Update: This restaurant is now closed.
Atmosphere: 3/5 ♦ Service: 3/5 ♦ Food Quality: 3/5 ♦ Value: 4/5 Times Visited: One ♦ Will I Return?: Probably not. ___________
Opened earlier this year, the Main Street Diner is located in Hayward on (you guessed it) Main Street between B and C. Main is such an odd street for me in Hayward, mostly because it’s not main at all. I access the freeway via Foothill or traverse the city using Mission, all the while habitually bypassing the tiny street between them: Main Street.
Main is quite quaint, however, (for Hayward, at least) and the Main Street Diner invites me near from the outside. The inside is three rooms: an entry, a main dining room (with free WiFi) and a large-ish offshoot dining room connected by a large, open door frame. The walls are painted with murals depicting European cityscapes that are actually pretty cute.
The third room inside the Main Street Diner in Hayward.
The menu is diner-esque with full breakfast options (eggs, bacon, potatoes, omelettes, pancakes, waffles, french toast; all served until 11am), burgers, dogs, sandwiches, salads and a massive variety of deep fried items. Full dinner meals include roast turkey, roast chicken, meatloaf, pot roast and steak, among other items. And everything is pretty dang cheap: breakfasts range from $4-$7.50, a burger with fries is $6.50 (add a couple bucks for fancier burgers), and most of the dinners are $13.
One of their signature items is deep fried pickles. They give these to you as a Mexican place would tortilla chips and salsa. Since I love pickles and anything deep fried, I found these to be delicious. And since no one else at the table liked pickles, I got to gobble down more than my share. Odd, but enjoyable.
Deep fried pickles with Ranch dressing…what more can I ask?
The service was nice albeit perhaps a bit amateur. Our waitress was kind and smiley but didn’t appear to quite know everything about the menu or the prices. She did bring my dad a refill on his orange juice though, which was awesome (though I doubt actually included…).
Breakfast #1: The Usual with over-easy, hash browns, bacon, white toast.
Breakfast #2: The Usual with scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, English muffin.
The food was decent; we ordered breakfasts all around. Two “usual” breakfasts (2 eggs, 2 toast, 2 meat (bacon), potatoes) appeared acceptable while my “extra light” breakfast (1 egg, 1 toast, potatoes) somehow came with bacon as well. After passing that along to my fellow bacon-lovers and confirming that we weren’t being charged for it, the rest of my meal was enjoyable. Though it is hard to mess up eggs, toast and hash browns.
My Extra Light Breakfast with over easy, hash browns, sourdough.
Boyfriend ordered the “Huevos Rancheros“, one of their “specials”, which ended up being quite a mistake as they were a bastardized version of what he expected. Made with tortilla chips and doused in either American or, worse, Velveeta cheese (we’re really not sure), it wasn’t the best, though he didn’t complain too much (he’s not a complainer; I’ll never understand it).
Main Street Diner’s version of Huevos Rancheros.
I also ordered a mocha which was a huge cup of delicious liquid that tasted mostly like hot chocolate with a tiny tinge of coffee. It was probably the best part of the meal.
The atmosphere was pretty nice, the servers were attentive and the food was ok, but I’d say there is definitely something missing at the Main Street Diner. I’m not sure what it is and perhaps it’s something acquired over time, but it just didn’t really stand out in my mind as a great place to return. I wouldn’t be unhappy if I found myself there again necessarily, I probably just wouldn’t make an effort. And at least the price is right, eh?
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