Lyndhurst Diner - Lyndhurst, NJ

As some of you may know, New Jersey is well known for it's diners. There are so many diners around, it's hard to drive by a neighbourhood without seeing at least a few. We would drive by Lyndhurst Diner every time we go down Riverside Ave and always commented that we should try it one day.

We were looking for a place to go to for dinner last weekend and decided to try out Lyndhurst Diner. It looks like any other typical diner in NJ, with its shiny and retro looking exterior. There is also ample free parking space in front and behind the diner.

The diner is split into three sections - a counter with bar stools, a section with booths and a more formal dining area. We were led to the more formal dining area (I don't know why, doesn't really bother us...any section is good). When we arrived, the whole dining area was packed. I took this photo later on when most of the crowd had cleared out.

The menu selection was huge and very reasonably priced. We ordered from the specials section and our main meal comes with bread, soup, salad bar and two side dishes. Kevin's selection even had a free dessert thrown in. After ordering, they brought out the bread basket. There were loads of stuff in it, different kinds of bread, pretzel rods and a few different types of crackers.

We could also help ourselves to the salad bar. It's not too big a salad bar, but there were some yummy stuff in it. You can also see the counter as well as the booth section behind the salad bar.

Here's what I took from the salad bar. Some German potato salad, a side salad with feta cheese and vinaigrette and stuffed grape leaves. I've always been a huge fan of stuffed grape leaves and I really enjoyed finding some in the salad bar!

For our soup, we had a choice between Chicken Noodle Soup or Manhattan Clam Chowder. Kevin chose the Manhattan Clam Chowder (on the right) and he said that it was alright. Not that many clams but the soup was nice tasting. I ordered the Chicken Noodle Soup (on the left). I love it! Instead of using regular egg noodles, they used Orzo instead. It's a nice change and the soup was hearty, with lots of vegetable and chicken. Very nice.

For our sides, we both ordered potato pancakes (sorry for the blur pic, the lighting was pretty bad :P). We got two pieces each, with apple sauce and sour cream. We both really like potato pancakes and their potato pancakes didn't disappoint. In fact, I would say that it tasted better than average.

For his other side, Kevin ordered red cabbage. It was a hugeeee portion. I took a small bite, just to see what it tasted like and it somewhat reminded me of sauerkraut. Now, I'm not a big fan of sauerkraut, so I thought that the red cabbage was just alrite. Kevin on the other hand thinks that it's pretty good.

I ordered spinach and rice as my other side. Now, this I like :P It was a huge portion too, big enough for me to eat it as a main meal and maybe have some left over...lol!

Kevin ordered the Yankee Pot Roast as his main ($11.95). Again, it was a huge portion. 8 large slices of meat, it looked more like a family platter instead of a main meal for one person! Nice and juicy, Kevin liked it a lot.

I had the Long Island Duck ($12.90). Just when I thought that Kevin's meal was huge, it was somewhat overshadowed when mine arrived. I expected maybe a duck breast or a thigh and a drumstick. Guess what? They gave me half a duck! Mind you, it wasn't a small duck either! Look at how tiny the big steak knife looked, next to the duck. Not only was the portion huge, but it tasted yummy! The skin was nice and crispy and the meat was moist. They served a really good fruit sauce with the duck. There were big chunks of pears, cherries, mandarin oranges and pineapples in a bowl with some cinnamon smelling sauce. Really good, my whole meal smelled like Christmas :P Mmm mmmm good!

Kevin had 5 different types of pudding to choose from as his dessert. He ordered the chocolate pudding. By then, he was way too stuffed to finish his dessert by himself, so we shared. Overall, I would say that it was a great dinner. Really friendly waitresses, good food and affordable prices - all the makings of a perfect Sunday dinner. Oh, by the way, we had enough leftovers for my lunch the next day and dinner for the both of us!! =)

Lyndhurst Diner
540 Riverside Avenue,
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071
Tel: (201)933-7660