Pilgrim Diner Restaurant

First and last time.
Order lamb leg roasted came out sliced under cooked with a patterns of green color all over (assuming was frosting for years) tasted nothing like lamb, got chicken with mushroom. Everything come under cooked. I tried the lemon meringue pie it was like a rock.

Worst service I’ve ever had hands down, a waitress had the audacity to be disrespectful right in front of their customers and also looked down upon our group and said «those kids» as a disrespectful gesture. I’d also like to mention that I go to a culinary/​hospitality school and we specialize in these studies. Very poor and unprofessional service given at this diner.

The food is ok (although i think my hamburger patty was premade/​frozen) but they get enough business to address the ripped up chairs and below par bathrooms! C’mon guys. Spruce it up.

I live around the corner from this place so it’s not wonder why I gave this place as many chances as I did. A few months back my boyfriend and I had an appointment with a realtor in Hillsdale and wanted to grab some lunch. we stressed to no end that we needed to get out quick, and the complete opposite happened. We got our drinks right away which sucks because if we had just gotten water we would have walked out after 20 minutes of waiting just to place our order. The place was dead but the ditsy waitress was too busy talking. we finally place our order and again stressed we needed to be out by 12:30 because we had a meeting at 1. Still no regard. bottom line it took 45 minutes for pancakes and french toast in a dead diner and we were incredibly late.
After that experience we swore never again but out of desperation we went here yesterday (Sunday ¹¹⁄₁₅) because IHOP was packed. After finding a legit parking spot among the self made ones we got seated pretty quickly and placed our order right as we sat down knowing the track record, To drink we just wanted coffee and juice and that took a while. We were sat to the right in the dining area and had a great view of the dilapidated counter with the soda fountain caving into it. Since we had no food or beverage to distract us we looked around a lot and I SAW A WAITRESS POUR TWO CUPS OF DECAF BUT RUN OUT AND FILL THE REST WITH REGULAR COFFEE, HOW MESSED UP IS THAT?! To top that as we still waited for our food there was a fork crisis THE DINER RAN OUT OF FORKS yes forks they ran out of forks. This family of 4 couldn’t eat because the husband had to try and track down two for their kids. The outcome was give out plastic forks. After that we realized our waiter was ignoring us because our food was still not out. After 50 minutes for again pancakes and french toast we finally got it and couldn’t even finish the food because it tasted stale and sour, my water tasted like ketchup and my coffee was burnt. It’s a joke.
As we go to pay a women who sat on the other side was complaining, and the person at the register was unimpressed because she was hearing the same thing all day and probably everyday for that matter. At this point I wanted to walk out without paying but my morals kicked in. I go on to tell her about my experience and she assured me we were not the only ones. She said that she was only filling in because the person who was supposed to be there was in the back washing dishes because the owners wont hire a new one or buy new anything, I asked if she’ll do anything about the bill and she said no because they’d need to do that for everyone. Well why still seat people if you know you’re having issues??? Well she then told us that the bosses won’t do anything because of the fact that people still come in and are suckers and will still return.
It’s a shame, my parents used to date here and I remember coming here after church as a child. My boyfriend and I came here and it was nostalgic but after 3 terrible experiences we’re finally putting our foot down and never returning. It’s not fair to the staff who need to take the heat for the failed management, and most of them have just given up on their jobs. There’s so much wasted potential here

Good spot for late night eats. Went with the chicken fingers which was just deep fried chicken on a plate. No frills. For a late night bite presentation doesn’t matter much!
My girlfriend ordered mozzarella cheese fries. While they were average overall, the cheese was not evenly distributed and some of the cheese and fries were burnt.
Atmosphere is your typical NJ diner.

Nothing sets atmosphere like a manager having a meltdown worthy of a three year old. The staff is all cowering in fear of her and its honestly made it a great final experience at a once great local hotspot. Honestly i can understand why there are only 6 tables full at 9pm… Chasing away guests by screaming is not what this place stood for.

The only reason I come here is because it’s easy to get in and out of. Today I showed up sat in a crooked chair, waited for my food for 45 minutes had to stare at broken cabinets, gross tables and disgusting floor. This place is a dump and it’s a shame because it is in such great location. Avoid it until they invest some money and clean it up!

I used to frequent here all the time. I went back tonight for a quick bite to eat and I have to say all of the reviews on here that said this place has gone down hill is right. My husband had a fly in his drink, the waitress brought back another one– with another fly. The food was OK. The staff aren’t as friendly as they used to be. Hate to see what was such a good local place go down the tubes.

Ok, so this place is not trying to impress anyone with their décor but it feels like a good olé NJ diner to me. Of course some things could be updated, but I wasn’t there for ambiance; I was there for eating diner food. From reading previous reviews, I took some of your advice and went with classic diner fare.
I ordered the reuben sandwich with corned beef and extra cole slaw in place of french fries. It was VERY tasty.
My boyfriend ordered the french dip sandwich which was pretty good, it had nice, rare, roast beef, thinly sliced but the roll could have been better and I thought the au jus was a tad too salty. His came with waffles fries, which I see why people rave about those!
I also treated myself to a slice of coconut pie, which my waitress told me that it was fresh and highly recommended. It was perfect; like a coconut flan on a delicate crust.
I can’t say this is my favorite diner of all time, but I’m glad I live close by and I could see coming back here again when craving classic diner food.

I just ate here. Very dirty and horrible good. The burger smelled like it was old and the French fries were greasy and had black stuff in them. Waitress had stains all over her uniform.

**RUN AWAY** Used to come here all the time with my husband. Clearly that was a LONG time ago. How do you mess up eggs? Never had a Spanish omlett with (what?) LARGE CHUNKS celery and carrots in it? It looked like they just took left over beef stew and threw it on top of an egg. I would rather eat the scraps of food that were stuck between the seat and window, and believe me, there were many. This place sadly needs management change or a blow torch. Won’t be back.

The Jets Burger. Great fries. Great onion rings. Interesting blend of vegetables with mozzarella cheese. Not a fan of the cole slaw or I would have given 5 stars. Didn’t try the desserts but they looked great. Great for a late night diner fix!

I will never offer this place a dollar or a second of my time again. My family and I went there on a Sunday for brunch. We were seated in good timing, and gave our ENTIRE order to our waitress. We ordered water and coffee — pretty simple for a diner huh? Nope. We waited 20 minutes and did not even see our waitress. Then a couple sat next to us and were greeted by our waitress with coffee. Like really? When we confronted her she said «well I know them!» With a snarky attitude. She went back to get our waters and disappeared for another 10 minutes. I asked another waiter for water which he replied to with «um im not your waiter.» Yes sir I’m aware but could you relay your message to your fellow co-​worker??” We never got our water and left to go to another diner.

Nice booths. But, otherwise just standard diner fare. Servers are friendly and seek to please.

Wow. Bad. Not even sure where to start!
Server is nice enough but brings me crappy stale coffee (it’s 8am as I type this) with milk. The milk is brought over in a somewhat dirty ½ full glass. Kitchen couldn’t care less.
As I’m typing this I’m being harassed by a housefly. The other waitresses are complaining about coworkers and wages. They are playing music from 1955.
Broccoli and cheddar omelette is more like broccoli and low grade american. Omelette is flat and tasteless
English muffins weigh 5 lbs due to extreme butter saturation.
Seats are badly worn and ugly. Whole place looks like a «restaurant impossible» before shot.
And it wasn’t cheap — $ 10 for omelette and crappy coffee.
I have nothing good to say other than that my server was pleasant.
I am literally going to stop at Dunkin donuts for a decent coffee after this.

** DO NOT EAT HERE ** Unless of course you enjoy staring at gaping holes in tattered seats, the grumpiest nastiest staff, disintegrating table tops, beautifully chipped plates, partially washed glasses and random surprise hard bits in your food. :)
Let me just start this off by saying I have been a pilgrim diner lover for years, but had not been here in I guess at least six months. What a surprise we got this morning when we attended for breakfast. At first, upon walking in, I did notice the vestibule lacked the usual potted plants, cigarette machine and friendly up-​to-​date holiday charm. I noticed that all this but it didn’t tip me off in any particular way, until I sat down and started looking around. That’s when I noticed just how downhill this place has truly traveled. The seats are ripped open and no there is not even the saving grace of duct tape to cover them. Also the table has been so over cleaned and not polished or cared for, so that the table top is literally worn away and getting worse. It’s generally very crumby, dusty and dirty in here. The China is chipped in not just one spot, but many. And don’t worry, all the plates match (they’re all chipped, or they were at our table). The best part was my drink. Not sure why but as I was sipping, I turned the glass around in my hand and noticed some sort of mucous-​like gunk on the glass (yes, on the inside of it). How did they know I would enjoy some leftover, partially cleaned dairy product with my tomato juice !? Yum ! Also my fiancé, who wanted to get up and leave upon arrival (but I was sick and needed to eat something asap so we stayed) found something hard in his omelette and stopped eating after the third bite. Not sure what that surprising hard bit was, but we did not order that specialty today. ;) Photos attached of this appalling establishment.
WHERE IS THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT !

I’m actually really shocked by the previous reviews. This is your classic NJ diner, not Ruth Chris lol. Been coming here since before I can remember for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and late night snacks. Always have great food and have never been disappointed. Staff can be a little abrupt some times but nothing that would keep me away.
Wraps are awesome, fries are always a win, and when in doubt get the tuna melt.

I normally USED TO like it here! It was one of the best diners around that was open 24 hours but I went there about 2 weeks ago and it was a severe disappointment. We were there late on a Saturday night and we all ordered «diner food”– french onion soup, mozzarella sticks, grilled cheese, blt, fries with gravy… And seriously the only OKAY thing were the mozz sticks… But everything else was just bad. Our waitress was horrible. She forgot my friends order, she put the wrong order in for fries (we ordered waffle and regular came out). It was all around just really bad… And in addition to the food, the place looked seriously run down. I mean the booths were ripped and falling apart. It’s really showing it’s age and u can tell that the owner seems to not care anymore and that is very apparent. It’s a shame bc it used to be really good but it has def seen better days…

I’ve been here twice, once for breakfast, once for lunch. I’m not the unforgiving sort, and my husband is in the business, so I know that anyplace can have an off day.
This place, however, ought to be shut down posthaste. Nastiest waitresses on the planet. The hostess/​cashier ignores you when you arrive, and can barely be bothered to take your money at the end.
The food is meh-​average. That, coupled with truly atrocious service, will keep me from going back.

I’ve been here a few times with friends usually after a late night out because of the late hours it stays open. Its has a wide varied menu of what you’d expect from a diner. My favorite thing here is the waffle fries, they’re nice and crispy. Everything else I’ve had here is ok, nothing mind blowing. Its nice and spacious so there is plenty of seating and the booths look like they can hold 6. mens room was pretty clean.
The only thing holding the score back is the average food and the staff, someone should get them some prozac because the waitress, host, even the cashier seem like they’re depressed. Our waitress wasn’t mean but man she was down. It was 8 pm and she said shes on duty til 7 am so I feel for her.
Decent enough spot though, my crew and I surely will be back as we have. Maybe I can bump it up a star then.