Review of 5 & Diner Near Franklin, Tennessee: Have a Blast While You Repast

"A-bop-bop-a-lupa-a-womp-boom-bam!" may sound like another air conditioner sputtering in the heat, but it's actually sweet music to the ears of diners at a Cool - and we do mean cool - Springs eatery that dishes out hearty helpings of nostalgia with its giant burgers and splendid shakes. Those lovely lyrics, and others like them, can be heard emanating seven days a week from the authentic '50s jukebox that's just part of the evocative ambience at the 5 & Diner on Mallory Lane.

The 5 & Diner opened in 2000, too late for Elvis to eat there (or maybe not), but the food and drink portions are fit for a King. And like Elvis, the restaurant fell on some hard times, but now it's shimmying and shaking again, more popular than ever.

Owners Lorie and Ray Novelly resurrected the diner and brought back the music, which is to say that they cleaned it up - made it sparkle and gleam - and made the guests feel special. Monday night is Kids Night, when little shavers can eat for a piddling $1.99, and not a kiddie meal but a hefty serving of meatloaf, spaghetti, pizza, burger or chocolate-chip pancakes. Entertainment for those way too young to remember "It's Magic" by Doris Day is provided by the table magic of 12-year-old Tom Novelly. (And 11-year-old Julie, the Novellys' other child, will sometimes greet guests in a ponytail and poodle skirt.)

Wednesday is all-you-can-eat Spaghetti Day ($5.99), Thursday is Coney Island Day (two all-beef dogs loaded with chili and onions, served with fries and drink for $6.99), and every day is Seniors Day, when those 55 and over can come in between 2 and 5 p.m. and be wafted back to the days of their youth on the wings of beautiful tunes and a 10-percent discount on food.

"I come in for the ambience and the music," says Larry Lacheta, a semi-retired oil company employee who's been to the 5 & Diner every day for two and a half years. Other regulars are just as staunch, finding at the diner an oasis of high spirits and lively fellowship that brings back a simpler time, real or imagined.

"The people we've met and served have become like family," says Ray Novelly, a former Madison Avenue ad executive turned whole-wheat bread tycoon turned restaurateur. He and Lorie bought the faltering business in 2006 and set about turning it around, and their kids, formerly scorned at school, are now the toast of the town. The 5 & Diner is now the place to be. "We've got a lot of regulars," Lorie says. "We worry sometimes if we don't see them on a day they're normally here."

Saturdays and Sundays are dizzy at the diner. Customers get free coffee while they wait for a booth. On weekday mornings the restaurant is relaxed, with groups of two or four conducting business while servers keep the coffee flowing. The 5 & Diner offers free WI-FI (wireless Internet, for those stuck hopelessly in the '50s). For those there to eat, Eggs Benedict is the star of the breakfast menu. The pancakes are prodigious; the popular Meat Lovers Skillet and Porker Omelet are accompanied by buttermilk biscuits or toast and hash browns or country potatoes. If you get there late, don't worry - you can get breakfast during lunch hours, or at any hour, for that matter. In fact, everything on the menu is served from open to close.

Signature dishes that keep customers coming back include the Big Bopper burger, the Cadillac Meatloaf (topped with onion straws), BBQ ribs, the onion rings piled as high as a beehive hairdo, the turtle cheese cake, and the handmade milkshakes topped with a dollop (maybe a doo-wop-a-dollop) of whipped cream. If you ask nicely, maybe they'll make you a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, Elvis's favorite - and for sure, if you come in dressed as the King, you'll get a free shake.

Come in as yourself, and the 5 & Diner will make this guarantee: They'll see you on the flip side.

The 5 & Diner is at (appropriately enough) 1959 Mallory Lane in Cool Springs (Franklin, TN). Hours are 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri. and Sat. and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sun. Take-out is available, as are reservations for large parties. We'll repeat our refrain from above: the 5 & Diner offers FREE WI-FI. Call 615-599-0071.