The Allwood Diner
“To my surprise it was quite a wait for a table I believe due to their popular Sunday brunch.”
“The disco fries are so good, so good that I take the drive down from Elmwood Park to Clifton because the diners near me suck!”
“I highly suggest the breakfast quesadilla, veggie burger, whole wheat pancakes or absolutely any cheesecake!!!”
The Allwood Diner
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Another hit for me on my quest to only eat at local diners on my many roadtrips and weekend jaunts out of town. I find that most local diners are subject to the ol' "A-OK" average review, probably due to the fact that they all do the same thing, in about the same way, and can adequately please almost anyone as long as the food is edible and the table/restrooms are clean. The Allwood Diner definitely fulfilled that expectation, and perhaps a little more so than the usual. I left happy.
Diner was super busy and tables were being turned efficiently; we were seated within 5 minutes and our waiter was attentive, personable and filled our orders accurately. Atmosphere was nice, bright, clean and inviting on the inside. Very diner-like, but a bit cozier. Restrooms were well-kept.
Appetizer of a bowl of chili was good; hubby enjoyed the tortilla chips on top to dip into the chili, which was a good ratio of chunk-to-liquid; didn't taste like it came from a vat or a can.
I ordered an omelet (duh – what else do I ever order at diners?) which was actually quite tasty, and had plenty of jalapeno peppers just as I had asked, and while the dry wheat toast left much to be desired, it was still useful for sopping up remaining chili.
Hubby's tuna sandwich definitely wasn't the best tuna sandwich, but it was passable for an adequate tuna salad sandwich, and fries were good.
Service was quick, food was just fine for the price, and we continued on our merry way up north.
A must for breakfast!!! Food is good and it comes out quickly. Place is always clean. I usually get the Breakfast Sampler which consist of 3 eggs, sausage (pork), bacon & ham.
I'm actually giving the place 3.5 stars, but you can't give half stars on Yelp, so I rounded down to 3 due to poor service. I came here with my bf and his mom for her birthday dinner. Allwood looks nicer than the other diners I've been to and is fairly new. Both the decor inside and outside of the building feel very fun and inviting.
When we arrived, we were seated immediately with menus and waters. That was when the good service ended. We waited about 10 minutes and the server finally came to our table. She didn't apologize for the delay at all. We ordered our food: I got the chicken milanese sandwich with chicken noodle soup, my bf got a pastrami sandwich and his mom ordered the pan seared salmon with a salad. Our sides came fairly quickly, I'd say about 5-10 minutes after we ordered. Our main dishes on the other hand took 20 minutes to come. Even with the soup, I was hungry. Really hungry. My boyfriend was starting to get ansy too, because his dish didn't come with a side, so he was sitting there watching us eat (we offered him some don't worry). The waitress didn't come to our table within those 20 minutes at all. Granted, the place was packed, but it'd still be courteous to say something to us instead of just leaving us waiting.
When our food finally came, we dug in. The chicken milanese sandwich I had is amazing. The chicken was cooked perfectly, very juicy, and the crust was really crunchy. Fries were pretty good as well. My boyfriend loved his pastrami sandwich and sweet potato fries. He actually finished his fries even before I could ask for one. They did look really good. The pan seared salmon looks delicious, I was really envious of his mom. She said it was "absolutely delicious". Definitely getting that next time I'm there.
For dessert, we got the Oreo cheesecake. It was heavenly; our waitress said this was the best cheesecake they have. The cheesecake slices are huge, it's best if you share with other people. 3 people per slice is probably optimal (that's what we did). It was good because you got a taste, but it wasn't too heavy either.
Overall, it's a nice diner and they have great food. I just wish the service was better.
Excellent rice pudding, rainbow sherbet, sweet potato fries, and grilled cheese with bacon (aka the happy waitress!) The garden salad is stinky and the cakes are usually terrible. But I like this diner as it's close to home for me and you can usually get a decent meal.
Allwood is my FAVORITE DINER! The ENTIRE staff/management are awesome.
The disco fries are so good, so good that I take the drive down from Elmwood Park to Clifton because the diners near me suck!
A solid 3.5 particularly because of portions and value (at least for lunch). This was a happening spot, even when we arrived around 2pm one weekday afternoon. I suppose the lunch rush was wrapping up. We chatted up a few other people waiting and found out there are many regulars here that stop by 3-4 times per week (mainly an older crowd).
We ordered from the lunch special menu. Crab cake stuffed flounder and beef short ribs. The fish was prepared nicely and along with the stuffing was tasty. The short ribs were just meh. Kind of dry with a sauce poured over it to make up for it. Veggie sides were way overcooked and drenched in butter. Not my style, but some people may like it.
Lunch specials come with soup/salad, entree, and dessert, which makes for a great deal. The rice pudding came highly recommended, and I'm happy to say it did not disappoint. They even packaged it for us to go. Did not try it personally, but the coffee is also supposed to be decent. These last points are what make it a solid 3.5 IMO.
I have only gotten takeout from here, but everything has been delicious. I have tried everything including their burgers, wraps, club sandwiches and even their cheesecake! I have always called ahead to order and it doesn't take them long to prepare my order. The last time I was here, they gave me potato chips with my turkey club instead of the fries I had ordered. Luckily, I saw this when I got out to my car, so I went back in and told them they had given me the wrong thing. They were really nice about it and gave me an order of fries in addition to the potato chips I already had with my sandwich. Everyone behind the counter has been friendly and accommodating and I have never had a bad meal here. I hope to come here and sit down to eat one of these days!
Can't base a diner on one dish, but it's safe to say that a souvlaki at a diner may be a safe bet. And despite a stellar soup, the Greek food was just that, safe. I'd give the Allwood 3.75
The soup was the standout, split pea with kitchen made croutons, the croutons were definitely greasy, but in a good way, and blended deliciously with the well crafted pea soup.
The souvlaki I ordered was a combo: lamb and chicken. The pita was the really dense thin flat variety, grilled, not too bad, topped with nice seasoned chicken and the only disappointment was the gyro was the Oval formed frozen style variety, not the kind actually cut off a gyro on a spit. I know not all diners actually serve the real deal, but there are guys in towed trailer kitchens on NYC street corners with real gyro who charge me $5.00, when I sit down in a restaurant, even a diner (usually owned and operated by Greeks), I expect a little better maybe? It was served with a pitiful amount of fries and a generous amount of salad; maybe the salad fries ratio was intentional, as my body was being cut in half by the lack of seat space to the table and the waitress noticed? (epic winter paunch alert). The salad was actually not bad, lots of good feta, pitted decent quality olives, simple red wine vinegar and oil dressing as it should be.
Note: the deleted two stars were for frozen gyro patties (although tasty), and being stingy on the fries, and the booths aren't designed for the girth of the kind of people who eat at diners, as I was crammed in there, the table jammed in to my guts for the entire time.
The waitress was fantastic, friendly, accommodating and dare I say, beautiful too.