I expected more from this restaurant given the huge menu selection and oversized desserts but they did not "wow" me. I ordered the crabmeat filled tilapia and the middle was not done.... Stopped eating and was refunded my entire order. I tried a taste of my Mom's fried flounder and it was good. Next time, if there is one....I will see what their breakfast is like! read more

Food: 3 Decor: 2.5 Ambiance: 3 Service: 3 Value: 3 Another average diner. Nothing bad, just a satisfying diner meal if that is what you are after. read more

Love this Diner! The staff maintains a friendly attitude while working hard and providing excellent service. Also the food is good and it has a nice bakery. This is my favorite breakfast spot. read more

Empire Diner - Waffle Deluxe and Jumbo French Toast Combo!! Both with scrabbled cheese eggs and turkey bacon. - Diners Near Me - Lansdowne, Pennsylvania

Stopped in for brunch on Memorial Day after a Fernwood Cemetery visit. Just moved back to Philly from Michigan. This place was super clean, the glass between the booths (which is an excellent idea for privacy) was spotless and the meal was great! The stuffed French Toast was spectacular, the waffles golden and the scrapple was the best I have had since my grandmother passed away almost 20 years ago! The staff was very pleasant...you could tell they liked working there. The owner appears committed to excellence as there is also a major exterior renovation underway. Everybody raves about Hank's in Chadds Ford...Empire can give them a run for their money! By all means try this place and order the stuffed French Toast! read more

great food, decent price, moderate wait, nice ambience. one word StuffedFrenchToast ! ;) The service for the most part is good. sometimes it can get busy even at 3am. it takes good time for the food to get done, but it is worth it. Any place that does breakfast right is worth-it in my book. they take time to even make the platters look picture worthy. read more

I had lunch at this diner and the quesadillas were very good. However, the salsa was HORRIBLE. The portions were a good size and the service was good. The desserts are always GREAT!!! read more

This is your classic diner that has 20 pages to the menu, that need to be indexed to find what you want. The food is good if you are going for diner food. You can't expect a steak to be 5 stars at a diner (it just doesn't happen). But if you want some good comfort food, yummy desserts, and nice service, this place is a win! read more

Got seated right away for lunch. Found a straw paper stuck to menu. Waitress was prompt. Brought drinks and Took our order. Chicken noodle soup was good. We ordered two wraps. One turkey one London broil. Both were supposed to come with tomato and didn't. They came dry with no mayo. Apparently you have to ask for mayo on a sandwich. The turkey sandwich was very dry. The London broil sandwich tasted like roast beef that was cooking in gravy/au jus and then rinsed off. It was not even close to A nice marinated thick cut rare sliced beef. Meat was horrible. Then when I diplomatically brought it up at the cashier some bus boy came up and asked what was wrong and I told them it wasn't London broil the bus boy got all defensive and said I was lying! Lmao. I've been in the business for 40 yrs. I know the difference. The disrespectful way that guy talked to me guaranteed I'll never be back and I'll make sure you everyone I know will know my experience. read more

Love thier pancakes and amazing waffles. I always enjoy the serevers here they are all sweet and kind. I always want thier new york cheesecake its phenomenal! read more

2.5 ... regular little diner, though the omelets could be better. They have a really big menu, but not so many options for vegetarians.. which is not unusual. To me, this diner is a little out of the way and could use a make over of the exterior. But it's good enough as it is. Cheap prices, nice staff. Ate here once on our way back from morning hiking. read more

I was here on April 26, 2015 with my fiance and my friend. We dined in during the morning hours, so the diner was bustling and lively but that was to be expected. The service was about average. The stuffed french toasts are absolutely divine; they are three thick slices of toast with sweet cream cheese in between and whipped cream on top. My friend ordered scrambled eggs and they were still partially raw and runny, unfortunately. I watched as he poked and prodded at the eggs, in attempts to avoid the uncooked parts. The pancakes that my fiance had were unexpectedly huge and were served in decent proportions. All in all, the majority of the food was satisfactory, save for the eggs, everything was generously proportioned, the prices aren't too bad, and the service received that day could have been better, but it was about par. I would definitely give this diner another visit for the stuffed french toast alone. read more

The Empire Diner is as close as you can get to a Jersey Diner without being in Jersey. They're open 24 hours a day, serve breakfast all day, and do their own baking. The staff is a little too nice to be Jersey, but you can order basically anything you want without getting a raised brow. The food is standard diner quality, so nothing that will send you to yelp with 5-star tears. But it's cheap, you get a lot of it, and you get it quickly. read more

The worst breakfast EVER and the food is overpriced! I will not go back! The bacon was cheap, precooked and had no flavor. The home-fries with were smothered in onions and the waffles weren't cook thoroughly. Very disappointed. read more

This place made me sick. They handed me a bowl of rotted fruit. Not just a little rotted, like really rotted. Then there was hair in the meal i ordered and the eggplant tasted disgusting. I ordered a slice of cake thinking.. how can they screw that up. The first cake i ordered was apparently "too hard to eat" and the second cake i ordered was like eating cardboard with shaving cream all over it. The final bill was higher than what i pay for a nice meal at mad mex or somewhere else even nicer. read more

I've been here plenty of times before and the food was great. I hadn't been in a while but I went yesterday and took my husband because he had never eaten there before. Needless to say the food by my surprise was horrible the waitress explained to us that they just hired a new cook that didn't know what he was doing and he wasn't good at reading. For our mozzarella sticks the sauce we were served was chef boy r De sauce from what tasted like ravioli (out of a can) the burger my husband got was to over cooked and the salad I got was all around nasty the waitress told me she had to make the salad because the cook didn't know how to make a chicken finger salad. I felt bad because I hyped it up yo my husband how great the food was only for it to be horrible. All I can say was the soda tasted fine. Everything else was just bad read more

This place as 15% gratuity to all pįçk up orders/take out !!! I can understand them doing it for dine in customers (especially cause there of clientele. But to charge a gratuity on takeout??? That's ridiculous not to mention the food was awful!!! Bland barely edible!!! I shouldn't have to pay for your dine in patrons stiffin or poorly tipping the waitstaff. If I'm wrong or out of line about this bothering me about the takeout please help me understand??? Bottom line I will never eat this slop again. What a waste of money. read more

I think this place sucks. Overpriced for one. Late night service has always been lacking. The decaf was burnt and the normal coffee was bad as well. I think the plus of this place is the location since there are no late night diners in West Philly anymore and this is basically just up the street. read more

The service was quick and the food was good. Next time, I will order the home fries without onions or peppers. read more

Empire Diner - Home fries with onions and peppers, Omlette backn sausage and ham. - Diners Near Me - Lansdowne, Pennsylvania

This has become my favorite place to eat in Philadelphia and my favorite diner I've ever been to. To start with, I am a sucker for chrome and psychedelic lighting and their decor is chalked full of both. The wait staff is always extremely polite and friendly. The menu is huge and I've enjoyed everything I've ever tried there, although I usually go with the breakfast burger and I substitute in blue cheese. I crave that burger constantly. The desert section will make you drool and is always delicious. This place is just totally legit. Prices are low and portions are huge. I have not a single bad thing to say about this place--I love it!! read more

Probably my 4th time coming here and it has yet to disappoint me! I usually get breakfast, yesterday I tried the chille and had some tiramisu was very good both.. Love it here, the waitresses always have great vibes read more

I don't understand all the bad reviews. The food was good and plentiful, the waitress was very nice, my wife and I were seated immediately and the crowd was lively and fun. Burnt coffee? 45 minute wait? 15% added to delivery? All bogus I think. May have been written by the competition. Baseless complaints. I wish YELP would add an "I hated the review" section because I did!! read more

i'm going to be honest, its never the staff or the food that's served that differs my perception of this resteraunt. i go to the empire diner usually at night when i do decide to go, and you always get a weird mix of people. sometimes you have a baby crying, other times just a roudy crowd / family. the service is great, and the food is good - and inexpensive. i dont recall having every had a negative experience except for another customer had a child crying and basically refused to leave the resteraunt - which caused lots of noise. i usually order the california, burger, or eggs benedict. also love the cranberry turkey sandwich. i always tip the waitresses whenever i go here, as well. i figure they deserve it :) read more

The place is SoSo. I would not recommend to outsiders. The cakes and pies look so beautiful.... Nothing else. They are just so tasteless. I normally just order eggs, potatoes and toast. You can't mess that up. The staff however are very pleasant. read more

Lunch today, This is a diner so, I had a burger and fries. Pretty good burger, fries ok. Nice wait staff

Will not eat here again the food was lousy. Order seafood combo one fried and one broil . The broil one had stuff flounder with crab meat and the crab meat was spoiled . It stank so bad our hands was stinking and we had to wash our hands with lemon. The manger only took 5.00 off the bill so we sent the whole platter back but she charge me for the sides we didn't eat. The fried platter was over cook.Our food took forever to come out because they were in the back playing and watching tv. It was only about 10 people in there so it was no reason we had to wait long for our food. read more

This is my 2nd time to Empire diner and the experience was not at all good. First, did they change management?? If they did, then that explains alot. The last time my husband and I went we had lunch there, during the week and the food was phenomenal. This time.. The food was very bland, my husband ordered smothered pork chops which were broiled.. Who broils smothered pork chops. I had the ribs which were under cooked. Nevertheless , my husband got sick last night and the only thing he ate was at this restaurant. Oh yeah, and did I tell you the clerk at the register asked me if we wanted to leave a tip on our card before even handing over the receipt. No we left our tip for the waitress who to say the least was very accommodating, but if it is under new management it shows. And not in a good way read more

Ive eaten here plenty of late nights after a night out and the food has always been ok. Tonight though it was totally unacceptable. I ordered a New York strip steak medium well. When it came out it was well done. I was told by the waitress that that's how they serve medium well. I said it all brown and if that's medium what it well done. She said it browner, lol. Really? I sent it back and again I received a well done steak and was told the cook said none of the steaks they have are pink. So what does that mean? To me it means the meat is no good and this is what you're serving your paying customers. I will never come back. read more

I originally ordered stake it was so fucken nasty. Is my 2nd time they mess my stake. But I love string beans wit broccoli I enjoyed yet. But I left $20 bill 4 tips read more

I ordered a large strawberry shortcake for Christmas and my family and friends raved about it. It was so incredibly delicious, moist and yummy. read more

I went to Empire Diner based on other reviews. The food ws good and the portions were large and the prices were reasonable. The service was good overall. I would definitely return and would recommend other to go as well. read more

Reasonable prices and very good food. Great Sunday breakfast spot

This place is surely going down hill again like in the past . Been going there for years , unfortunately I'm not anymore . Food is horribly in the late hours .. they should just close at night . Waitress are not friendly , probably due to lack of sleeping and working long hours . read more

Good rule of thumb.... always get BREAKFAST HERE! I always got the Spinach omelette, and it was consistently good. Went here a lot when I was in college and when I lived in Lansdowne. read more

Well, I did it again. This used to be a favorite spot on Friday evenings. My wife and several friends of ours would meet up here for dinners and finger foods at times. August of 2017was my last time there because of lousy service when my daughter and I ordered steaks ( one porterhouse and one T-Bone) And boy was it lousy! First the food took an hour and a half to come to he table, and then the steaks were crusted with salt or seasoning, that would have given the average man a heart attack. When I told the Night Manager about it she gave me attitude and then brought us back a steak that she just took out and placed it in the salamander. No seasoning or anything. SO I stopped going there. Well last night some other friends were going, and rather than to be a stick in the mud, I went. My wife and I, arrived with 3 other friends. One of my daughters showed up 15 minutes later. I ordered a Turkey Club with a cup of beef barley soup, my wife a grilled shrimp salad, my friends ordered breakfast, and one ordered shrimp in the basket. My daughter who was late ordered, T Bone Steak. Welllll, everyone at the table got their orders before my wife and I got our orders. Then they brought out her salad, and I waited. Then after brining it to the attention of the waitress,( Miss Vanessa) she brought me a chicken salad club sandwich, and when I pointed that out to her she said she knew it was a chicken club, and got an attitude. She went into the kitchen and ranted about the people "at that table". TO add insult to injury, she never brought me a corrected order. I am solid in my decision to just not go back there. You do what you want to. read more

Okay, breakfast isn't bad. The homefries are good with the onions and peppers, so we go there for breakfast periodically. Why only 2 stars?? Everytime we have ordered dinner items they totally SUCK, and dessert is ridiculously awe-full! Now we just stick to breakfast, don't think the dinner items are worth trying. read more

I ordered from this restaurant through Ubereats. My order was clearly broken down according to the items I wanted. There were add ons I put in the notes section which I was told beforehand by someone at the restaurant could be done and charges would be added on since the item is not on the menu. Apparently staff is not capable of reading the order tickets correctly because I received my order missing half of my items. When I called the restaurant staff was rude. A girl said she thought I was replacing one item with another when the ticket never showed that. After being hung up on twice I called back and asked to speak to a manager or owner. He was just as rude stating the add ons could not be charged and he thought they were replacements as well. As far as my other missing item, that was never addressed. I was appalled. I was missing four items from my order in which are all clearly printed on the ticket but instead of anyone taking responsibility and offering to fix it they were all nasty and kept hanging up on me. Please do not order from this establishment. read more

Really nice space! The service was also very helpful and friendly. The food was solid, nice expansive menu. The diner doesn't stand out as amazing, in fact my food was pretty much cold. But the prices were reasonable, service was great, and food was good. read more

Second time at the diner for Sunday brunch and enjoyed the food and experience more this time around. It was probably due to the fact that it was after lunch rush since we went around 3pm, but our waitress Stacy was very attentive and the portions were large, and very good! read more

The food is consistently good. The staff is friendly. It is open 24 hours, and not many things are open 24 hours in East Lansdowne... If you live around here, you probably already understand why. read more

Purchased 2 salmon salads last Thursday that were horrible. Couldn't eat half of the lettuce on the salads because it was in terrible condition. The salmon tasted old, not fresh. My salad dressings were missing. Their desserts look appetizing, but taste HORRIBLE. read more