The low rating...is just wrong! They have great ALL AMERICAN DINER food. They are quaint - sweet little place with an awesome Hearty Breakfast - pancakes (real butter available) crispy bacon, eggs cooked perfectly...hash browns crispy brown and sausage just the right size and flavor. The chicken fried steak was crisp on the outside and juicy tender in the middle. Huge KUDOs to chef Nick and Guadalupe who made sure we had everything we needed! We HIGHLY RECOMMEND coming here! read more

I love diners. They're my favorite food places. I was pretty excited about having a 24/7 diner in Alpine but this place is trash. The first time I went to check it out I was offput by the QR code ordering nonsense. The employees were completely locked to their phones doomscrolling and it was difficult to get anyone's attention. Food was pretty weak, but acceptable for a diner. Price was ok. Then tonight I thinks to myself, I can't sleep, I should try that diner again - so I go out there at 1:30a and all the employees are hanging out in the parking lot playing with a car and tell me the diner is closed. Come back in a few hours. If you're driving through Alpine and you want a mediocre burger that isn't going to end up costing you $45, maybe it's worth a stop (it isn't) - but definitely don't go a single mile out of your way for it. They do not care at all and they really want you to know that. read more

Could be a super cute place, the inside is pretty bad. Food was okay Chopped steak with onions and mushrooms was alittle bland needed salt on the meat, powdered gravy, fake mashed Ed potatoes and over cooked veggies. Chicken fried steak was frozen and the salad was just okay read more

See all

The food was delicious. I had an omelette. It was great. The staff is very friendly. I have no idea why others separated it so low but I was quite pleased. Is it a five star restaurant, no. But it was a very nice little diner and the food was good. It's all I asked. read more

Penny's was a great old school diner with a Texas flair. The breakfast specials were spot on and Texas plenty- I wish I'd gotten a picture of of the plus $1 Texas waffle! read more

If you're looking for a diner to stop at on the way to or from Big Bend, this is perfect. Don't go into it expecting any sort of healthy food options, it is classic, greasy in a good way diner food. Had the breakfast sandwich, the hash, and the Texas shaped waffle - all good! Our waitress was kind and attentive and our food came pretty quickly. read more

Penny's Diner - Texas waffle - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

Nostalgic. The pennys burger has seen better days- was basic. The onions and tomatoes were partially frozen so not sure if it was over hilled?? The meat patties were made from scratch not preformed/frozen. There was a decent amount of bacon on the bacon cheeseburger. The malted milkshake was delicious. read more

See all

Food was very good. I was able to order online from our table so food came super quick. A good value for your money. read more

See all

Food was amazing. I'll be ambience was great. It's an old diner. Pretty cool service was impeccable. read more

Penny's Diner - Philadelphia cheese sandwich, outstanding - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

Went here for dinner and we both ordered breakfast. The server took our order quick and brought us drinks fairly fast. Took our orders and the food was out quickly. I got the Ranch Breakfast with toast, as I don't eat pork. The eggs were cooked like I like them, medium firm, and the rest of the food was hot. It was more than I could eat. He got Hearty Breakfast and it came with two giant pancakes. We were more than full when we left. read more

Penny's Diner - Ranch Breakfast - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

See all

Great atmosphere, great service and great food! They're open 24/7 too which is so convenient! Stop by. read more

Penny's Diner - Three egg omelette, sourdough toast and hash browns. Delicious! - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

After reading alot of mixed reviews, most worse than others I normally would have steered clear from this place but I was hungry for a nice diner style breakfast and this was on out way leaving out of Alpine. We sat at the bar top chairs overlooking the cooking area and was able to see the lady making all the food by herself hard at work. Its always hard to find someone to make a some really good over medium eggs just the way I like them and she made them perfect! Everything was so good, I have not had a great breakfast like that in such a long time! We did try ordering a chicken sandwich and was told that wasn't available nor was the french toast, it was 11 am on this day. I did read reviews where they were also told the place were out of certain items so makes sense now that this may be a problem at this place where they are unable to fulfill alot of items on the menu for reasons I do not know of. Nothing other additional items they offer cant fix for sure! The cook was very kind and even though she was cooking she helped us get a couple of things we needed. She was a very sweet lady and extremely hard worker! Kudos to her and her promptness with getting food out as fast as she could. She will definitely be the reason I come back if im ever on that part of town again on vacation. read more

See all

The restaurant itself is nice and feels like an old timey diner. The food on the other hand is not the best. I ordered the classic over medium eggs, bacon, white toast and the white part was still raw in the eggs. Nothing is seasoned. With nothing being seasoned it tasted old and the hashbrowns tasted like cardboard. It took a little while for our food to come out because there was only one server. But she was a sweet lady. read more

Cowboy Chilli Burger was excellent. I always st[ at Penny's when in Alpine. Service was also great. Love the ambiance.

Waitress is mean and unpleasant and just miserable energy. If you hate your job then quit. We walked out because the food and service were horrible. French toast was burnt and my breakfast never made it to the table. Left after ten minutes of waiting after my wife's food was served burnt. Will not go back. read more

Maybe we came on a bad day, but their grill was down so their menu was very limited. Service was great, and our server was very generous. Ambiance felt like we time traveled to the 1950's, considering it was a 50's themed restaurant. The tables and floors were decently clean. Would recommend checking certain booths, for some of the booth seats are worn down and can slide freely out of the booth. Chili was pretty good. If you are looking for a quick dinner sesh it would be difficult to have that here since there were only 2 people working. Would at least try to come back at a better time. No shade, but this was mid. read more

Great place for breakfast. We had the Sunrise Skillet and it was fantastic! The sour dough toast was so good as well as the orange juice that tasted fresh squeezed. Service was great as well. Cute little spot that makes you feel like you stepped back in time. read more

Chef told us it was a 45 minute wait because he didn't want to cook. Pancakes were black and so were hash browns. Ambiance was good besides wet seats and tables and dirt and crumbs on floor. read more

Great food, friendly service. Highly recommend this cute diner. We ordered four different items for breakfast and we all loved them! read more

See all

No greeting or acknowledgement upon walking in. Had never been so we weren't sure if we should wait for someone or just seat ourselves. No one bothered to look in our direction or pay us any mind so we just seated ourselves eventually. Went in for lunch at 1pm to be told they were only going to be serving breakfast that day.. it's supposedly a 24 hr diner so most items should be available not only all day, but every day.. Should have known by the reviews not to stop but our son asked for a cheeseburger, fries and milk and a diner normally has all of those items so we figured we should try it for ourselves and form our own opinion on the place..well we did and will not be coming back. read more

Everything was great about this diner. I loved its nostalgic feel and its customer service was on point!

Short review: Great vibe, great people, great food. Chicken tenders and fries were absolutely phenomenal as well as the cheese sticks. Long review: This building is so so cute and definitely a must stop if your staying/driving by Alpine. This diner is a "sit where you wanna sit" kinda establishment which i'm all about. We were waited immediately and it only took but 5-10 minutes for the food to come out after ordering. I ordered the chicken strips with fries and the cheese sticks. These cheese sticks just look like perfection, and they were. I was so pleased with these cheese sticks that i didn't share them with anyone at the table. The tenders and fries were also amazing, but I've got a small stomach and got full very quick. When one of the employees recognized that I was done she asked if she could feed the rest of the tenders to the cat that comes by! Of course I said yes, look at the precious angel. Overall i was so happy with my experience here and if i'm ever back in town i'll be sure to stop by again :) read more

Penny's Diner - Kitty Cat!! - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

See all

I went in with very low expectations based on the previous reviews and it was just as expected. My friends and I tried to order 5 or 6 different things on the menu and the lady kept saying they didn't have it. Why would you advertise food on a menu if you don't have it? The place had so many flies in it, they wouldn't stop landing on our drinks and food. There's no AC, in the middle of Texas summer! The food was average. Definitely steer clear of this diner read more

I love diners! Whenever I see them, I have to stop and go inside and experience it! This one on Alpine, Tx looked the part--silver and red. Erika was our waitress and she was a hoot. Very sweet. The food was fine for breakfast... The sausage was greasy, so I just used my napkin to blot it. I read some other reviews about how long it took to receive an order, but it came in 16-20 minutes, about average. Mostly, it took awhile for Erica to take our order, but that's the pace of Texas, I'd say! read more

Penny's Diner - Beautiful Penny's Diner pancake, although it wasn't hot, it tasted delicious - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

See all

I wish I could add a 0 star. Horrible service. We walked in and sat, and on the table had a scan and order and pay so we did. When the server finally came over she seemed upset how we ordered and said they didn't have anything we ordered even though it was on their board and online. After they refused to reimburse we started to reorder. The waitress asked what we wanted but never said what they didn't have which was half the menu and half of all the meats. The waitress was very very rude. read more

Delicious breakfast, sweet staff, and love the homey feeling. Great place to stop and eat at Alpine. Dinner eating. read more

Penny's Diner - Classic breakfast with 3 large crips bacon, two eggs, hash brown, and wheat toast. Delicious & compliments to chef and sweet staff. - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

AVOID. Should have know better when we saw they also serve as the check in desk for the Travelodge next door. Weird. We sat down immediately and used the QR code to order which was very easy so started off well but all downhill. Only 2 people working so wanted to be patient and understanding but neither had any urgency at all. Took almost 20 mins to get coffees. Food came out about 10-15 mins later. The pancakes were disgusting (how do you mess up pancakes at a diner?!?!). Bacon was good actually. Eggs were meh. I never got my order of chicken and waffle so can't comment. French toast was fine but nothing special. They gave me the wrong plate but as stated I never got what I ordered and already paid for. Side note - don't use the app to pay because you have to leave a tip before you eat. It was impossible to flag down an employee because they were somehow both busy and doing nothing at the same time. We couldn't even get their attention to ask for a refund so will have to dispute CC charge. There aren't a lot of options in Alpine but a gas station has better options. The inside was also gross and not clean. read more

At first glance, you might think this is a Denny's Diner, but you would be mistaken and foolish, dear reader. No, this is *Penny's* Diner. It's very different, you see. It's as unlike Denny's as Dairy King is to Dairy Queen, as unlike What-A-Burger is to Whataburger, as unlike Lady Gaga is to Dale Bozzio, but I digress*. Penny's Diner is a small chain owned by Avantic Lodging Enterprises, the parent company of Wyndham hotels. If you've spent a night at a Wyndham-branded motel (e.g, Travelodge), then you've noticed a Penny's Diner facing the street. The silver dining car aesthetic evokes a 1950s diner, mental images of thick malted milkshakes and bubbled neon jukeboxes playing Buddy Holly records, essentially a Jungian archetype of 50s Americana. That aesthetic, sadly, does not carry into the restaurant at this location in Alpine, a tired-looking, cluttered space manned (womanned?) by a short-order cook/waitress/cashier and a trainee in desperate need of training. After noting the appearance of the place, my father and I didn't expect much from Penny's, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food we received during a recent breakfast visit. My dad's "Hearty Breakfast" (I expected it to be called a "Grande Slammer") lived up to its name with two eggs, two pieces of bacon, two sausage patties, and two pancakes. The eggs tasted like they were fried in bacon fat (a good thing), the hash browns were crispy, the bacon was thick and sizzling, and the sausage patties were juicy and flavorful. The latter looked and tasted as though they came from McDonald's, which is no insult, as sausage is about the only thing McDonald's does right. The pancakes were light and fluffy and served alongside tabs of real butter, none of that "whipped buttery spread" garbage typical of most lower tier restaurants. The syrup was mere sugar water (actually high fructose corn syrup and caramel color), but I won't fault Penny's for failing to serve real maple syrup, for I am in a magnanimous, unpretentious mood this afternoon. I was equally pleased with my chicken and waffles (er, *waffle*). The three chicken tenders were juicy and tasted freshly battered. The Belgian waffle was crisp and buttery around the edges, indicative of a hot, buttered waffle iron and a deft-handed cook with decades of experience in the kitchen. I've spent considerably more elsewhere for better chicken and waffles, but I devoured every morsel of this dish and left feeling satiated. The one-woman army running the place performed as well as she could under pressure, taking orders, firing multiple dishes simultaneously, and training a feeble-minded new employee. Based on the the food alone, Penny's deserves a respectable four stars, but the trainee (and resultant poor service) we received drops the rating down to three. I'm willing to cut a new employee some slack, but I would expect certain aspects of the job to be commonsensical. When I wave a server down and request more water, I expect at least a verbal or nonverbal acknowledgment of said request. If I'm ready for the check, then I expect it to arrive within a reasonable amount of time (say, a few minutes). Alas, this trainee seemed incapable of doing anything except shambling about and grunting and giggling whenever the cook would point out her myriad foibles. I'm not even trying to be amusing; in the 45 minutes my dad and I spent here, I don't recall hearing this woman say a single word, only grunts and giggles. The banjo-playing inbred boy from "Deliverance" was more verbose (and charming) than she was. If you spend a night at the Travelodge in Apline, then Penny's Diner is a no-brainer for breakfast or lunch. Just be prepared for shoddy service and a trainee with an odd affect. If Penny's isn't what you crave, then consider dining at McDowell's down the street. I heard they have a specialty hamburger called The Big Mick. It's sort of like a Big Mac, but McDowell's buns lack sesame seeds. *Despite the droll lampoonery of my introduction, the restaurants Dairy King and What-A-Burger really do exist. I didn't realize that until I Googled them for this review. The same holds true for Dale Bozzio (lead singer of the 80s band Missing Persons), though the physical space she once occupied has been replaced by a schizophrenic cat lady reeking of moth balls and ennui. read more

See all

Just no ... Just no ... Just no ... NO Wilted "lettuce" "Thousand island dressing"? Think there is some cult against salt too but I can't confirm. read more

See all

Fresh traditional diner meals! The place looked a bit rundown but the cook made some delicious burgers! After a day at Big Bend National this is definitely a great spot to go to for a great fast food meal. The server was not very friendly but it could be a Texas thing. If I go back to Alpine, I will stop by again. read more

For those who gave this a 1 star, your expectations are too high. This was exactly what I expected, diner food. The chicken sandwich was moist and the French fries were crispy. The bacon was well done, like I prefer. The pancakes were fluffy. Erica was attentive and pleasant read more

Great food in a beautiful part of west Texas. Great prices. We will definitely be back next time we are in the area.

It was ok. One of the only places in town open on Sunday evening. Had the Chicken fried steak. It was ok. Cook needs training on proper food handling. Service was ok. Selection was limited. read more

Enjoyed breakfast here while passing through Alpine. Place was super clean and food tasted fresh. Very affordable. The guys working there were a lot of fun. Good coffee and great service. Definitely a great place to stop. Everyone wearing masks and tables were set up far apart for COVID. read more

Penny's Diner - a person eating a piece of cake - Diners Near Me - Alpine, Texas

See all

Great service and great food. The cook was amazing and our waiter was on point!! You must pass by here if you're in Alpine.

Good for what it is. If you are looking for something open in Alpine look no further. It has no pretension. The food is classic diner food. When we went they were out of a lot of stuff but it was the end of the day on a busy weekend. I'd recommend it if you like diners. If you expect 5 stars you will be disappointed. read more

Great place to stop off for brunch after several days in and around Big Bend. Kinda silly 50s themed, kept waiting for a Jedi to show up and talk to a corpulent alien with too many arms. Servings are enormous. Great for couples on a budget. read more

We stopped around lunch time but had not had breakfast. I ordered the hearty breakfast which included 2 pancakes, 2 sausage patties, 2 bacon slices, 2 eggs, and hash brown. It was delicious. The pancakes were large and made to perfection. The ambience was friendly, the server very friendly and attentive, and the food great! I'd recommend this place to my friends and family. Can't wait to drive by Alpine again and visit again. read more

This place is a great spot when you're looking to fuel before your drive home or a hike. The dishes are plentiful and the servers were really nice. I got the scrambled eggs with sausage and bacon with s waffle. Pretty good read more

Won't be back. Sunday morning for a carb loaded meal before a long haul back to Austin. Where do I begin. Upon entering our server was sitting in the booth on her phone. No greeting. She did get up and offer us the booth though. The cook was sitting at the counter, on her phone. We noticed during the food prep, the cook (long hair pulled into a tail) wasn't wearing a hairnet. But her phone was propped up on a napkin dispenser so she could watch her whatever. We noticed that she put the toast down first and then it just sat in the toaster. Our food came out at different times. And of course my toast was cold. Also our server handed us plates Vs placing them down in front of us. read more