Char's Family Diner is a local roadside diner (former Mike's Diner) located just south of Cairo on NY 32, serving all day breakfast and lunch, and dinner (Friday & Saturday). The place is very cozy with a lunch counter with stools, table seating along the front windows and 2 long tables for larger parties in the same space.
The breakfast menu offerings are the standard eggs, omelets, pancakes, French toast, hash, home fries, bagels, muffins and cinnamon buns. The lunch offerings include deli sandwiches, hot sandwiches, salads, soups, burgers, hot dogs, fried seafood, chicken tenders, wings, appetizers, and a few desserts. They also have daily specials and special offerings.
I stopped by Char's for dinner recently. I got here before it got really busy and sat at a table near the window. I was told everything was available except for the Prime Rib Special was not available, which had to be reserved in advance over the phone and through their Facebook page. Their Shrimp & Broccoli Alfredo special from the night before sounded pretty good.
Anyways, I had an idea of what I was going to order and decided on the Open Faced Hot Turkey Sandwich ($15.99 plus tax), served with soup or salad, fries and cole slaw. The cup of homemade Beef Barley soup with saltine crackers came out first, which was a very hot and the perfect hearty soup on a cold night. Next, the entree arrived which had plenty of thin sliced turkey (at least 8) smothered in turkey gravy over soft white bread, taste was slightly salty as I would expect from gravy sandwiches. The crinkle cut fries were lightly fried, could've used a few more seconds in the fryer. The chilled cup of minced cole slaw had a sweet flavor.
As I was finishing up, several parties with reservations arrived here, most had already preordered the Prime Rib dinner. Since there was one active server in the dining room, I waited a bit, but I ended up going up to the counter to pay my check, which was $17.27 with tax and before tip. It's also CASH ONLY here.
Overall, the food was fairly standard diner comfort food. The place just got really busy with the parking lot full when I left. read more