5 & Diner - review by Christopher Gross

      This week is something simple and casual. The 5 & Diner; there is about 8 of them located in the valley here. I find myself coming here every once in awhile, especially late night or occasionally if I wake up early in the morning and I’m feeling hungry.  The location I went to is open 24 hours, and the cool thing about it is you can have breakfast 24 hours a day.  This place really reminds me of what I used to eat as a kid. One of my favorite things, it’s probably not one of the healthiest dishes in the world, but chicken fried steak with two eggs, bacon, and toast is a must! It’s probably the only place, and the only time that i’ll have a chocolate milk shake.  It’s great for late night, so if you have been out late and you feel like you want something to eat, this is a great choice. You can pop in there at 3 in the morning or if you wake up late and you feel like breakfast, you can go in there get a late breakfast. The menu consists of pretty much anything you can imagine from waffles, French toast, burgers, soup, sandwhiches, pancakes, and all sorts of omelets.

    What I like about the place is the ambiance. The restaurant is inside of an old dining car, and when the weather is nice the patio is great especially the one on 16th street (easy to get to off the 51 and Colter). Inside they have a long bar if you feel like going by yourself and getting something to eat. It’s also a great place to just sit and people watch especially around 2 or 3 in the morning when all the clubs let out.  It’s a pretty diverse crowed, and there’s music at each table - one of those old style café-jukebox menu's that you can put a quarter in and play all kinds of music, mostly from the 50 ‘s and 60’s – some oldies maybe you haven’t heard in a long time.  Occasionally, I will go there after work, if I have a late night and I’m getting off at 12 or 1am, and I feel like eating something different. Breakfast is always good, and then there are those other things that I never think about making at my restaurant, and since I don’t cook at home, this is a great place to get those “home-style” faves like mac and cheese, grilled cheese, or a big fat burger.

    The service is real quick, friendly, all the people serving you are very attentive and you get your food really, really quick. The only thing I can say negative about the place is this: in busy times there could be a wait, especially on Sunday’s. For breakfast there seems to always be a line to get in, but it really never takes to long.  And again, it’s a really alternative place to go for breakfast as opposed to all the other places to go like; Denny’s, or whatever. I don’t live very far so I could just walk over if I’m feeling hungry in the morning and again it’s something that I don’t do very often and I usually don’t eat breakfast, but occasionally it’s nice to have an omelet, which they have 8 or 10 choices.

    They also serve dinner, which I haven’t been for, but they have a lot of stuff for dinner; from a pork chop to a t-bone to steak and shrimp to baby back rib.  Of course they have specials too, like; turkey and swiss melts, with French fries on Monday’s. On Tuesday it’s Sloppy Joe with French fries. On Wednesday, it’s spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic toast, Thursday it’s Mexican with chimichanga with refried beans, and on Friday, they have tuna melts and fish & chips. There’s pretty much anything you can possible think of her to have on their menu.

    They also have a nice selection of desserts from fresh baked brownies sundae to ice cream or yogurt, apple pie, lemon mar range, or chocolate cream pie, sundaes; chocolate, strawberry, butterscotch with hot fudge. And again, the thing I find great about this place is this is food I haven't eaten since I was a kid. Matter of fact, where I was born in the mid-west, chicken fried steak was very popular, and as a funny eater I use to live on grilled cheese. The servers dress up from something you’d see in the 60’s, and the services are really, really good but yet very, very casual. I can’t overstate how helpful everybody is and even in this fast paced restaurant, which is always very busy.

     It’s kind of like those old soda fountain bars you’d see back in the 60’s and 50’s where they had shakes, malts, yogurt shakes, egg creams. So it’s really a great place for every one whether you want to take your kids out for breakfast, lunch, or dinner that won’t break your wallet. So if you haven’t been, give it a try. Again they are located all over the valley. Some of their hours do vary, but the one on 16th Street and Camelback is open 24 hours a day. Some of them close at 11 or 12 o’clock at night, so give them a call.

Good evening and I hope you all enjoyed this recommendation.