This eatery, once upon a time many years ago was a little diner, and the original counter and booths are still there, evoking some nostalgia. The "new" Cloister Restaurant has a new ramp, new exterior, and a new dining room. The menu is extensive with some of the old Pennsylvania Dutch offerings still available. Liver and onions was not on the menu but is available. You just have to ask for it. My vegetarian friend loved their in house veggie burger patty. I ordered ham loaf, not bad, with a side of apple filling. The apples were not in evidence and the taste was rather bland with a mushy texture smothered in brown gravy. Will not get again. The other 4 in our party of 5 ate everything and enjoyed it! Service was good, unsweet tea was good, restrooms clean, establishment nicely furnished. Parking is good and ramp is great at the entrance. Overall a 4.5 rating! read more

See all

Always love an old school diner. Was excited to learn it was under the same ownership as the Black Olive in Columbia. Greeted, seated and had drinks quickly. Went for breakfast. Lots of seating, large varied menu. Service was excellent. My wife had pancakes and I had eggs and scrapple. Everything was well prepared. Gotta love a good diner! Ephrata is a challenge from coffee due to hard water, but the coffee was good too. read more

I have gone to so many diners in Ephrata, Lancaster and Reading and I still choose the Cloister Restaurant every chance I get. I love how wholesome the staff and manager (his name is Oz) are and how delicious the food is everytime. Can't complain about anything here. Prices are reasonable and comparable to other diners. They even open on Thanksgiving because they are about everyone in the community having a place to come eat over the holiday. They don't open on Christmas but every other holiday, it's a full menu and it's open! Please drop by and try this place if you enjoy family style diner food! read more

See all

Friendly quick service and delicious food! Nice clean quiet atmosphere and the traditional dinner are is super cute. Great price for the quality and portions. read more

Cloister Resturaunt - Mexican hash with sourdough toast and a small order of sausage gravy and biscuits with a side of bacon - Diners Near Me - Ephrata, Pennsylvania

I was pleased to eat at Cloister Restaurant the other day with friends. This was my 4th or 5th time dining here. Service was speedy and super-accommodating. The restaurant is clean and tidy. My upbeat friend who ordered the open face Reuben with fries was complimentary but the sandwich appeared skimpy on meat and generous with melted cheese and sauerkraut. The friend who ordered crab cakes was agog over the size of them -- huge -- but soon commented that they were overly loaded with filler, not crabmeat. (Why not offer a single reasonably-sized crabcake with less filler?) A side of eggplant parm was judged as "okay." A third friend's "mini-dinner" meal was sizable and featured broiled scallops which were rated highly but I was disappointed that the platter contained mostly small scallop pieces. (Why not offer less food with beautiful, full-sized scallops?) The vegetable side of eggplant parm received an "okay" review. My Greek salad was fabulous, as always. However, the waitress mistakenly added grilled chicken breast to the salad after I specifically asked for "no chicken or anchovies," which often accompany the dish. The vegetable portion of my salad was huge, delicious and beautifully prepared. The grilled chicken breast contained numerous bites of gristle and a layer of membrane. Such poor butchering is disappointing for a restaurant. Portions at Cloister are sizable although I would prefer smaller portions and higher quality, as cited above. This location is better than other casual restaurants in the area, so I intend to return but will be selective about what I order. The place prepares a very nice breakfast. read more

The diner is old and cozy. Clean and good old fashioned food. The service is good also. Manager is usually there to greet you and you certainly get a lot of food. One of our favorite places to eat. Steak sandwiches are wonderful and you can only eat half of it so we usually have a snack later. read more

Lively wait staff in diner atmosphere. Very friendly with the locals and curious about visitors. Big variety diner menu . Everything was good and tasty. Weekly amazing pies a specialty brought in from out of town read more

My wife and I have eaten at the Cloister Restaurant several times and we have always been very pleased. The comfort food is always delicious and abundant. The staff is exceedingly friendly and helpful and the prices are great. Free parking is an additional bonus. Every time we go we say we should come here more often. read more

Open under new ownership in November of 2020. Owner Mike Sirvi, owner of the Black Olive Diner of Columbia has remodeled and reopened the Cloister Resturaunt, and our first visit was very impressive! Breakfast- served all day- had an expansive menu of pancakes, waffles, omelettes, and specials. We settled on the diner omelette, and order of waffles for our son, and a Florentine omelette for the wife. All were provided with a heaping pile of hone fries, toast, and a three-egg omelette. Food was fantastic. Obviously, the new owner has brought his experience to get the Cloister's quality established quickly. Coffee was good and plentiful. Interior had some remodeling done, and looks good. Everything was clean. And, you can't beat a diner with a long counter of stools! Pricing was in-line- about 8.5 per omelette. Owner came around to check on quality of food and service. Kudos. The ONLY drawback was wait staff with masks under noses or on the chin. I won't bristle at this, but some might. Overall, a really good visit back to an establishment that is within a mile of my house but I hadn't visited since for at least 20 years. With breakfast all day and a closing of 10 PM- a rarity in Ephrata- I will make this much more of a frequent option. read more

Cloister Resturaunt - the front of the restaurant - Diners Near Me - Ephrata, Pennsylvania

Because of our schedule this week, we have been here three times in a week. We were there at an off time today, but the previous two times, they were slammed! One day, they ran out of tables so two couples ate at the counter. Everyone seemed to arrive and leave happy. People were seated as promptly as could be. Owners, hostess, waitresses, and busboys were moving efficiently with welcoming smiles on their faces. AND orders came out of the kitchen tasting as good as they always do! read more

If you love old diners that really look like the old dining cars from trains, sit at the counter with the beautiful vintage blue and black tiles. Comfy, renovated boots, Christmas stockings for the whole staff. There's a nice big dining area too for big groups. Very family friendly. Lots of kids here on this Saturday morning. BUT THE BEST is that my dear husband of 50 years and i asked to just split a Reuben ( our litmus test for a good diner). They brought it on TWO plates, each with REALLY deliscious fries (AND half a Kosher dill and darling little cup of coleslaw!) The coffee kept coming AND they brought us 2 Milano cookies! Well, Merry Christmas to us. Who could ask for anything more from a diner? We'll be back! Because...i just heard them greet a regular...they call him #1！ read more

Went there for my dads birthday was very hesitant since when their last owners ran it into the ground we had a great time the way they cooked their vegetables for every dish was phenomenal great staff overall everyone was friendly and went out of their way to accommodate our family great prices and generous portions will definitely be back only con menu was just way to big very overwhelming read more

Ate their yesterday and had the worst open face hot beef sandwich with mashed potatoes. Gravy was horrible and mashed potatoes were a lump of dried up potatoes. Really disappointed!!! read more

Enjoyed a delicious breakfast! Service was excellent, we had a great time. Good place for Saturday morning breakfast.

We've eaten @ The Black Olive in Columbia & when we heard that the owners purchased the Cloister Restaurant we definitely wanted to try. Not disappointed My husband had breakfast for dinner - alpine omelette with home fries. Loved it. He also ate the fried green beans (fresh green beans sautéed in olive oil w/light seasoning) that came with my meal. I had one of daily specials - fried shrimp & clams served with French fries, fresh salad, green beans (my husband ate) & pudding. HUGE portions & fresh food. Will definitely be back. read more

Cloister Resturaunt - Diners Near Me - Ephrata, Pennsylvania

The poor staff, desperately need more staff - but put that aside since that is a management issue. The hostess & waitress were kind, apologetic about the wait and through with providing everything once able to. Food was good- ate at breakfast time. Son had steak and eggs - steak was cooked to perfection! Good experience!! read more

See all

It appears this place may be under new ownership and may have been previously called The Black Olive judging by the old T-shirts. the staff is still wearing. Stopped here after zip lining nearby. Friendly staff. decent food came out quickly clean place just needs updating. No one seemed to know what cloister meant, but I will let you go ahead and Google it and not spoil it read more

Cloister Resturaunt - Turkey, triple decker club sandwich on rye. Fries were fantastic crispy not soggy. - Diners Near Me - Ephrata, Pennsylvania

See all

I just ordered the meatloaf sandwich with mashed potatoes and brown gravy. it was the worst thing I ever ordered from a diner. The gravy was orange, the meat loaf was thin Salisbury streak with fat and not edible. There were green chunks of something in the potatoes. it was supposed to come with pudding it was missing. I will never order from here again!! How can a diner not know what meatloaf is!!! I threw it out and wasted my money! read more

10/10 The "New" Cloister Restaurant is the BEST! Food and staff are great! We frequently go have dinner or breakfast. Portions are HUGE as well. They also have the BEST corn pie I've ever eaten! read more

My wife has eaten here many times, today was my 1st visit. Restaurant was busy and we were sat in a booth in the back, thought for a few minutes we had been forgotten about. We ordered and the food arrived shortly after, everything was good. The reasoning for the 3 stars was when I was paying the bill, the cashier asked if I wanted to use my senior discount which prompted me to ask how old do I need to be and she said 65. I'm barely in my 50's and was caught off by the question considering I Iook much younger. Then on the walkway outside the front door, someone had stepped in something and one of the workers decided it would be a good idea to dump 5 gallons of water on it in freezing weather creating a walking hazard back to the parking lot. read more

I sure miss the other owners. The food is not nearly as good. Their soups, which I love homemade soup, are just so so. The owners seem to love their job but charging extra money if you pay by credit card is a rip off. Nice selection on menus. Only gave them 2 stars because the food is just so so and , not thru their fault, I find it to be extremely loud in there with older customers screaming back and forth with each other. Also these older folks seem to think it is ok to bash certain individuals that don t conform to their religious beliefs, and other political views. I know its free speech but acting immature from older people bothers me. go outside to yell and bash people. Evan if this didn t bother me, I would only give them 3 stars. seems at times that there are too many young workers with an attitude working there. read more

Good for what it is; a diner! Ordered GrubHub delivery and portions were huge. Actually got more seafood in the fried combo than I even ordered (fish, shrimp & scallops) because they also threw in clam strips and a huge crab cake. The crabcake was mostly filler, but it tasted good with tarter sauce and everything else was as expected. Veggie medley was fresh steamed veggies with good flavor, not regular mushy diner stuff. Salad was great. Good bang for the buck on a family style meal, I'll order again. read more

The waitress we had forgot about us a few times!! Uggg Almost seemed like she didn't want to be there or didn't want us there. There were only 2 of us. When she finally came to our booth to take our order she reeked of cigarette smoke!!! At that point she may have seen my look of discussed, because she became rude to us the rest our stay!!! I ordered a breakfast sandwich I never took one bite of it in fear of her spitting on my food!! We have ordered out for pic up many times and it was one of our best!! read more

Went for lunch it was okay. The breakfast not so much. Hard bacon looked like its been sitting for days. The service was the only thing that made me feel comfortable. read more

This restaurant is very good and the service quick and friendly. I get the Greek salad and fries. Large reasonable portions.

This place is literally the best the people are friendly staff is amazing I've never had a bad meal here and I've been coming for over two years there's not enough good things I can say about this place this is simply the best if you get a chance try the corn pie read more

First time to eat at Cloister with two friends. The restaurant was clean and service friendly. Two of the three meals were delicious. I had the featured crab cake; disappointed. Too much filling and too little crab and it tasted like it was fried, instead of grilled. I will give them another chance if in the area. read more

Just had breakfast here. Service was good, but food was awful! It was so loud in the dining room, we couldn't even hold a conversation with each other. Right now they are doing some kind of construction and it was very dangerous going in and out of the door. They even had a sign at the front door "watch for falling debris". How ridiculous was that! My husband ordered the special listed on the chalkboard at the entrance. When he got his bill, they charged him the full menu price and was told he had to say he wanted the special. Come on! Will never go back. read more

We love the Cloister diner. The owners are super friendly. Went to breakfast this morning, and everything was delicious! Definitely one of our favorite breakfast spots. read more

Great Philly cheesesteak sammie! Sandwich and French fries super fresh and hot. hHafd friendly and attentive service. Good prices also -- very reasonable. read more

Members of my church have frequented the restaurant on many previous occasions. The restaurant is centrally located, right off of Oregon Pike, across from the Ephrata Cloisters. The food is extraordinarily good, especially so for a diner. The service is first rate. The cleanliness of the restaurant is beyond reproach. Try the Cloisters restaurant! I'm sure you'll love it as much as my group of people already do! read more

My kids loved it. The fries and onions rings were cold. The cake was meh. It's fine for what it is.

Ok, update. We came again on a Friday night. The place was busy, but seated right away, service was quick. Like last time, I don't know how they make your order so quickly. 10 minutes after ordering, it's on our table. I had meatloaf open sandwich, pretty good, as expected for a diner, but the servings were big. The steamed mixed veggies as a side were good, and the house salad was really good too, not just a pile of iceberg. Wife had chicken Crockets, also good. Can't see how you can go wrong at this place. 4 stars because I grade pretty hard. read more

My husband and I had not been here since the new ownership took over so we decided to stop in for an early dinner on a cold winter afternoon. I ordered French onion soup and a BBQ chicken salad. Hubs ordered a seafood platter. His meal was ok. Frozen fried seafood which is what you would expect at a diner in Ephrata. The gooey carrots on the side were inedible. Just gross. Must have been out of a Sysco can. My French onion soup was also Meh. Not brown enough on the top. But not too salty. Probably would have been better if it had been hot instead of lukewarm. My salad was not good. Dry chicken with bbq sauce squirted on it from a bottle. Canned corn. Some kind of sticky sweet beans- red, not black. The tortilla shell was rancid. Yuck. I sent it back. They were very apologetic and replaced the salad with a new plain salad because I declined a new one of the same type. It was not a great experience but maybe they have a good breakfast. I will try that next time. read more

Finally tried the "new" cloister. Very impressed with what they've done with the place. It's bright, modern, clean,... everything the old one wasn't. Wife ordered a panini, I a "cloister " burger. Both were good, serving sizes were plentiful. Service was incredibly fast. I'm not kidding that it must have been 5 minutes from time we ordered. Impressive for a busy restaurant at 6pm on a Saturday night. Menu was extensive, so much to chop from, also have breakfast foods available all the time. 4 stars as it is diner food, not fantastic, but for a diner, a great value. read more

Portions generous and prices reasonable but food mediocre and atmosphere unpleasant. Staff seemed to create a lot of commotion and made the overall dining experience uncomfortable and unsettling. Everyone in my party agreed that it wasn't a good enough experience to make us feel like going back. read more

My wife and had breakfast this morning. Great, friendly staff, quick service and the food was wonderful. The new ownership has really turn the Cloister into a gem. Well don! read more