Restaurant review: Old Garner Road Diner

Posted October 31, 2009 at 4:38 pm and filed under Community.

By Ralph Cwik
Citizen Journalist

Restaurant history: A lot has changed since The Country Café became the Old Garner Road Diner, and it seems funny that I would be writing about another restaurant in the same location a year later. The place has been freshly painted, and there are new carpet and new tablecloths. New co-owner Wayne Hobbs works the front, while his wife (and other owner) Yvonne Hobbs works the kitchen. Yvonne used to work at the Waffle House for many years and decided with Wayne to open their own establishment this past March. Sticking to the tradition of the previous owners, Old Garner Diner is only open for breakfast and lunch.

Old Garner Road Diner

Old Garner Road Diner

Ambiance: There are two entrances, both welcoming. As mentioned above, the Hobbses repainted the walls with reds, greens and yellows; it has a refreshed look. They still have the three areas: one for smoking (until January) and the other two for nonsmokers. The diner has a nice, friendly, Southern atmosphere.

Service: The service is quite fast and good. There are enough servers for the luncheon crowd. As the server took mine and my wife’s beverage orders, the server also pointed out the specials on the white boards. The specials were pot roast, chopped barbecue pork, country-style ribs, tuna melt, a hamburger or hot dog combo and a few other sandwiches, plus desserts. The main specials come with two sides and your choice of a roll, biscuit or cornbread. Once our order was taken, we only had time for a few sips of our tea before the food was delivered. Yvonne told me that her goal is to have a 17-minute turnaround time, from the moment customers enter to the moment they leave. So if you have a short lunch break, you still can have a homemade lunch and get back to work on time. Yvonne also mentioned that if you called in for lunch and you work at a local business, she can deliver.

Food: My wife and I decided on the country-style ribs with squash and slaw and the chopped barbecue with applesauce and cucumbers mixed with tomatoes and onions. The ribs had fall-off-the-bone meat and a nice sauce. There was plenty of meat to enjoy. The slaw was finely shredded and quite tasty, while the squash was the yellow summer kind — good but nothing special. The chopped barbecue pork was good without any of the hard chunks; it was also quite tasty. The cucumber-and-tomato mixture was good, and the applesauce went well with the pork. As we were eating, we noticed the desserts: lemon meringue pie, pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting and pecan pie. We ordered a piece of the pecan pie. It came warmed and ready to eat. Right away, we could tell it was homemade. This really finished the meal.

Prices: The prices were within reason. The lunch specials were anywhere from $5 to $6.50. The desserts are quite reasonable at $1.50 each. Breakfast runs from $3.25 to $6, depending on what you order. They have breakfast specials for $4.65, which includes eggs, a choice of meat, potatoes or grits and tea or coffee. They also have three-egg omelets (farmers-, country-, Western-, Spanish- or meat lovers-style) ranging from $7.25 to $7.50. These omelet prices might seem a high, but they also include potatoes or grits with tea or coffee.

Verdict: It looks like the Hobbses have all the right ideas and ambition to run a successful restaurant, along with good food and a clean and friendly environment. So when you’re looking for a new local restaurant to try for breakfast or you have a short lunch break, the Old Garner Road Diner should be your first choice. And now that they are open Sundays for breakfast, there is a new place for people to go after church. Who knows, you might even bump into my wife and me there for Sunday breakfast.

Old Garner Road Diner
1340 W. Garner Road in Garner
Phone: 919-662-8730

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1 Response for “Restaurant review: Old Garner Road Diner”

  1. Shirley says:
    February 16, 2010 at 10:22 am

    I am writing this ,not as a review, but as a simple statement. With so many people out of work, barely making ends meet, with children, that really would love to start going out to eat again,. Could you tell me why prices are so high? Maybe only the more fortunate get to eat seafood. My husband has made 50 to 60.000 dollars a year for the past 15 yrs. and imagine this, we refused to pay those ridiculous prices then, so now that his job shut down we are lucky to go out to eat once a month. But rest assured it won’t be there. Burgers, Burgers, Burgers.

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