Jimmie’s Diner

Meh. mediocre food. Our second time here, thought maybe we ordered the wrong thing last time. About the same level as Golden Corral. Decent prices and service. But with so many other great options, doubtful to return.

I’ve been eating here since the early 2000s. Not much has changed, except my perception of portion sizes. Even then, they don’t lie when they say on their menu that the portions are quite «generous.» I visit Jimmie’s Diner about once every two months, usually for brunch.
I was planning on eating healthy earlier today, but had this sudden craving for some chicken fried steak after an hour of Zumba. I wanted to go somewhere close to the North YMCA and Jimmie’s Diner came to mind. It took us less than five minutes to get there. We walked in, looked around and noticed that the place wasn’t as crowded as usual. We waited for roughly thirty seconds and our host appeared and walked us to our booth. He was very polite.
Our waitress brought over two cups of water and asked if we wanted anything else to drink. I asked if I could have a cup of water without ice. She smiled, picked the cup of ice water up and returned with a cup of lukewarm water. «I already like her,» I whispered to my friend. She handed us our menus and said she would return soon to take our orders. The wait wasn’t that bad, but a bit too long. However, the prolonged waiting period did give us time to appreciate the ambiance. The place overall felt homey, especially their carpet which was reminiscent of olden days. I felt as if I had gone back to the 1950s. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the background music. «Elvis would’ve probably liked this,» I thought to myself.
«Be right there guys!» Our waitress probably noticed the blank looks on our faces as we got hungrier and hungrier. She walked over and took our orders. I ordered a chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and white gravy. For my sides, I got fried okra and a salad. I couldn’t decide on the dressing, so our waitress said she would just give me both ranch and Italian. Such a sweetheart.
The chicken fried steak was a little too chewy for my liking. It was not as easy to cut into. I did, however, enjoy the crunchiness on the outside. The gravy was great. I loved the fried okra. They’re crunchy and not burnt. A lot of places try too hard to make them crunchier by frying the okra for too long and consequently burning the edges. Jimmie’s Diner did not make that mistake.

Have loved Jimmie’s from the first time I went in! The food is delicious and very good quality. Staff could be a little more professional and take a little extra time with customers, but overall-​great!!!

After months of anticipation I finally made it here. Adorable place and feel, a lot of options. However, this place didn’t live up to my expectations. The service was nothing great, but the food was homemade and real. The only bad thing was, my food did not come out fresh. The butter didn’t even melt on my pancakes or waffles. The eggs and hashbrowns were also not hot. For me, this totally ruined it and the food rendered to be rather tasteless and stale because of this. If you go, make sure the food is hot when you get it, otherwise hit iHOP down the road!

Indulge in Breakfast
The only way to improve upon the breakfast experience at Jimmie’s Diner would be to have it served in bed.
The fare is satisfying and nicely presented.
Generous portions.
Thrifty.
Excellent, efficient service.
While epicurean is not usually a descriptor associated with diner breakfasts, it works with Jimmie’s. Give it a try!

An average breakfast, I got a biscuit and it was cold. Nothing extremely special. Very clean, and has a very nice atmosphere with a 50s vibe, with a jukebox.

Good ol’ Jimmie’s Diner. It’s like stepping back to a time when restaurants were not carbon copies but just good home cooking. The atmosphere is of a 1950’s diner and if you are nostalgic this maybe all that you need to hear to go there. The staff and waitresses dress the part with the waitresses wearing poodle skirts as they did in the car hop days and the guys wearing bowling shirts. They play the oldies as well over the ceiling speakers. Each booth has a small jukebox on the table that you can use if you feel the need. It’s a place that if you go there enough they will remember what you drink and possibly what you want to eat. One of the waitresses, CJ (they all have nicknames) has been there for years and is possibly one of the best waitresses I have ever had. The burgers are great. (ask for fried onions). The breakfasts are classics (try the Joeys Benny). Best malts and shakes in town. Believe it or not on Thursdays they have a chimichanga special that I have yet to find better anywhere else. If you want something fancy, you won’t find it here. If you want a feel good experience that takes you back and great like momma’s home cooking you have found the right place.

Had breakfast here. The orange juice was warm, my biscuit and gravy was cold. The food came and we had no silverware. My wife had to go up to the front and get some. It has that 50’s feel to the place, and I’m guessing that it hadn’t been worth a flying rat’s @$$ since the 50’s either…
If I could give this zero stars, I would. It’s a great place, If you can’t taste food, or if you don’t mind crappy service. The people are nice. Just not cut-​out for this restaurant stuff.

Staff is always super friendly and festive. Cooks made a reindeer pancake for my son on Christmas Eve.

Can’t beat them for breakfast food and atmosphere. Everything is super friendly and efficient. Dinner is pretty much Grandma’s house. Although I think my grandma was a bit better. Pies and hand dipped malts, Yum! Go often, tip well Unilocalers!

I visited Jimmy’s today the burger was really good the service is okay but please just needs to be updated really bad it’s almost like it’s kind of sticky I guess Overall the food was good like I said the place is dirty

a fun place to eat at if you want that kind of diner feeling. was told that everything is homemade, dont know if it is true. a lot of choices to pick from on the menu. i always got breakfast food and its good. nothing special but the atmosphere is fun. great location too.

Wife & I just had dinner here. The atmosphere & waitress «Bonnie» were great, the food was not. We had the special «chicken noodles» and the «shepherds pie». The orders were served within 2 mins of ordering and both dinners were just warm and tasteless. A very disappointing dining experience. Maybe breakfast is better.

Go for the atmosphere, not so much the food.
Cool 50’s diner. I used to frequent this place a long time ago, so I was excited to be driving past on a trip.
The food just wasn’t very good. I asked for my burger medium. The waitress said, «I’ll TRY to get them to cook it that way.» It came out well-​done, so I assumed medium must have been a product of some other decade… perhaps the 60’s or 70’s? The menu said this was their «biggest and juiciest», but it was dry and not really that big. After they overcooked the meat, they just put two slices of cold American cheese on the patty right before serving it. So dry meat and cold cheese… yum. Also, the bun was cold as well, and fell apart despite having been toasted. I ordered onion rings and also had some of my wife’s French fries. Onion ring batter was bland and a little heavy. French fries had a mushy texture to them like they were frozen. It tasted no better than most fast-​food burgers and not as good as the chili’s and red robins of the world. Other members of my party had food of similar quality and taste as my food.
Definitely not as good as it once was. Thanks for the memories…5 stars for those.

This is Hubby and my ‘place.’ We love to come here for the food, atmosphere and service. The servers are always nice and if they’re slow or make a mistake they are more than gracious about it.
This is the first place that pops into mind whenever we want breakfast. It’s the perfect spot for old-​fashioned diner food!
Favorites: Eggs Benedict and fried okra.

Very nice 50’s diner. We don’t live in the area so this is our first time eating there and the server was good to make recommendations. One of her recommendations, for the homemade fried potato chips was right on – these were really good. My wife had the sweet potato fries, which we would recommend skipping. They’re waffle cut, seemed over-​cooked, and didn’t have much of that sweet potato taste that you’re looking for (IMO, sweet potato fries to translate well in waffle cut or thin cut presentations — you need the thicker, meatier cut fries).
The burgers were excellent. One of my daughters had the spaghetti and meatballs which was good for a – 50’s diner. The chicken strips that my other daughter had, were not something that I’d recommend, even for chicken strip lovers.
The shakes were excellent — and huge — split one with a friend. The malts, though, tasted just like the shake. When I order a malt, I want it to be malty — these were not, but they were still good as «shakes».
If you live in KC, you’ve been brough up on Winsteads as the 50’s diner chain. Jimmie’s is much better, IMO.

Great service.
My meal was very good as was the rest of my party’s. I had chicken fried steak, fries and salad. Steak was fresh and not from the freezer. It was not greasy and had a crispy crust. The white gravy was OK but not enough seasoning. The owner came by and asked us how the meal was and we gave him an honest critique. He seemed to really care and said he would look into the gravy seasoning. I asked if it was canned and he said no. it was scratch. My wife had the BLT and she was impressed with the amount of bacon. We all agreed the fries were perfect.
Good place to go if you want dependable comfort food. My next visit will be for breakfast.

Some of the most simplest things in life are the best in life. This place follows simplicity with high quality food. If you’ve ever been to a old school 50’s era diner, this place represents it well without it being too obvious.
Once we walked in, we were greeted immediately and seated. The best part was the people next to us in the booth. An older gentleman, presuming the «grandpa» was arguing with his grandchildren and how they lack respect to their elders and ensued a loud argument. Their grandchildren clearly had no respect while giving back talk and sass. The waiter was being professional and was trying to not laugh. Myself and friend laughed hysterically.
Now our hostess seated us, laid out neatly the silverware and had water in our booth in no time. Never have I been to a restaurant where they neatly placed silverware. Usually it’s wrapped up in tissue and placed where you’ll be eating.
Our waiter came to us and gave us our menus. Despite witnessing a rather disgruntled grandpa, he was extremely professional and nice. Never have I met a waiter that was well poised. His name was Biff.
The menu is fairly simple and easy to read. Although I generally love eating breakfast at any time, I just ordered their 1/​3lb hamburger with Sweet Potato Waffle fries.
For our drinks, I decided to get a Brown Cow shake. It was one of their modest priced shakes for 2.79.
The shake arrived about 5 minutes later and was very good. Ice cream was fresh and the soda mixed with it gave it a good taste. Especially towards the end when all of the ice cream is melted.
Our food arrived later and minutes later we both dived in what was probably the best hamburger I’ve gotten from a diner. The meat was fresh formed chuck beef. Everything looked fresh and high quality.
They are a bit costly, but the quality of the experience and food makes it worth wild! Highly recommend this spot for an old fashion diner.
They would get 4 stars, but because they had Free Wifi, it earned them 5.

More really cannot be said about this diner. Upon your entrance, you will notice that the median age is probably 65. You know what that means — if you can satisfy that generation, you know they are doing it up right.
I went for the old, breakfast for lunch routine and it was an excellent idea. My western omelet was cooked to perfection — not over or undercooked eggs and the thing was giant. It was totally enough to bring home for a little moonlight breakfast. The side selections were amazing. I went with biscuits N gravy and hash browns. The gravy was a near holy experience — I even asked for a side to bring home with me. The H Browns were of the crispy top, soft bottom variety — also good with the gravy.
Service was really good as well. Biff really treated us right and it appeared that he was taking care of nearly half of the restaurant — not an easy task.
Kansas, you have a real gem on your hands. If I am ever though the area again — I will be back.

(This is going to be a three-​part review, intended to be continued with my reviews of Kings-​X and Toc’s Coffeehouse, respectively. I went to Jimmie’s Diner first, so this is Part 1)
After 13 years of success selling their hamburgers across the Midwest, White Castle owner Billy Ingram decided to move his base of operations from Wichita — where the restaurant got its start — to Columbus Ohio, to be closer to its expanding market. Four years later, he realized that his business relative to a city’s population — the restaurants in Chicago and New York were seeing tremendous business, and the smaller cities were struggling. Because of the difficulty in maintaining these businesses over such long distances, management decided to concentrate its efforts on the cities east of the Mississippi River, and as a result, 1938 was the last year in which Wichita possessed a White Castle restaurant.
Jimmy King joined WC in 1927 and ultimately became the head of research and development for the company. As a trusted and important employee, he attempted to make the move to Columbus with the rest of White Castle’s key employees, but being a rural Kansan, King didn’t find the hustle and bustle of urban Ohio very appealing, and returned to Wichita to manage the remaining restaurants in the city. When WC decided to close their Wichita restaurants four years later, King bought them and tried his hand at the burger business under the Kings-​X moniker.
The popularity of the restaurants expanded over the decades, adding locations and concepts like coffee shops and drive-​ins. Their popularity eventually waned, and as of today there are only two restaurants that still have Jimmy King’s name attached to them.
Given the history of the Kings-​X restaurants, it’s funny to see Jimmie’s Diner designed in the style of 50’s restaurants. They go whole hog with the concept, though, complete with table jukeboxes, costumed waiters, and an actual soda jerk working behind the counter (complete with paper hat) making a wide variety of shakes and malts.
I visited on a Sunday evening when apparently all of the young new hires were doing their on-​the-​job training, so service was a little more scattershot than I would believe is standard operating procedure, but the service I did see was earnest, so I didn’t make too much of it.
Kings-​X started in hamburgers, so I ordered the Royal Castle, a ½ lb patty cooked to a juicy medium with a respectable exterior crust, topped with lettuce, tomato, and served with a heap of pickles on the side. Chopped grilled onions made an appearance, too, and were probably my favorite part of the burger, given how well caramelized they were. The lettuce had seen better days, I think, but this was still a decent burger. I chose the chips as my side because they were stated as being freshly-​made, but there was something about those ruffled slices of potato that made me doubt it. Perhaps they were made earlier and had been sitting around for a while, I don’t know. They didn’t taste bad, though — slightly sweet from some garlic in the seasoning — and you can’t complain about the approximately seven different choices for your burger side.
Though decent, in today’s burger world, though, we can find similar burgers in plenty of places, and I don’t think it’s enough by which to define an this restaurant. Luckily, the menu has plenty of other choices, from a standard all-​day breakfast menu and some classic American dinners, as well.
The juxtaposition between the older clientele and the younger servers may have just been because it was Sunday Dinnertime, but it looked like these folks were no strangers to Jimmie’s. After nearly 25 years in business, Jimmie’s may downplay the Kings-​X association (the words «A Kings-​X Restaurant» can be seen on the exterior sign, but only if you’re looking for it), but it looked to me like many people were happy eating the comfortable cuisine that Kings-​X has been providing people for the better part of last century.
There’s one thing that confuses me — the name. Is it named after a different Jimmy than the one who founded Kings-​X, or is it just a case of some horribly-​grammatically-​incorrect person pluralizing Jimmy’s name such as they would for a non-​proper noun? The world may never know.
(Continued in my review of Kings-​X)