Diners For Convenience and Great Food

My wife, Linda and I try to go out to dinner at least once on the weekend. We go to all different places: specialty restaurants like for barbecue, ethnic or chains like Ruby Tuesday, T.G.I.Friday, McDonalds or Taco Bell.

But sometimes, we won’t be in the mood for anything in particular and end up choosing a local diner. There are numerous diners in the area so you don’t have to travel far.

Most of the time, you can get a great meal, at a great price, and even find great specials on their menus. There's a variety so if you're not sure, you're likely to find something you like.  Depending on what you order, sometimes you can get a three course meal, like meatloaf or turkey, with a couple of side dishes of vegetables, and even dessert, for a pretty affordable price. Not to mention if you don't feel like getting all dressed up, you can go and dress comfortably.

Diners are good places to meet up with friends. About once or twice a month, I’ll meet up with my friend, Norman, and have breakfast at one of the diners, usually having the typical bacon and egg breakfast. Not to mention they’re family friendly. We'll meet my daughter, Valerie and her boyfriend, John at one, when she comes back home from California.

Every diner has it’s own character to it, like maybe an era type theme like the 1960s or 1970s, modern or good old being able to watch them cook behind the counter. A list of some of the diners that I’m thinking of is Bob’s Diner, in Watervliet, Inga’s Diner, Wolf Road Diner and Colonie Diner in Colonie. You also have the Gateway and Jack’s Diner in Albany, Blue Ribbon Diner in Schenctady and the Circle Diner and Latham 76 Diner, both in Latham. One place that I miss is the Empress Diner in Colonie. Unfortunately, they closed a few years ago. That’s my little list of diners. Just a little side note: most of them do not have a website.

There are plenty to choose from. What other diners have you gone to? Feel free to add to the list.