Great food and service! Unique ambience in the back of a thrift shop. Found a cool souvenir after breakfast.

This place is a classic. It's the combination of an antique mall with a diner in the back. The stuff in the antique mall is way too high to buy anything. Great breakfast, though. read more

I stopped in recently after many years of passing by it on trips to the mountains or ski resorts. I can't believe I didn't stop sooner. Smh! What a great place filled with so many cool items. I bet I spent a good 30 minutes just looking through all their books. There is so much here to see and buy that it can be somewhat overwhelming, but in a very good way. The day I visited it was very packed and there were also a lot of people eating in the back as well, which speaks volumes of their products and service. I spoke to several employees as they asked if I needed any help finding anything and each one was kind and welcoming. Thanks :) The vibe is so cool here. It's like a huge mixup of diner/antique store/thrift stores. I bought a couple things and I look forward to coming back and buying more stuff the next time I am in the area. read more

On our way to a resort getaway and some recommended stopping here. Only open for breakfast and lunch. Great old time counter with som booths. Located inside an antique/ trinket shop Had the daily special.which was a grilled cheeseburger and fries. It was just like something you'd make at home a solid burger made by hand with fresh ground chuck. The service was very friendly and helpful. Gotta love small local diners. Also fun to peruse the store. read more

A neighbor recommended this place as she remembers it fondly as a child. It has an antique shop in the front, which is a bonus. The waitress was friendly and the food was out quickly. I had unsweetened tea and it was nice and strong! I ordered a bowl of sausage gravy and a buckwheat pancake. I am a critic of sausage gravy. It had good flavor and texture but also a second note that I can only describe as "lower". It wasn't a bad taste but took away from the gravy for me. B- The pancake took up the whole plate but was thin and bland at first. As I got to the center, it grew more sour. I couldn't eat it. My wife had a bacon and cheese omelette with green pepper and onion with a side of home fries. The omelette had a great amount of bacon. I don't like cooked green pepper but I could barely taste the large chunk of it. It had 1 square slice of American cheese plopped on the middle during cooking. The home fries were burnt and hard on one side and not cooked on the other. Everyone who had lunch foods liked/loved it so maybe that's their specialty? read more

This place is super inviting once you get passed the thrift shop/ antique store and go to the back where the restaurant is located The waitress was so nice and made our breakfast super fun Breakfast Burrito is good nothing special but I would get again Pancake is a little doughy in the middle Buckwheat pancake is so good a definite must have read more

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Extremely packed and lots of vintage items but insanely overpriced. I like vintage items as much as the next hoarder but there wasn't much here for me. Unless you are a diehard fan of a specific type of vintage item, not much here will be worth opening your wallet for. read more

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A top destination for locals (for the old school lunch counter) & tourists (for the antique/flea market/episode of grandma's a hoarder) alike. We have never eaten at the lunch counter, which is in the very back section (this used to be an old drug store) but we'd like to some day. The lunch counter is old school in the very best way & you'll see locals, many of whom are elderly. It's a soda fountain, if in your youth look it up! You can buy an ice cream float or an ice cream soda! Nostalgia runs supreme for anyone who grew up pretty much in the late 1930's through 1970's. Think of Woolworth's lunch counter. Oh my! The store is like an antiques/flea market which also brings back memories of my Nana's & my parent's homes growing up, along with toys, books and games of our childhoods. This place may not appeal to anyone younger than say, 40-45, unless they enjoy antiques & nostalgia. But it SHOULD be a must see for those under 40 just to appreciate simpler days gone by for sure. We stop in every year we visit Deep Creek Lake, but I don't think we've ever bought a thing. For us it's like being dropped back in time & always puts a smile and on our face & a thanks for the memories. read more

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Englanders was originally started 1946 with the fountain lunch counter; it was a drug store and pharmacy until around 2000 ( when the Walmart opened) then it closed a while to later reopen as an antique store with many consignment vendors and the counter luncheonette! They are popular but it is not fine dining!! They have hamburgers/fries, hot dogs, simple salads, fried fish ( previously frozen) sandwiches and stuff like that. Prices are also about $4-6.75. Lots of local customers and suspicious waitresses.. if not a local. read more

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Love me some old school lunch counter diner's locations. Tucked away in the rear of what looks like an old Woolworth, or drug store this re-purposed building is a great Antique booth store and some of the finest food around. Delicious food, great prices and fantastic servers. It's a favorite of locals. That is one of the reasons we love it. We often strike up conversations with the regulars to learn about the area. Try the pearl sugar waffles, crunchy and delightful. Growing up in Nj in the 1970's I loved going to small lunch counters, HoJo's and the like. The servers are fantastic as is the service. Keep coming back! read more

What a neat, local counter, that is also mostly locals. This is diner food cooked to order, and cooked well. The buckwheat cakes were the best I've had outside of my wife's grandmother's. Food comes out quickly, is very budget friendly, and service is great. Probably going to become my go-to breakfast spot in Oakland. read more

Loved it. Vintage lunch counter in the back of a former drugstore that's now an antiques shop. We came for breakfast and dined with the locals. Basic menu with huge portions. The buckwheat pancakes were great, but trust me, you don't need three. Sausage was prepared in-house and excellent. Waitstaff was efficient. read more

Let me preface by saying, we always try to support local restaurants and I was with 5 other people. We noticed right away the menu items were more expensive than anticipated. It took almost 90 minutes to receive our food and the quality was lower than it should've been. Toward the 75 minute mark, we notice 3 other couples, whom arrived after us, receive their orders, pay and leave. We questioned the server about this and got an argumentative response rather than a rational explanation. I understand being busy, but I find this unacceptable read more

This is the type of place I like (old school diner menu and atmosphere), but I did not have a good experience here. One day I went and the experience was decent. The food ranged in quality from excellent (cinnamon roll) to profoundly mediocre (fries), but I never received a refill on my drink and I had to remind the waitress to bring my salad. The prices seemed a bit steep for the type of food and type of place. A key feature of diners is that they are cheap, and this place is not expensive but not exactly cheap. Some of the meals seemed large, but I didn't get a good sense of the good and bad deals, only that some dishes seem to be a better value for the money than others. When I went a few days later I arrived about an hour and a half before it closed. It was quite busy and many customers were eating. My family and I found a booth and sat there for more than five minutes before anyone came over to tell us that they were closing early and were no longer serving new customers. The dining space is not very large and our booth was directly adjacent to the kitchen area, so it is not as though we had snuck into a remote corner without anyone noticing us. At any rate, I am done with this place, even though I wanted very much to like it. read more

It's like stepping back in time real down home folks , prices are good , browse the store you'll find yourself a hidden jem

Love the food. The prices for portions is awesome, definitely if your on a fixed income

In their defense, we got there at 2pm, and they close at 2:45. Nestled in the back of a thrift shop that used to be a drug store, this is a cool little old fashioned lunch counter with soda fountain. We sat at the counter for a quick lunch, but it took about 20 minutes for the staff to acknowledge us. That did not bode well at the start. I ordered the grilled cheese and tots along with an ice cream soda. The flavor and quality of the meal more than made up for the wait. Wow. One of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had. The ice cream soda left me wanting another, and another! I had to just go up to the register to ask for my bill, as they were super busy at closing time. I will definitely swing by for lunch every time I go through Oakland! read more

Absolutely delicious. Never had a bad meal here....and of course they absolutely know how to make an authentic ice cream soda. The specials here have always been very good - but get here early. read more

Englanders - American Near Me - Oakland, Maryland

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Wonderful blast from the past. Had a tasty lunch and awesome service. Luncheonettes like this are a dying breed and I was thrilled to discover this gem. Yes, it was a bit slow because it was busy with phone orders and the staff were hustling and multitasking to keep things moving as best as humanly possible. No one sitting around texting, etc. Hard working locals. I will definitely be back. For those posters who have no patience, go elsewhere. They don't need your business, but they have mine. I am not a local and did not feel treated any differently. It was actually a relief to overhear how life is in that part of Maryland. read more

First Impressions: I walked into Engenders and it looked like a nice classic lunch counter/diner. Although the place looks like it could be cleaned up a little bit. Food: I ordered a vanilla milkshake and the chicken finger platter that came with french fries, salad and a roll. Although the vanilla milkshake took longer than it should have I have to say it was the best milkshake I have ever had! It was a thick milkshake which is good and it was delicious. Although the people I sat with had the chocolate milkshake and said it didn't taste like chocolate. The lunch counter doesn't use real chocolate ice cream they use vanilla with chocolate syrup in it which doesn't give it the real chocolate taste. Next was the chicken fingers. The chicken fingers were not as good as I expected them to be. The chicken fingers tasted like they were frozen and they could very well be. We were sat next to 4 large freezers and we saw kitchen staff go to the freezers and bring things back to the kitchen multiple times. I shouldn't pay $9.25 for frozen chicken fingers that I could get at the store for much cheaper. The fries that came with the chicken fingers lacked salt and were very tasteless. The salad that came on the side was very good though and I believe they made there own ranch because it tasted like the ranch at Dutch's at Silver Tree with is homemade and tastes incredible. The roll was just taken from a store bought bag. Service: The service was nothing special the staff didn't make any efforts to make your experience good. Final Thoughts: If you are in town for just the weekend, you can skip it because you won't be missing out on much. That being said if you live here full time or even just have a house in the Deep Creek area give it a try on a boring weekend in the winter. read more

Englanders - American Near Me - Oakland, Maryland

This place is hilarious. It's like a giant antique store, but in the back is a small diner type of thing. Bacon and eggs. Toast. Coffee. Oatmeal. Sausage Gravy over Bisquits. You know.... I think they have lunch there too - burgers, sandwiches etc. But if you look around the store you can find some pretty crazy stuff. Mostly old junk. But some people like that stuff. Look at the pictures I took of some of their merchandise. read more

Englanders - American Near Me - Oakland, Maryland

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Gotta love this place full of color and interesting items. All the worker's are friendly and fun...Best Buckwheat pancakes in Maryland. ..Hands down read more

Englanders - Best buckwheat pancakes in the world - American Near Me - Oakland, Maryland

Good, inexpensive food at a lunch counter. What's not to like? Basically, if it can be cooked on a flat-top or deep fried, they've got it. The Philly Cheese Steak that I had was really good; the boys liked their burgers; and my wife's fish sandwich was huge and tasty. The staff is constantly busy -- don't expect long conversations or much personal attention during the lunch rush. They're busy making your calorie bombs! Don't expect anything fancy, and it's kind of elbow-to-elbow at lunch. Still a good place to stop, and it's fun to browse the antiques in the shop too. read more

I went here for breakfast. The locals told me they make great buckwheat cakes. I am not a connoisseur of buckwheat cakes. I had them at the Amish breakfast over Autumn Glory and liked them. These were ok. If they are more authentic, then they are not my thing. I found the coffee to be a bit weak. I think this is a place one goes for the old-fashioned 5 and dime experience. The food is ok. I would definitely be open to trying lunch here sometime. ~Christine Zellers CEO, LBDC read more

I love this place, everything from the classic lunch counter ambiance to the antiques stacked all around the front of the store. You can watch people eat talk and simply slow down life for a little while. It's all American comfort grill food, from great sandwiches, to hearty breakfasts. The milkshakes are the best I have ever had next to my mom's, who consequently also loved this place too. Come to Englander's for a moment from a past time, but stay to enjoy a simple slice of life. read more

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It's a nice, cozy little hangout with quirky atmosphere of yard-sale and antique items. However, be prepared for most of the people there to be locals to jabber on about religion or conservative politics. Our server didn't seem to care that we were in a bit of a rush and wanted to get our order out as fast as possible. Her and her other bar-hag co-workers seemed more amused flirting with leathery looking mountain men and their desperate sons than cooking our food. Half of the people at my table ordered pancakes or buckwheat cakes - all of which ended up tasting like sausage and bacon grease because they cook everything on the same grill surface. I decided to be even more bold and order a mid-morning milkshake because of the look of rage the server was sending us for not clearing her precious table sooner than she liked. I also guess we asked too much to have her come and refill our drinks more than once - after having to swallow the fatty slop they deemed breakfast. My milkshake consisted of half warm swill that after ten minutes of ingesting was projectile deposited into their rear bathroom while my friends amused themselves with the in-house antiques. I had a terrific laugh and felt I had enacted the right amount of revenge but you cannot pay me enough to eat here again as long as I live. read more

Nope... The food was not good. The coffee was horrible. Seriously it was horrible. I should have ran then.... The service was pleasant but very slow. It is in the back of a junk shop (My GF says it is technically a flea market). OLD booths, counters, loud Seriously, there are better options close. We stopped at a bakery 1/2 a block away to get coffee for the day and WOW we should have eaten there! read more

For being a local diner, this place sure treats locals like trash. Stood there for 5 mins waiting to be seated while 3 people working there looked us in the eye and kept going about there way, so we just sat down on our own--waited about 10 mins while the same 3 people looked at us at least 2 times, because I walked up to one of them and just asked for a menu and got it tossed at me. And........after another 10-15 mins of sitting there while everyone around us got served, we left. This place is a joke. We went to Dennys. read more

A trip to Englanders is like a trip to a bygone era. A traditional lunch counter in every sense of the word. My great uncle was the pharmacist in the building in the 1960s when it was a drug store and the same lunch counter was still there. I love to imagine all of the conversations that happened there over the decades. Located in the back of an antique store, you can take a look at all of the treasures before taking a seat for a good old American meal. It's basic, to the point, no-frills, grilled food. I've heard the lunch sandwiches are terrific, but I always go for the breakfast. Eggs, hash browns, toast, bacon, coffee. That's all I need and Englanders does it right. read more

Classic example of an old world diner. Shop the antique side while waiting for your food. Take a seat order and enjoy! Try the omelette and thank me later ! read more

We went there for breakfast. I had the buckwheat pancakes which has were not all that great. My wife had eggs and ham which was good but not exceptional. The beat way to Des robe the service was distracted, not sure why but it just felt that way. Best part of the whole meal was their bacon which was very good. read more

Simply put, it is as much a diner as it is a social club. If you are a "local" it is your Mom' s kitchen. The folks there make it a warm experience, not referring to food temperature. read more

This place is old school greasy spoon (and i mean that in the best way)! They are one of the few places in town that have a flat top griddle and know how to use it. The selections are simple and to the point. Breakfast is awesome. They have one of the best cheesesteaks in town (just make sure to ask for REAL mayo, not miracle whip). Great milkshakes. It is hidden in the back of an antique shop which just lends to the home cooked, small town feel. read more

Intrigued by the old fashion lunch counter with authentic red stools and locals sitting on them enjoy their lunch and conversation. We had to give it a try. However, the food was so so at the best, the rice pudding tasted like a bowl of sugar and the cinnamon roll was undercooked. The bourbon bbq chicken sandwich was good (my sisters had the fried veggies, pretty good, the meatball sandwich was subpar, little favor and soggy bread, the grilled cheese was classic good), but this cute lunch counter inside of Englands antique store (formerly a pharmacy) needs someone to come improve their recipes for more reliable quality, and they could be the coolest retro place into the area. read more

Great small town lunch spot, located in the back of an antique shop. Food is good, nothing special, service the same. Great prices, lunch for 2 under $15. read more

Typical small town diner - decent food, decent people. It is what it is :) we do love coming here!

Based on previous reviews, we went anticipating surly service and good food. We got great service and so-so food. Everyone in the place was friendly and the service was fast, friendly and efficient. The short stack of pancakes is two, not three as the menu says. That was fine because the buckwheat pancakes must have been sourdough buckwheat cakes. I wasn't thrilled with my two and would not have wanted three. The cakes were tangy like sourdough, which is fine but they weren't described that way, so it was quite a surprise. The omelette eater in our group said it was mediocre. The atmosphere was a throw-back to the lunch counter diners, and it was lots of fun to roam through the antique store section after breakfast. We wouldn't go again for the food, but it was a pleasant experience overall. read more

Eating at Dottie's lunch counter in the back of Englanders was like stepping back in time. The food is as fresh as it gets. I got a cheeseburger and vegetable soup. The burgers are hand-pattied daily. They ran out at 1:30 pm and that was it for the day. My husband got a fantastic omelet. I've heard that they're famous for milkshakes but I was so full that I couldn't get one on this visit. The food isn't fancy but it's good. Take a few minutes to pass through the shop and see what you can find. Don't be in a hurry. read more

Wonderful local spot for breakfast or lunch. Manager Dottie is a Garrett County Treasure! Locals love the buckwheat cakes! Milkshakes are the real thing! read more

Great small afternoon lunch place. Always love going with my husband and father n law :)