Review of Broad Street Diner in Hamilton, NJ

I went to The Broad Street Diner in Hamilton, NJ (Mercer County) on Thursday, August 5th, 2010.



I was again accompanied by my friend and colleague, Mo' Money. Mo' takes his diner reviews seriously and as you can see from this picture, he meant business.



Got to Broad Street around 5pm and decided to have a nice cup of coffee while I waited for Mo'. I decided to do breakfast for dinner this time around.



I ordered blueberry pancakes along with scrambled eggs and home fries. Mo' went with the turkey club sandwich.




And here is our review:

Food Quality: 4 Fonzies. I am usually very impressed with the quality of the food at The Broad Street Diner and again I was not disappointed. Eggs came out nicely and the pancakes were delicious. The blueberries were not cook inside the pancakes which I found a little bothersome. I had to have a huge gob of blueberries on the table to put on the pancakes.



They still tasted great so I can't complain too much.

Mo’ sez: 3 Fonzies. When I go to a diner and I don’t know what I wanna eat, I always order my top diner standby: the triple-decker turkey club. The BSD version was average. Not as big as other diners’ turkey clubs, but at $7.25, not nearly the most expensive either. The turkey was ok, but the bacon and lettuce were both nice and crisp. Came with some tasty fries and slaw (which is standard at most diners); but the biggest surprise was that it also came with a cup of soup; all for $7.25. That’s what I call mo’ fo’ yo’ money.

Staff: 4 Fonzies. I found the waitress to be very pleasant. She always asked to fill my coffee up and didn't make any mistakes in my order. Everything came out very promptly and efficiently.

Mo’ sez: 4 Fonzies. Johnny showed up first. The pleasant young lady who greeted me at the door welcomed me and pointed me toward Johnny’s table with a smile. Our waitress appeared quickly, got our orders right, was very pleasant, checked up on us several times during the meal, and was a cutie to boot. No complaints here.

Restrooms: 2 Fonzies. The restroom seemed to be in good condition and not particularly messy. However, I did find something slightly disturbing. One of the urinals was out of order and covered up with plastic. Quite bizarre. I wasn't impressed.

Mo' Money didn't use the restroom.

Music / Noise Level: 3 Fonzies. It was packed for dinner on a Thursday night so the place was a little noisy which I don't mind. Makes for good ambiance. Of course there was no table side jukebox which should be a staple of every Jersey diner.

Mo’ sez: 3 Fonzies. The joint was not that big, but even though it was pretty full, the noise level was perfect. Had no problem hearing Johnny rave about his blueberry compote (and our cute waitress). The flat screens on the walls were muted, which kept the ambient noise at a good level for eating. Still no tableside jukeboxes; maybe at our next diner stop.

Overall Presentation: 4 Fonzies. Every since The Broad Street was remolded several years ago I've been impressed with it. Very nice modern building. Might need some new TV's but otherwise great. I prefer to enjoy my dinner over a nice chat with a friend than watch TV anyway.

Mo’ sez: 3 Fonzies. The place didn’t have the classic Jersey diner feel that I love, but it was clean and comfortable, and had cool faux-brick interior walls. The flat screen TV’s were a nice attempt to liven up the place, but that’s not what I look for in a diner. The menu wasn’t huge but had all the usual diner standards. Big list of daily specials and lots of good looking desserts. All of the prices appeared reasonable. Didn’t knock my socks off with anything to make it stand out from other diners, but overall not a bad place to get some good eats.

This concludes our review of The Broad Street Diner.

Review of The Ocean Bay Diner in Point Pleasant, NJ

I've decided to review diners. Reviews of categories will be based on a scale of 1-5 Fonzies in honor of my hero, Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli.


Fonzies: 1=Lousy 2=Just OK 3=Better than average 4=Very good 5=Best I’ve seen in a while

On Tuesday I visited The Ocean Bay Diner in Point Pleasant, NJ along with my colleague and friend, Mo' Money.



I ordered Homemade Lasagna with Minestrone soup and garlic bread while Mo' Money ordered Mussels with house salad. Tuesday at The Ocean Bay is pasta night where you can get any pasta dish for $8.50.



Here are our reviews in a nutshell:

Food Quality: 4 Fonzies. Portions were very generous. Quality of pasta was above average. Fulfilling meal. I was disappointed they didn't have the specific type of cheesecake I asked for although the one I got wasn't bad.

Mo’ sez: 4 Fonzies. Tues night was pasta night: large plates of pasta (some with meat and/or seafood) for $8.50. Can’t beat dat. My plate was overflowin’ with mussels. Tasted good and was served hot. Salad took a while to come out which left no time to eat it before main dish came out. Poor timing and boring lettuce-only salad kept this from being higher.

Staff: 4 Fonzies. Waiter frequently came over to ask if we needed anything, constantly refiling my coffee as well. Very friendly and smiley. Order was correct and food delivered promptly. It was somewhat difficult to understand him with his heavy accent.

Mo’ sez: 3 Fonzies. Waiter made no mistakes with food, but had no silver wear to start and had to ask for a straw. Accent made him a little hard to understand.

Restrooms: 2 Fonzies. Not the worst I've seen but not so great either. There was an unpleasant odor and they only had soap in a bottle on one of the sinks which didn't smell nice. I saw a few tiles missing on the wall as well.


Mo' Money didn't use the bathroom.

Music / Noise Level: 3 Fonzies. A little quiet for my taste. I've always enjoyed the sound of a bustling diner. The music was fine from what I recall. Being May it's a little early for crowds at the shore, especially on a Tuesday night.

Mo’ sez: 2 Fonzies. It being a Tues night, the place was pretty empty which meant no room noise at all. That made the radio station coming out from the ceiling speakers sound louder than it needed to be. Don’t see them too often anymore, but I always look for the old tableside jukeboxes and found none at the OB.

Overall Presentation: 3 Fonzies. Place appeared to be in decent shape. No debris falling from the ceiling. They have some interesting wall art.



I wasn't overwhelmed by the smell of urine as some others have noted in the reviews of The Ocean Bay on other websites.

Mo’ sez: 3 Fonzies. The place wasn’t fallin’ apart. Clean and modern looking. Better than average, a little.



I finished my meal off with a slice of cheesecake.


This concludes the first diner review.