Review of Parthenon Diner in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

I had read a restaurant review not long ago and the reviewer (Mr. Cutlets) called Greek Diners "the bedrock of restaurant food in American and one who doesn't like diners doesn't like American food." For those who have never visited a real diner it's difficult to explain the allure, the atmosphere and the whole experience. You get served a tremendous amount of food for a very reasonable price.

At a traditional diner, such as Parthenon of Old Saybrook there's so much to choose from on the menu, that you feel like you just want to put the menu on a dart board and use darts to pick your meal. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served all day long. There's little you can't find on the menu in terms of sandwiches, seafood, salads, Greek specialties (such as Chicken Souvalaki on Pita, Spanakopita, Moussaka), pita wraps, Italian food, roast turkey, roast chicken, steak, and the list goes on and on. There are also vegetarian friendly entrees as well such as Greek Vegetarian Platter, Veggie Wrap, Vegetable Stir Fry, etc.

We were on a family trip to Boston and got off one of the several I-95 Old Saybrook exits in Connecticut. We had intended to stop at one of the restaurants we saw advertised on a billboard, but I missed it and said, "let's just drive a bit further and see what's around." Lo and behold I saw the word "Diner" and said, Ëœlook, that place looks good! I haven't been to a REAL diner in years." This must have been a sign from above, because when my wife and I choose a place to stop, the conversation from the kids usually goes something like, "that place looks disgusting! I want Burger King!" while another one usually says, "I hate Burger King, I want Wendy's!. This time not a single complaint when we stopped. I guess they were intrigued!

The kids walked in and the FIRST thing that hit them near the cash register was the typical diner showcase of all the deserts of cakes, pies, pastries and cookies. "OH MY Gosh!!!!" said the kids, "LOOK at all those cookies! Dad they have those HUGE black and whites, just like the ones we had in New York.!!!

The menu overwhelmed everyone. For a change even the kids had a difficult time choosing. One of the kids wanted the Belgian Waffles, another wanted chocolate chip pancakes, but it WAS dinner time so my daughter decided on a child's plate of spaghetti and my oldest son ordered a steak and cheese grinder (New England term for a sub or hero) with peppers and onions for $6.75 which came with a huge portion of some of the best French fries I've ever had. My youngest son ordered a child's cheeseburger with fries and when it showed up I had to ask the waiter if he didn't make an error and bring my son an adult burger. The grinder was double the size of anything I suspected and my son's eyes about popped out of his head when he saw his meal!

My wife and I really struggled on what to order. She saw someone get a Fried Filet of Sole ($11.75) delivered to another table and listening to the woman rave about how good it was made the dish very tempting. The Baked Meatloaf with gravy for $9.25 looked really good as did the Grilled London Broil with sautéed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms ($8.95). We decided and both of us ordered the Broiled Chopped Sirloin Steak with fried onions for $11.75. It included a cup of soup or tossed salad, a potato and vegetable. I got a sweet potato and cauliflower. My wife ordered two sides of cauliflower. This meal was like heaven (and of course the cholesterol from all that will help bring us there much quicker, I'm sure!). The cauliflower was served with some kind of tomato sauce and while I don't care that much for cauliflower, it was incredible.

The waiter was good, but not great. The service was somewhat slow, but we weren't in THAT much of a hurry. He was extremely friendly and made us feel very welcome. We could see the other waiters and waitresses did the same with other guests. It was obvious to see that there were a lot of regulars as the waiters seemed to know a lot of the families that came in. Seeing repeat business is a good sign!

We were SO impressed by this restaurant that we decided to stop back on the return trip to Virginia. Unfortunately we couldn't remember which exit so we guessed, wrongly, and drove around until we found the place. It was definitely worth driving around for!

The ONLY complaint we had is that we ordered the cauliflower again and this time was that it was plain steamed cauliflower. The waiter who remembered us from a few days earlier said it was plain tomato sauce and came back with two new side dishes. There was evidently a different chef during the previous visit because the plain tomato sauce was just not what was on the vegetable the first time.

We look forward to our next trip up north and we will definitely plan to return to this diner!

Parthenon of Old Saybrook
809 Boston Post Road
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
860-395-5111
Open 24x7