Halfmoon Diner

Weve been coming to this place since we moved to Cohoes in 2013. This place is just what you want in a diner. Every time we come we get friendly staff, quick seating, generous portions, and hot and delicious food. Nothing gourmet, just good diner food.

I used to love this diner… last time I was here I had the goulash special, terrible… thought it was an off day and let it go… today, had the fish fry special… fried fish on a shrivelled hot dog roll, chunk of lettuce. and tomatoes that you would never buy… and to top it off, a waitress who never smiled… brought the food, and basically dropped it on the table… really bad experience after eating in a diner in NJ yesterday that knows how to get it done… as they say, get me once, shame on you… get me twice, shame on me… if you don’t provide customer service, someone else will… and, upon paying, no one asked us how our meal was… goodbye… stay away…

I don’t like writing bad reviews, but I’m really not a fan of this place. The rood reminded me almost exactly of the cafeteria food I used to serve in college. Unfortunately, that food was even better.
The atmosphere is just fine, very nice for a diner in fact. It’s just completely lacking In a little «love.» The food needs love! There’s just… No… Love.
I’m not asking for farm fresh eggs, hand churned butter, homemade raspberry preserves, or even homemade hollandaise. I’m just asking that my food doesn’t remind me of that from an assisted living home.

Diner test:
Open ²⁴⁄₇: FAIL. Opens at 6 in the morning.
Hiya Hon service: not really. Competent but not perky.
Coffee refills offered: one. Coffee was standard Columbian.
Breakfast all day: yes, but not open 24/​7, so not germaine.
Ambiance: the place is huge so it’s not quite classic diner.
On to particulars: the food was decent but well within the standard diner range. Brownie points for including a small juice with the breakfast combos, which is welcome and often not included in diner combos these days. Food was very prompt out of the kitchen just after the morning rush, although the time we stopped for an early dinner it was a little pokier.
Acceptable within the category but not a destination diner.

A restaurant in the tradition of Long Island diners– astoundingly expansive menu, desserts in a cooler by the door. Expect solid, unpretentious diner food.
I had a chocolate shake made fresh with hard ice cream and served in a sundae cup. My patty melt was average: the portion of meat thin but compensated for by the warm, gooey swiss on top. My dining companion had a club sandwich and fries, which were of the frozen crinkle cut variety.
I took home a slice of red velvet cake and, after sticking my finger in the frosting whilst watching OITNB, I found myself devouring all of it straight from the styrofoam box.

I have eaten there many times in the last 20 years and have never had a bad meal, never. Awesome staff and mgmt., fast food delivery to your table etc etc, great place

We stopped here this morning because Cracker Barrel was too full. When we pulled in their lot was packed. We had to wait for someone to leave to get a spot. Once inside there was one open booth and we got it. The waitress came over immediately and took our drink order. There is a big menu, if you have an idea of what you want, all you have to do is go right to that section.
Big variety! We ordered our food and it was out within 10 minutes. I could not believe it was that fast because of the sheer number of people there. The portions were more than I could eat and it was piping hot.
This was our first time there and it was an excellent experience. I have read all of the negative reviews, maybe we were there at an odd time (9:30)) and caught them at their best. All I know is I would drive from Saratoga to eat here again. To top it off our waitress was outstanding and I noted that to the manager.
When we left the lobby was full of people waiting to be seated. They must be doing something right!

Stopped here while visiting the historical Saratoga Springs for the Dave Matthews concert Weekend at SPAC.
This diner failed to meet expectations on all levels. First off, any diner that is HALF EMPTY at 930am on a saturday morning should be a HUGE red flag: Danger! Danger!
The waitress was more interested in her hot pink iphone than the customers. We placed orders for juice and coffee and waited atleast 10 minutes. Coffee was luke warm, juice glasses were dingy and half filled! What?!
Food arrived and it was low quality, luke warm and just non-​appealing to the human eye. I ordered pancakes with a side of bacon. The pancakes were small (about the size of a cd) and undercooked. The bacon was disgusting, translucent and grease. Think hospital cafeteria style. Eggs were chewy and had a funky taste to them. Almost tasted raw!
We ate our meals and almost fell out of our chair when the billed arrived. 86 dollars for breakfast for 5 adults and a 6 year old??! Whaaat?! Excuse me?
We were charged 3.49 each for the juices. Our coffees never got refilled and the ketchup bottle was empty. What a horrible experience!
Avoid this place! Horrible food, sub par service and outrageous prices. Highway robbery! I do not mind spending good money for good food /​service. We were less than pleased and WOULD NEVER recommend this place to anyone.
Skip this place! You can get a better breakfast at a lousy local mcdonalds!

A good Greek owned diner. Most staff members are polite. Only been for breakfast, which is awesome! Only once have I had a rude waitress, maybe just having a bad day, but the food kept me coming back.

We stopped in for a late lunch on a weekday to find the dining room mostly empty. The service was fast but once the food came out our waitress disappeared. I thought melts were a diner staple, however I had to explain what I meant by «chicken finger melt» and ended up with a grilled cheese with cut up chicken strips. Overall though I did leave satisfied; I never expect to be wowed at a diner.

Well… I have to say that finding good food in CP is rare. The food is mediocre — but what I find disturbing is the lack of warmth from the waitstaff. They act as though they couldn’t care less that you are there.

I visit friends and family in the Capital District a few times a year and find myself meeting them for a meal at diners all over the area. Of all of the diners this is close to my favorite one. The service, the quality of food and the cleanliness is one of the best. Very busy intersection though so be careful getting in and out of the parking lot.

I’ve patronized the Halfmoon Diner a handful of times, and if I averaged my experiences I would say that I am indifferent about this place. This diner knows how to make a decent sandwich or wrap, but then again those items are difficult to blunder. However, I will say that the Circle Diner in Latham makes a French Dip that is leagues ahead. I’m not particularly a fan of their fries as they are blatantly the crinkle-​cut ones you’d buy from the grocery store. Their taste and texture make it evident that they were frozen before cooked. One time I tried their cornish game hen special, and I was not impressed. When the menu said it was served with a fruit sauce, I thought it might be a plum drizzle that didn’t overpower the chicken. Unfortunately, it was literally chopped fruit that both covered and was stuffed inside this hen, and it tasted horrid.
Overall, this is a run-​of-​the-​mill establishment, but it cannot call itself a legitimate diner. I’d rather drive the extra 20 miles round trip to the Circle Diner in Latham, because there the food would be better and the prices the same.
TL;DR — The Halfmoon Diner is forgettable at best for its mediocre fare and shortcuts taken.

I’m going to be honest with you because I care about you. Yes, YOU, and your tastebuds for that matter, are very important to me. You need to know something and it’s that there is nothing special about this place. You are going to put more into this place and it isn’t going to give you anything in return. You deserve better. I tell this to my best friend about all of her boyfriends. It’s a mediocre diner with mediocre food and mediocre service. I have a passion for brunch and I’ll exercise my right to critique diners on their brunch capabilities until the day I die; I know what I’m talking about here. Keep calm and read on.
So, I have been here twice. Dragged here by people I once thought I could call my friends. The first time wasn’t so bad. We grabbed lunch. I got a bacon cheeseburger. Nothing fancy. I asked for medium-​rare, but that cow was well done. Really not an uncommon find in many restaurants these days. I’m about 90% positive that the French fries they use are those generic «meh, I’m drunk, but I bet these will taste really awesome later if I pour half of this salt and slather ketchup all up in them at 3AM» frozen brand you could pick up at Stop & Shop or Price Chopper. Good thing I was kind of hungover because at that moment in time all I could think was «GREASE IS GOOD FOR ME RIGHT NOW.» A boring, blah, I just need something to hold me over and this will suffice type of experience. This happens with diners and so I didn’t think much else about it.
Until I had brunch there this past Saturday. I want to start the brunch portion of this review by saying: BOO. BOOOO. BOOOOOO.
I love bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon? Some vegetarian burn out probably, but I’m not one of those, so listen up: the bacon sucks. It’s awful. Do not waste your time. Do not waste your hard earned money. Or if you are a trust fund baby, majoring in the fine arts, don’t waste your parents money or disappoint them anymore than you already have by ordering the bacon here. OKAY?! Why does it suck? Because it’s NOT bacon. It’s bulldonkie, that’s what it is, and so I recommend they make that correction on their menu. IT WAS MICROWAVEABLE BACON. What a crime! Is that allowed? Is this an upstate NY thing no one told me about?! You know the kind I am talking about: it looks like pinkish/​brown strips rubbed up with vaseline.
I ordered the Belgian waffle. What about that? Bisquick mix. That’s what it reminded me of. I’m sure it would have tasted better with the blueberries I had asked for, but the waitress didn’t write that down and would take off as soon as she stopped by to check on our table. I had no opening! A poo poo on the service.
The syrup was Smucker’s pancake syrup and so that was disappointing, but come on, from what you have read so far, how could you expect for me to surprisingly start praising something random like, «OH BUT DON’T WORRY THEY SURE DO HAVE GREAT MAPLE SYRUP!» I was born and raised in New England. It’s a sin to eat that fake syrup and I will never tell the Reverend at my mother’s church that it happened because I don’t think there are enough Hail Mary’s or Our Father’s I could say that would grant me repentance.
The scrambled egg was okay. I would eat that again, I guess.

Summary– Pretty much average diner everything all the way.
Food– 3 Stars
Breakfast foods appear to be the clear winners here.
Omelette’s that arrived at table looked good and feedback was positive although some of the potatoes were extremely well done aka burnt.
My club was fine, nothing special nothing bad either. My only complaint was it was a Cheeseburger club and I asked for medium it was more of a well to extremely well done (this is a diner afterall).
Drinks– 3 Stars
Decent coffee not great.
Service– 3 Stars
Fine, not too friendly but timely.
Value– 3 Stars
Right where it belongs
Atmosphere– 4 Stars
Typical diner type inside, which always makes me feel cozy.

This place does a great breakfast. They are very fast too. We were in and out the door in about 30 – 40 mins. I ordered the eggs benedict with extra crispy hashbrowns which I always enjoy here. Gets pretty busy on Sundays but they handle it well.

I like this place. I always get the same thing and they have GREAT french fries. Soda is Coke which is a total plus. On the down side, the bacon seems a bit like the ready-​made kind from the grocery store. My dining companions often have breakfast and generally love it. However, the homefries or potatoes that come with are not the best – tend to be a little undercooked and seasoned. Gosh, are they FAST with the service. You can be in and out in no time and the prices are reasonable.

It is an adequate diner. It was clean. Parking lot is a little small compared to the size of the restaurant.
Because I just discovered that I am the «big girl» in wedding party for my brother, I decided to keep it healthy. I ordered an egg white omelet, no cheese, with spinach and tomatoes. It would have fit the bill for healthy had there not been a ½ stick of butter or lard used to make the omelet not stick. It wasn’t greasy and itt tasted good, but it kind defeated the purpose. It was the size of the platter it was served on and had at least 1.5 cup of chopped spinach and 1 cup of chopped tomatoes. I believe my giant veggie stuffed omelet was $ 7.99.
My dining mate got a Greek salad and it was also enormous and had well over ½ cup of feta sprinkled on it. The other diner got an American cheese omelet with fries. Both said their meals were good.
The waitress was attentive and after refilling my little glass of water 3 times, just brought over a big glass (I drink a lot of water).
I have been here on previous occasions and never had a bad diner meal. I’ve never tried their gyros, which I guess would be a good thing to test out.
I do not think they are open 24 hours a day so I should take a star off for that, but I’m going to let my ideas about the hours of operation that a place should be open in order to call itself a diner be ignored for now.

I’m a New York City bred girl, and born and raised on Long Island. I think I know my diners. This one however, is one of the saddest excuses I’ve ever come across. Upstate New Yorkers need to experience some better dinning, what people find good in this part of the state leaves me dumbfounded… utterly dumbfounded.
Firstly, what diner isn’t opened past 10pm, let alone 12am? Apparently Halfmoon Diner. I figured out that the owner was Greek and was thoroughly excited, most Greek owned Diners rock. Well, here are the cold hard facts:
1.) Menu is too large and the wait time is ridiculous
2.) Waitresses are not properly trained or clothed
3.) Food is under seasoned and lifeless, ethnic dishes are unpalatable.
Let’s face it, when I can taste the «canned» flavor in my food, I’ve got a serious issue. I ordered a stuffed fillet of flounder with crab and received more canned filler then anything else. The Flounder was over-​cooked and falling apart, and the crab stuffing wasn’t even hot, it was lukewarm at best. My baked potato was almost raw, and the vegetables were dull, under seasoned, and lifeless. These are the only words that I can think of to describe this gruel they call food.
I like being checked on during my meal because it makes me feel as if the waitress cares about my experience. I however do not like being checked on every 25 seconds. If I have two full glasses of water and a full plate of food, I’m pretty sure everything is okay. Maybe it’s because every time I’ve ever come here the place was dead, except for the senior crowd.
The food portion is good, but I would rather spend an extra couple dollars for food that has taste, texture, and body then under seasoned, canned food. To me, that’s just a slap in the face. Why open a restaurant if you don’t want to serve food that is delicious to be enjoyed by your patrons? Don’t go here, it’s a waste of money and time.

Stopped in @ 930 @ night and were seated and waited on quickly. I ordered the Greek Wrap and it was very good. Wife had a breakfast combo w/​french toast that was good. The perky waitress was very good and service was quick. @945 they started to close and turn off the lights. When we went to the counter to pay the foreign born owner/​manager was in the kitchen. When he came out with a plate of food for himself he did not speak a word to us just picked up my card and check. He then started talking to the people behind waiting to pay. I signed the check and he never said a word to me.
Nothing I hate more than non Americans not speaking to me when I spend money in their business.
Yes the food was good and service was quick. When we walked out the waitress came running to unlock the door for us.
We won’t go there again.
Fuck em if they can’t say thank you to me!