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    Carpenter's Diner

    4.3 (25 reviews)
    Closed 6:00 am - 2:00 pm

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    Wife loves the 'platter-size' single pancake. A 2 meal treat.

    It's is always a great breakfast here. The wait staff takes your order soon after you seat yourself. Food comes out shortly even when busy. (9 am on a Saturday...)

    Breakfast Menu also have a Lunch Menu
    Vern H.

    Stopped for breakfast because I had saw their reopening news announcement. Was a good place when was open a number of years ago. It didn't let me down. Had the Farmers Omelet with Hash Browns and Toast. Was very proper good ol' Midwest Diner cooking. Portions were sizable and the service was polite and it was clear dedication to the Diners success was important. The place is in the heart of Old Downtown Waterloo across from Five Sullivans Convention Center. It was clean and yet had the Diner ambiance. Deserves a 4 Star rating of 5

    Half order biscuits and gray and farmer's omelette
    Shannon M.

    Staff is super friendly! The food is amazing! The gravy is so flavorful and everything came out hot and delish!

    Country Fried Steak, 2 Eggs, Hashbrowns & Toast
    Melissa K.

    Great diner with prompt service and friendly staff! The food was delicious! Coffee was great. The gravy was so good and the hash browns were crispy perfection. It was packed the entire time we were there but it seems no one waited to be sat!

    Pancakes sausage and Eggs!

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    11 months ago

    Pretty average diner with longer than average service time. Don't expect anything grand. Their biscuits and gravy are surprisingly bland.

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    2 years ago

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    8 months ago

    Excellent food, great service and off-the-charts ambience! If driving by on the interstate, forget fast food: pull off here!

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    8 months ago

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    1 year ago

    A very small local diner that was packed with a short wait. Hostess was sassy an a little crabby. The food was decent enough.

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    2 years ago

    Great place for breakfast with an Irish coffee. Great service also. Nice "mom&pop" shop.

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    2 years ago

    Great Food and service. Our pancake was huge and one of the best I've ever had! Nice portions and reasonably priced.

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    2 years ago

    Great food , great service and friendly staff ! Every town in America needs a cafe like Carpenters. Highly recommend

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    Ask the Community - Carpenter's Diner

    Review Highlights - Carpenter's Diner

    What an awesome meal; 2-eggs, sausage, raisin toast, and hash browns the way I love them; extra crispy with peppers and onions!!!!!

    Mentioned in 3 reviews

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    I really wanted to like this place because the atmosphere was great and the employees were…read moregenuinely nice and ordering with our server was also a smooth and pleasant experience. However, things quickly went downhill. We were told they were out of funnel cake fries....which, okay, that happens, but then also out of fried pickles? That started to feel a bit questionable. While sitting there, we kept overhearing staff apologizing and saying they were understaffed. I understand that staffing issues happen, but good management should adjust accordingly by limiting capacity, reducing hours, or temporarily closing, rather than letting service suffer this badly. We arrived around 12:50, ordered at 1:00, and didn't get our appetizer until 1:50. Our main food didn't come out until after 2:00. That kind of wait is just not reasonable. To make matters worse, my tenderloin bun was extremely soggy and the food overall was very greasy. If you're going for a tenderloin, you're honestly better off heading to Starbecks, Cindy Lou's, or King Bucks. Great vibe and kind staff, but the long wait times, lack of menu items, and disappointing food quality made for a frustrating experience overall. And let me tell you this..... 2 kids meals, 2 adult meals, and 1 appetizer was $80 DOLLARS BEFORE TIP... I get that things in this world are expensive, but we can go to Sakura Japanese Steak House and get hibachi and sushi and feed the family for about the same cost.

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    Since the Catfish Po' Boy was out of this world, I think it's safe to say the rest of Rodney's food…read moreis...Hats off to the simple selection, quality ingredients, and soulful touch to each meal. I will certainly return when in Waterloo and plan to spread to word to friends, family, and colleagues.

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    Today is there grand opening as of 10am!…read more My sister and I popped in around 11am and it was packed. There had to be between 30-40 customers in the store while we were there. It was a steady pace and they had a great set up going. We were only in there for about 25 minutes. I think they must have had all there workers there today for the opening because there was at least 12 people working. They had a chain going for cold sandwiches and a seperate one going for online orders. I liked that they actually had a pick up stand set up for online orders its the first time I have seen one of those at a Jersey Mikes. The manager was all over the place helping where he could and even stepped in to make our sandwiches on the grill. My sister and I ordered a chicken philly (16) & big kahuna chicken (55) gluten free allergy. Absolutely wonderful. The only thing I have to say is that the gluten free bread was drier than I am used to and it was falling apart. I also watched someone make a gluten free cold sandwich while I was there and all I could see were bread crumbs all over the counter so I hope there was not too much cross contamination for them.

    Third visit there, once again had to leave as the service is so painfully slow and who has two…read morehours for lunch. The one time we did wait it out it took 50 minutes to get our food. The bread is underwhelming at best and the sandwhich was not even decent, bland and blahhh. There are tons of workers in there, but no organization, no communication and we, the customer, are left staring at them and they don't seem to care. The inside is tiny too, so good luck folks. And for those who order online, the people standing there waiting for their online orders were NOT Happy at all. We won't be back and that sucks as we've wanted one in our area for a long time. Save you time and money, go elsewhere.

    Carpenter's Diner - breakfast_brunch - Updated May 2026

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