Besides Hannah Devine's on Main, Mimi's CoffeeHouse of Hardwick, and possibly Janine's Frosty down the street, you're going to want to make Crystal Springs a destination restaurant diner for your daytime brunch or breakfast needs, plus milkshakes and ice cream. Crystal Springs brings a consistency of food quality, time, and care that has kept the restaurant in good hands in the last decades. Walk in and walk beside the bar, noting the diner is cash only, and into the two booth sections near the back so that your waitstaff can have easy access to take your order. The diner, near the back, updates specials and has a few consistent winners that keep recurring. The wall opposite your entry has a wall with a blown up photographed depiction of the town of Ware from the air many decades ago. One of the pluses of this all-day breakfast diner is that they also are a dairy bar, serving ice cream and milkshakes specifically. Expect Crystal Springs to be busy with locals and other out of town travelers at the corner of the plaza strip they're located at. They're near a busy entrance and exit way, and there's parking near enough to that ingress to be mindful of. Thank you for many meals, Crystal Springs, and I hope I find great photos I took of your diner one day to fit a review for a staff as reliable at 5am as you'd want in a diner. read more

This little resto is a hidden gem that packs a lot of surprises. Who would have guessed that a man from Egypt would have chosen Ware MA to set up a kitchen/business. But Yasser has and we are so grateful that he did. His cultural take and techniques when applied to some of the American diner classics makes one sit up and take notice. I think we can all agree the fried fish sandwich and fish and Chips is a New England classic. Imo, Yasser's fishfry technique and eerily light coating is truly something special; you will be hard pressed to find a better fried product anywhere. I'm not gonna tell you much, other than give this place a try and discover for yourself what hidden treasures this little restaurant holds. read more

Interesting name for a breakfast place, but once we saw the parking lot was full, we knew we found a gem. Food was excellent, good portions, nice and hot. Service was always with a smile and the place had this small dinner ambiance even if it was a good size restaurant. We will be back for sure. read more

Very disappointed, just stopped in for breakfast, and they don't do breakfast past 11 AM, lol, I'm also allergic to gluten, and they have no bread for my sandwich, so they offered to give me a sandwich with no bread lol, I had ordered a coffee, and explained to them. I guess I can't eat here, so they gave me a bill for $2.95 for my coffee, I didn't take a sip from the coffee, I left five dollars on the counter, and left, pretty sad to be in the food business, and this is the best they can offer somebody looking for breakfast, but only a sandwich because they close the breakfast kitchen, pretty odd, I won't be back, but I do hope they improve their business practice read more

Great hole in the wall place wasn't expecting it to be like this, do stop by and enjoy lunch like I did.

CASH ONLY This restaurant serves a really great breakfast, but I wish I had known before dining that they only take cash. They have good service otherwise. If you're looking for that greasy spoon diner vibe then you should check it out. read more

Clean restaurant, and Good food. Booths/tables and a counter for enjoying your order of food.

We only got milkshakes and while they were a bit pricey - they were good! It's a cute old fashioned place that had very nice service.

Last time I was here I saw a egg sandwich I wanted to try, a New York Egg sandwich, so here I am. It was delicious, ordered it with some hash browns which were lacking seasoning but good. Easy in and easy out with plenty of parking out front. The waitresses were friendly and helpful. Will be back when in the area. read more

See all

The best CRISPY hash browns. Solid breakfast. It's easy to walk in as a stranger and feel right at home.

Always great choice for a great breakfast! We love the staff here.Always friendly and never ending coffee!!! This is a go to place for us!

If you want a proper country breakfast, this is the place. Great prices, big portions and nice servers make this the real deal. Sit at the counter if you are solo and mingle with the locals- all nice enough and quite entertaining at that. Let the server suggest a hearty special or order from the menu. Great eggs, bacon, homefries, pancakes and much more. Good coffee too and if you order a hot chocolate, they give plenty whipped cream if you like. The kielbasa and eggs are a winner and omelets are huge and stuffed with your choice of meats/veggies/cheese. Get your homefries crispy with onions and peppers, like the boss does. Then take a long country walk when you are done and burn off those carbs! read more

I feel like I'm stepping back into my old town coffee shop from the 70's when I was real young. I don't say this in a bad way, lots of good memories going out to eat with family. It's nice to take a step back when going inside Crystal Springs, and shows old school still works just fine. Staff is always pleasant and have smiles on. Clean and cozy. We've never we had a bad meal here. Personally I prefer the breakfast items. Yummy pancake, French toast, bacon and homefries. Not a fan of the hot Tea brands, but I'm a Tea snob so that's on me. They have no issues with me asking for hot water and using my bags read more

Boy ya can't go wrong with a good breakfast restaurant that knows how to get your eggs right, I've been eat here for a few decades now and I've never had a bad service not once , the people who work here are our neighbors and friends they make us welcome and enjoy what they do making people happy ! Brings back so many great memories with friends and family. read more

This isn't a 'destination', just classic traditional local dining with daily specials and decent service. The place exists in a time warp. Nothing fancy, but if you want coffee in a real mug and decent food on a real plate at unpretentious prices, this will take you back to when those were the norm everywhere. read more

I came here a few years ago and left a bad review but came back today and had an excellent experience. I got the pastrami egg and cheese on an onion bagel and it was delicious. Homefries with onions were awesome. Service was super friendly. Update: I come here all the time now. Love the service and food. Get the home fries "loaded": comes with bacon bits and mozzarella! read more

Just an update. $8.25 for special breakfast of 3 eggs toast ham and coffee. Still great. Still a deal. Don't change. It's perfect. Love taking my parents or my kids here. If you're heading to Walmart or the quabbin it's a great place to visit. read more

This restaurant has quickly become our favorite for breakfast. The food is good and the service even better. Parking is never an issue. Each week a different flavored coffee as well as good regular coffee. They are always willing to modify any menu item. We look forward to Sunday breakfasts here. read more

Crystal Springs Dairy Bar - You can see how full my fried egg sandwich is! - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Ware, Massachusetts

I decided to give this place a try for lunch. I ordered clam chowder, jalapeño poppers and buffalo tenders. The clam chowder is mostly thickened chicken broth with a few clams and potatoes thrown in there. It was ok but more like a creamy chicken soup. The saltines were stale. The jalepeno poppers were the cream cheese filled ones and it only took one bite to realize they were not good. The cheese was curdled and tasted sour. When I finally got someone to come over to me there was no apology just an ok I'll take them off the check. Well I'm grateful for that but really would it kill you to say sorry. The chicken tenders were ok again frozen chicken tenders thrown in some franks and put on a plate. Very standard nothing great. I waited for some dressing when I wanted more because the waitresses were all eating lunch. So I guess I wouldn't come back but you can give it a try. I would have probably gave it more stars if I had at least got good service but with only 2 customers in the place and 3 waitresses I don't think I should have to keep asking for things. I even had to ask to pay my bill after it had sat with the cash on if for 10 minutes. Even when I left I felt ignored. Food came out quickly. Service wasn't there and food was only ok. You can do better people. read more

The Food was awesome Iwent for breakfast today. the eggs was good but little watery waiter needs to smile more but therefore foods is excellent read more

I used to order from here all the time. This last time I got the breakfast hash browns to go. I usually love them. But this time I first found a hair (pulled it out and let it go). Then towards the end of my serving I found a fuzzy hair ball. Like the kind that you find in a corner with weird crumbs in it. I was deeply grossed out. Yuck. Almost certainly won't be going back here. read more

My sister in Barre, MA, brought me here along with my brother-in-law. He's the kind that likes to give waitresses a hard time. Man, did they give it back to him! He stumbled out laughing, shaking his head and mumbling, "I love it!" Other than that, though, this place is great for down-to-earth food and cute signs on the walls. And the prices are like 1950. Burgers for about $3.50! Great milk shakes. My brother always gets a BLT. It has a lunch counter and booths with the formica worn off. Everyone knows each other. The bathrooms are clean too with a towel dispenser from my junior high school. The best sign on the wall was "Dinner options: 1. Take it 2. Leave it." That's the philosophy of this place. read more

Food is Excellent affordable prices friendly waitresses :) I stopped by in friday nights fish & chip , my wife got the fish was really good fresh cod I got the crystal burger was excellent . read more

This place rocks come on people it's "Timeless"..... Stainless steel everything clean and shiny. Food as expected yummy.. Had the crystal burger same as I remember 15 years ago.. Servers are awesome everyone friendly.. read more

Friday night Lobster Roll N Fish is a disaster. The mash. potatoes were INSTANT, the fish was fried to death and dry and the lobster roll was chewy ... Yes we actually tried this place again. The new owner is obnoxious because he thinks its' OK to serve people this wretched food! read more

Came in for some ice cream. They were out of what I originally wanted, so I had to go with Plan B. Not a huge deal. It was still tasty.

Very good food the people are nice and friendly will go back for sure I like the pancakes the most

I love their breakfast special with scrambled eggs, ham, toast and coffee. Perfectly prepared the same every time (had this ~10x in the past year). I liked the hash the one time I had it also. Coffee only fair but this is all at good prices. Very nice staff always as well. I also love their name and have fond memories of the old Crystal Springs Dairy Bar in Belchertown in the early 80s when I was a UMass student. Great place for breakfast. Will definitely be back. read more

Crystal Springs has been in Ware forever and it feels like that's how long I've been going. Their breakfasts are great, I love their omelets! I usually get mine with mushrooms, onions, and cheese. They also have great hash. For lunch they have various items including great burgers and also different specials such as spaghetti & meatballs and stuffed cabbage with mashed potatoes (both are delicious). The food is really cheap and the service is good, only trouble is sometimes they're really busy and you have to wait for a booth. read more

I am giving five stars not because the fries were so good (they were really, REALLY good) or because the lobster roll was the best (a damn good value at $9.95, but you don't go to Ware For lobster) but because this is as fine an example of the backroads diner/after-the-game pie spot/breakfast joint as you could hope for. The service was beyond friendly, to warm (but not overbearing) and the charm factor off the charts. This is a vanishing breed and we'll all be the poorer when they are no more. The menu was about as simple as you could imagine, not a great spot for a vegetarian but about what you'd expect the Crystal Springs Dairy Bar to offer: simple plates, baskets and sandwiches. And pies. And ice cream. read more

This place is awesome huge delicious breakfast bagels sandwiches and good variety of omelette Mexican omelette loved it , the new owner really taking care of that place . read more

Have been going here since I was a kid. The waitstaff are very down to earth and friendly, and the food is good. Definitely a favorite amongst the locals when it comes to breakfast. read more