decorated, with a friendly staff and good food.
Fast forward to 2009, and sadly things have gone downhill. Just look at the sign outside the diner and you'll see part of what's wrong. Several signs have been nailed to the main sign advertising cheap buffets, all you can eat etc. The diner is slowly changing itself into … something else but not really a diner. But more on that in a moment.
The interior has gotten a bit depressing. The front desk/cashier used to have candies and all sorts of things for sale and of course the requisite mints on the way out. Now? Nothing. The place isn't being upkept as well as it used to be and the staff is just totally uninterested. The day we went, we were seated promptly, but our waitress was so busy talking to customers she knew and chit chatting after a half hour and two requests, I never got a bottle of Tabasco sauce I had asked for. I will grant however that realizing her error, she took half off one of our buffet costs, but it was still really annoying.
The diner seems to be changing itself more into a buffet style place. As I flipped through the menu, I saw well over a dozen items blacked out or pasted over with stickers. It was really messy looking. That said, the breakfast buffet I had was a steal. For $8, all you can eat and it includes getting omelets and eggs straight from the kitchen. To be honest, the food was actually good. The pancakes and french toast were light and fluffy, the grits nicely cooked and tasty and there was a bread pudding with cheese that totally rocked. It was a great combination of moist, sweet bread with some saltiness on top. Their Canadian bacon was also surprisingly moist and flavorful, not too salty and not too sweet.
I left with mixed feelings about this place. I enjoyed the food, but between the bad service, depressing decor and sad looking menu I just felt, well, sad. And that's not how I want to leave any restaurant.
Basically if you need a lot of food for a cheap price, check this joint out but don't expect good service or the nicest environment.
Place is very interesting looking on the inside. Like it was decorated in 1988! Regardless, friendly service, good dinner, and very reasonable prices. There were families in here, sports teams, local neighbors, just anyone who needed a good place to eat. Had the salad bar which was clean and fresh and the matzo ball soup. Everything was great!
I stopped by one time for coffee and a piece of pie, killing time between appointments. Service was friendly but somewhat sloppy. Place was nice enough but not really up to date. Decent coffee, poor lemon meringue pie. The place did not impress -next time I will go across the street to McDonalds.
Diners in Jersey are a dime a dozen, so it takes a lot for one to stand up and be recognized. Unfortunately, Sunrise falls just short of that. I'm new to the area, and this is the local diner to me – so local, in fact, that I walk past it often. I decided to take a friend here for a quick, cheap dinner before we hit up a pub for some drinking.
As usual, I ordered a tuna melt. I judge diners based on their prep of my favorite dishes, and tuna melts are up there. It was underwhelming. The tuna was lumped in the middle of the bread, not spread evenly on top of it. The cheese was barely melted. And there was no tomato? I understand not all diners include tomato on their tuna melts, but I'm usually asked or notified about it. Because who doesn't put tomato on their tuna melt?
I was particularly hungry that evening, and was also excited to try their cole slaw. I have a new appreciation for the little sides that come with your diner meal – Huck Finn in Union has the best pasta salad you could ask for. But not only did my coleslaw not come out at all, there was also no pickle!
Anyway, like I said before – this is local to me so I will be going back, many times, in the future. I just won't be particularly excited about it.