Route 1 Diner Restaurant (Lawrenceville)

Route 1 Diner restaurant Lawrenceville

Route 1 Diner Restaurant (Lawrenceville, NJ)

Early in the month, I went up to the Route 1 Diner Restaurant in Lawrenceville, NJ.  I actually didn’t know the Route 1 Diner Restaurant existed until recently, which is unfortunate because it’s only 30 minutes from me and 30 minutes from the base!

I got to the Route 1 Diner Restaurant on a Friday night, and they were packed.  The owner had me sit at the bar until a table cleared up.

Route 1 Diner Restaurant Atmosphere: B
The Route 1 Diner Restaurant appears like a cross between a diner and restaurant (as the name indicates).  The exterior is a typical building (versus a big metallic, shiny one) but the interior is all diner with a full-length bar, multiple booths, and table.  We sat near the drink fill-up station for servers, and I didn’t quite appreciate servers always reaching around us to fill up drinks.  Oh well!

Route 1 Diner Restaurant Coffee: A
The coffee at the Route 1 Diner Restaurant was piping hot, and the owner refilled it often.  I have no complaints.

Route 1 Diner restaurant Lawrenceville

Route 1 Diner Restaurant Service: C
I believe the service should be categorized into two parts.  The owner of the Route 1 Diner Restaurant seemed to play a role in our experience because if it was just the waitress, the score would have been lower.  It took over 20 minutes to take our order.  I watched our server go to almost every other table except ours, taking orders, refilling drinks, and bringing food.  Once we did order, our food was out quickly, and for that, I was happy.

Route 1 Diner Restaurant Food: B
The Route 1 Diner Restaurant menu as almost everything you can imagine from breakfast, lunch, specials, and most dinner options.  I opted to order the stuffed shells.

The meal at the Rute 1 Diner Restaurant came with a bread basket which included cheesy bread.  Normal bread baskets are boring but including cheesy and cinnamon bread is a win in my books.

Route 1 Diner restaurant Lawrenceville

My meal at Route 1 Diner Restaurant also came with a salad which was relatively green as far as diner salads go.  I was surprised!

Route 1 Diner restaurant Lawrenceville

I am not a huge pasta fan but stuffed shells or lasagna are two pasta dishes I like.  The food at Route 1 Diner Restaurant was good.  The dish was a bit smaller than anticipated, but it wasn’t bad.  It was definitely hot, and I nearly burnt my tongue eating it.

Route 1 Diner restaurant Lawrenceville

Route 1 Diner Restaurant Dessert: D
I decided to order a cupcake at the Route 1 Diner Restaurant.  The waitress asked if I wanted a “minion cupcake” or “Elmo”…I said Elmo because why not.  She came back with a minion cupcake, plopped it on the table and said it was all they had.  To be honest, nothing about the cupcake was pleasing.

Route 1 Diner restaurant Lawrenceville

The presentation looked sad, the cupcake itself wasn’t that great, and the waitress didn’t even come back beforehand saying “well all we had is this”.  I didn’t even finish the dessert, which is rare for me (in fact it’s only happened at the Red Lion Diner and Sage Diner).

Route 1 Diner Restaurant Cost: $
For my coffee, shells, and cupcake, the cost was $18.

Overall Thoughts/Summary of the Route 1 Diner Restaurant (Lawrenceville):

While I didn’t have the worst experience at the Route 1 Diner Restaurant, I didn’t have the best either.  The owner was friendly and probably the only reason I would come back.

Atmosphere: B
Coffee: A
Service: A
Food: B
Dessert: D
Cost: $8-20
Overall: C

You can see more of the diner reviews here.

Questions for you:
Have you ever had the owner of the restaurant wait on you?
What’s your favorite type of dessert?

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