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.

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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…. 

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Atmosphere: 2/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value: 3/5

Times Visited:  A million   ♦   Will I Return?:  Probably at some point

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Ah, the Hickory Pit.  At least that’s what my family’s always called this Hayward Establishment on Mission Boulevard, just near the intersection of Jackson and Foothill.  If you look on the actual sign as it stands today, the words “Hickory Pit” do not appear.  It rather says “Emil Villa’s (world famous) California Barbecue”.  Did it used to say “Hickory Pit”?  I need some comments from the peanut gallery on this one.

Regardless, the Pit (that’s what Grandma used to call it) hasn’t changed a bit since it opened in who-knows-what decade.  It is yet another Hayward establishment that’s hanging on to the past with its tan vinyl booths, checkered tile floor, and old-fashioned food…. 

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