Original Mel's Diner

Went to this location expecting the same quality as the Walnut Creek location, big mistake!! The service was great except I felt the manager should have stepped in given my food was cooked very incorrectly, also because it's a brand new location. Wait time to be served once we were seated was over 40 minutes. I ordered the Chicken Fried Steak and I have never tasted so much oil in my life. Chicken Fried Steak is something that I order very regularly for breakfast at various restaurants, Mel's diner being one of my favorites. Very disappointed to say the least! Our server was overly apologetic but, not in a good way. If she felt that bad she should have had the manager comp my meal at minimum. I feel scarred... Everytime I order Chicken Fried Steak I will be reminded of the amount of oil i had in my mouth. Here are the pictures to prove it.... I bet I could have drained double the amount of napkins if I kept at it.

I had the worst "dinner" experience here for Father's Day. I would highly recommend going anywhere other than here, but if you have your heart set on mel's definitely GO TO BRENTWOOD. Let me share how this experience was so pitiful. My mother, grandma, grandpa and I get to the restaurant around 8:45 still an hour and fifteen minutes before closing. We get seated and eventually order the appetizer sampler to start. After awhile the sampler is brought to the table. This was the most humiliating sampler I have ever seen. It included three mozzarella sticks(!?) Three fried skimpy wings, two oversized and over cooked zucchini sticks, three and a half onion rings atop of some nasty fries in this tiny little basket. It wasn't even enough for everyone to try one of each thing!!! So I shared with the waitress my disappointment and she continued to argue that, "that's there sampler," until finally after asking for her manager, she said she could take it off the bill. Her name was Amber and she was so rude and unpleasant. Then, at the same time we ordered our meals, I ordered a malt shake. After waiting 30 minutes I see our meals get placed under the heat lamps until amber finished serving another family, who's plates had came fresh from the grill and who had arrived after us. Finally, she brought my grandpa's meal and my mothers meal. She then said how they ran out of mashed potatoes which is supposed to come with the meal my grandma ordered ,"would fries be ok?" I said "no may I see the menu" so I could look at my other options since she failed to list them and I hate fries. 12 minutes later she comes back and brings out mine n my grandmas meals. My grandma didnt even accept her meal that's how bad it was. I tried to be satisfied with mine but I turned my Turkey over and it was discolored and wholes were in the cracks of it. I tasted the gravy and stuffing and it was so salty it almost burned my mouth. My moms meal hurt her teeth it was so over cooked. Still my malt shake hadn't arrived either so I reminded her and she had such an awful smirk on her face. 15 minutes later my malt finally arrived. Amber was such a rude waitress and made me feel uncomfortable. Not the best customer service especially once she started talking bad about my family, while we were still there, to a coworker. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, POOR FOOD QUALITY, AND UNPLEASANT ATMOSPHERE. I DO NOT RECOMMEND GOING HERE, if you do WATCH OUT FOR AMBER. In the pictures below you can see my grandma without a meal and my grandpa and the sampler they brought along with the missing malt drink....

Went to Mel's for the first time in a couple of years on a Tuesday evening. Very few customers. We ordered a breakfast for our gluten free family member, as they have no gluten free options for dinner. Grandchild ordered the mac and cheese. Grandma ordered the battered cod. On the plus side, the breakfast was prepared almost perfectly and they placed the biscuit in a separate box to take home. The battered cod was good and the veggies were very good. The coleslaw tasted wilted and expired and side salad used very pale lettuce. Our dirty plates were never cleared, so we resorted to stacking them to make room for our to go boxes of leftover cornbread. Overall, I feel that their menu is too extensive to have fresh ingredients for every item when there are so few patrons. The wait staff seems inexperienced. I will be only returning for breakfast in the future.

Love love love this place. The service could be a tad better at times but it's not a deal breaker for me. I usually order Alice's Western Omelet and it's always on point. My husband normally orders their sandwiches which he enjoys, but he did mention that the chicken on the club sandwich was a bit dry and a very thick cut which he didn't enjoy. We've ordered their shakes and those are really good.