Old Town Diner

Breakfast was cold, service did not return, charged for items we did not receive. Had to return hashbrowns, but they came back even worse. In the last two months service and food have gone downhill, I believe the result of the buffet. See other review here on the quality of the buffet---avoid! In fact, avoid this diner,  just drive on by to the next exit. And if you are a local, hope for new management.

Really good all you can eat chicken on Saturday.

Until last Friday, I would have given the Old Town Diner in Myersville 3 or 4 stars.  For the past couple years,  my friend and I have been going there for  coffee or lunch  about once every two to three months, and occasionally,  I would eat there with my family.  The coffee's not that great but it's a more comfortable option than the other eating establishments in our small town- McDonalds, Burger King and Subway.  The food and the service have been pretty good.  No complaints.  The portions are generous, and we almost always need "to-go" boxes.   After our experience last Friday, I'm not sure I'll ever go back.

On the eve of our son's graduation,  several family members came to town.  We met up at the diner for dinner.  Except for my mother, the rest of us had eaten at the diner before and always had a decent meal. At this dinner, six of us ordered off the menu while three of us ordered the buffet.  Those of us who ordered from the menu had no  complaints  about our food.  My fried chicken was tasty and had a crisp skin.  My daughter enjoyed and open-faced roast beef even though she said the beef gravy  way too salty. (I've had the same sandwich and I agree, but it seems like salty beef gravy is the norm at diners.)   Everyone enjoyed their french fries.  We had excellent service from our waitress.  I forget her name, but she's easy to identify right now as she is noticeably pregnant.    

The problem was the buffet food.   My oldest son, who has a big appetite and doesn't have the pickiest palate (he even likes camp food),  ate very little of any of the entrees he took from the buffet.  I tried a bite of his seafood alfredo and understood why. Watery and bland.  It had shrimp and scallops in it.  After tasting a bite of a scallop, I didn't think it was wise to sample the shrimp.   My mother, who was ravenous after traveling all day from Florida and having not had lunch, also rejected most of what she took from the buffet, including the seafood alfredo.  At the end of the long table, my brother-in-law appeared to be wolfing down his food from the buffet, but when my husband asked him how it was, he said, "This is the worst stuff I've ever eaten".  

The men in our family seem to have iron stomachs, but my mother certainly does not.  During the graduation ceremony the next day, my mother became  ill.  Her condition grew worse quickly and she wound up spending the entire rest of the day and evening, while the rest of us celebrated my son's graduation,  suffering through what was obviously a textbook case of  food poisoning.  

We can't prove it was what she ate at the diner that made her sick, but given the timing and circumstances,  it is what a reasonable person would deduce.   In our minds, it was the food at the Old Town Diner that ruined my widowed mother's solo  trip up to Maryland to see and celebrate her grandson's graduation.