Yankee Diner: Charlton, MA

Dharia and I used to see Chris and Deb's Yankee Diner driving down Route 20 all the time, but we were always either too busy to stop or the place was closed. But a few months ago, we were cutting around holiday traffic coming back from VA, and we noticed that the place was open for lunch! We took the opportunity to stretch our legs and get a bite to eat.

The diner itself is gorgeous on the outside despite the rather ugly protrusion of the front waiting area. For some reason I just love green diners.

The inside is neat, too. There are actual porcelain panels on the inside of the diner, which is kind of a rarity. Also, there's a strange back room that kind of cuts into the diner space which used to be the tiny kitchen, but is now an office for the owner. According to the owner (I can only assume we were speaking to Deb), that room had been there since the beginning and was not a modification as we'd originally suspected.

The menu was actually pretty small. There wasn't much on the menu in the way of vegetarian food, but Dharia ordered a grilled cheese and tomato with french fries. Deb suggested she try it on seeded rye, which turned out to be a good suggestion. The fries were tasty, and Dharia liked her sandwich, which was crispy and had just the right amount of melting on the cheese (which is sometimes hard to do when there's tomato in there.

I ordered a chili bowl and a cheeseburger club. I was not planning on ordering the chili, but the smell from behind the counter coerced me. I was not disappointed: the chili was great! And I'm picky about my chili. It didn't hurt that they added big chunks of fresh chopped onions to my bowl. Man oh man, do I like fresh onions with my chili.

The cheeseburger club was also pretty good, although less remarkable than the chili. Overall, I was very happy with my meal.

The other great thing about the diner was that the lunch crowd really seemed to have a rapport with all of the employees. It was fun just listening to them banter back and forth. All of the staff was very friendly and we had a great time talking to them about the history of the diner.

Speaking of history: the Yankee Diner is a 1947 Worcester Diner, originally located in Southbridge. I can't remember when it moved to Charlton. Sorry I don't know more!

They're open for breakfast and lunch on weekdays, breakfast only on weekends.

You can check out the rest of our photos of the Yankee Diner here.

Chris and Deb's Yankee Diner
23 Worcester Rd (Route 20)
Charlton, MA 01507
508-248-7370
(Google map)

Labels: review

posted by Darius Kazemi @ 11:54 AM