Stafford Diner

Sat nite. ordered veggie spring rolls for an appetizer. we each took a bite of one. cold in middle. sent them back. in less than 2 minutes waitress came back with same ones.yes.the.bitten ones. steaming hot and soggy as heck and greasy from a microwave. Sent them back. took them off the bill. sandwiches came out. fries were luke warm at best. hash browns same. omelet same. all luke warm. Didn’t bother sending back just ate and got out of there. French onion soup was good. the only reason for the 2 stars.

Ate dinner here one night on our way to lbi — truly was just adequate. Food was edible. Service was minimal. Boxed mashed potatoes. Stringy undercooked ribs. French fries were great. Would eat here again if it was the only place left and I had no food at home.

Great Diner. good quick food… great prices

Hostess service is horrible. They point their arms to were are to be seated. They don’t even walk you to the table. So in personal. Wait staff is gruff and unfriendly. Foods hit or miss. Don’t ever get the nachos. Horrible

Large generous portions reasonably priced. Decent service and nice selection of entrees including soup or salad, desert & beverage for the 60+ crowd. Wait staff is friendly & efficient.
Linda
Barnegat, NJ

I’ll admit that when I was in the area and looking for a dining establishment, I did read the more recent reviews on this site. ‘How bad can it be?’ I said to myself. Oh, it’s bad. Really bad. I should’ve listened to the other Unilocalers.
Here’s the good; the food is decent. I really liked my pastrami reuben and the fries were not bad either. It’s also very clean here as far as I could tell, and the exterior is inviting with it’s chrome beams and red flourishes. However, the good aspects stop there.
I’ve never been stiffed so badly in a diner, ever. Our waitress literally forgot about us and a meal that should’ve taken forty minutes took almost two hours. At some point she started bussing tables for some reason instead of tending to her tables with paying patrons. It was clear we were ready to leave since our food had been consumed, but we waited — and waited — for our check for a ridiculous amount of time. We tried calling her over but she actually just ignored us. Even at other places were the service is subpar and the waitstaff is rude I’ve never been outright ignored for that long of a period. The rest of the staff seemed equally as rude and really I think it all comes down to poor management. A place really needs to get its priorities straight when it has waitresses bussing tables as well as waiting on them.
If you want good service you need to avoid this place like the plague, unless you want to sit for hours and hours to be forgotten, left only staring at the remains of your sandwich.

I’m from out of town, so when my mother and I decided to go for lunch, she recommended the Stafford (which she had been to one time)
I’m born & raised in NJ so I’m been to my share of good and bad diners — this one being the latter. We were seated right away but sat at the table without a waitress coming over after about ten minutes. She took our order and we order 2 bacon cheeseburgers. When we got our for, or burger also had lettuce and tomato as well, we assumed it came with it. Later we find out that she decided that we wanted a delux, which was extra money. The food was lukewarm and just okay. I asked for a refill and she said I only get 1 refill, which is ridiculous. Also, they gave us only one napkin each. Is this some kind of a depression or something? I told the manager how my experience was and she apologized and corrected my bill, but I have desire to eat there again

Always good food and service at affordable prices

I would like to say I’ve worked a lot of restaurants. The Stafford diner is 1 of the cleanest, And best places to go to. I’ve been to expensive Restaurants that are not as good. Or clean… No place is perfect… I tend to compare what I get At other places. And be like should have went to diner… loaded ff the best… burgers awesome. Try all American or black& blue. As for salads Cobb& Greek x/​chicken. Also Stafford salad with Cajun seasoning… sautees chicken franchise the best… deserts. dome cake or mouse cake yum!!!

What a colossal disappointment this was. Let me say that my expectations going in were pretty reasonable, low even. This is, after all, a typical diner on a NJ highway. But it was conveniently located for our family who had spent the day visiting us, so we gave it a try. When eating at a diner, I don’t expect to be served haute cuisine on a white linen tablecloth. I do, however, expect to be given a menu, a glass of water and to be visited by a server within a reasonable amount of time. I expect rolls to be offered before the meal arrives. I expect a request for a water refill is not a gigantic deal. I expect the food to be edible. But not here.
There were not enough menus for our party of 8. We had to take turns. We were seated in an out of the way corner table and apparently forgotten. We had to flag down someone to get a glass of water. We were seated for more than 25 minutes before our order was taken by a very harassed, distracted waitress.
It all went downhill from there. As with water, one of our party had to get up and flag down someone to get a basket of rolls. When they were finally delivered, at the same time as our meal, the basket holding them looked like it had been dug out of the bottom of a dumpster. The edge was frayed and black with grime (pictures attached). A request for a water refill was finally answered with the waitress hauling a cracked pitcher with water streaming out of the bottom. Unaware, she was about to reach across one of our party’s shoulder to pour the water. As he had already had a shower and didn’t need another, I directed her attention to the leak and she took the pitcher away, never to return with more water. (She said there were no more pitchers).
I haven’t even gotten to the food. Though it may have originally been palatable (and I’m being generously optimistic here), it must have sat for so long before being picked up that it was cold and unappetizing. I was so hungry when I left, I went home and made myself a bowl of cereal for dinner.
We did complain to the owner, but she was only interested in offering excuses. She did mention something about a coupon for a future visit, but that would require a future visit and that’s not happening.
All I can say for this place is that the prices (especially for early bird specials) are low. If you are looking for cheap, unappetizing food served in an unkempt environment then this place is for you!

We love this diner. It has never disappointed us. Very nice waitresses and quick service.

This is my «go to» place for good, NJ diner-​style food. Generous portions, fast service and the wait staff are fantastic, calling the regulars by name. They are committed to customer service.

Yikes… I’m not too sure what happened here, but something did. Since moving to the area 2 years ago, this became my go to place, but it’s simply been on a downslide that doesn’t seem to want to stop. I used to love this place, the food was outstanding, the service was great, but try after try, they’re not making it work. Rumor is the owner died and his kids are just not making it happen. Poor quality food, staff that’s more interested in themselves than service, and it’s just not clean. Sorry to say good bye to what was my favorite NJ Diner. I don’t change reviews too easily, but no choice on this one.

Food was ok but bad service.
When you have a seat with a direct view to the door to the kitchen… wow! Not sure this is really healthy! A clean kitchen is part of your responsibility !

It’s a diner. Most of the food is OK, a lot of it is pretty dry but that’s sort of what diner-​quality food is. We used to go here all the time as a family and I’ve been back since they redid they outside, but we don’t go often. It’s a little out of the way and nothing compels us to go in regularly.
They have an OK set of desserts, in the old-​fashioned visible dessert refrigerator and such.
Last time I was there, I got a Reuben and I wasn’t impressed, but it may have improved over the past few months.

Good breakfast selection. Good prices. Only bad points are the over cooked eggs, cold food and shite service. Waitress said the sausage gravy was homemade but tasted tinny so calling BS on that. The menus need wiped as do the ketchup and salt shakers. There is also some shifty guy with gold front teeth behind the counter who stares a lot. This place has gone down hill. So yeah, the coffee is good but Wawa is next door — try that instead. Won’t be back. Sorry but this is just my opinion.

Always a great diner experience. Food is always great. The décor needs to be updated and fixed. Starting to show its age. SOME staff need a lil people skills refreshing. But the food is always great. Never had bad food.
Highly recommend the Cinninon Raisin Bread French Toast! Outstanding. The breakfast quesadilla is a good pair with it.

Dec 26: Driving back from Atlantic City my mother and I decided to stop and have breakfast. We were trying to locate the iHop on Rte 72 but we hit The Stafford Diner first and stopped there.
When I first walked in, my first impression was an old school diner in need of upgrades. That was the visual. Even the menus were old school and in big print. However, the selections were elaborate and the prices extremely cheap! I ordered a protein bfast. I got an egg omlette with spinach and turkey bacon and it came with two pieces of multi grain toast and choice of oatmeal or grits. I got the oatmeal. It was called «Juan» on the menu. Everything was very good and the portion was large. I didn’t finish. My mother had taylor ham and pancakes which were extremely large, fresh, and fluffy.
Our waitress was so sweet. I believe her name was Mary. While she seem to have some type of walking handicap, she was right on the ball and very friendly. I left her a good tip. She deserved it.
The funniest thing was when you walked into the ladies room, there was a snowman on the sink holding a plunger that talked. So funny. You have to go in there and hear for yourself because apparently for every person the phrases are different.
I don’t live near there but I would go back.

Eat here almost every day. Food is great with best prices in the area. Sometimes have to wait for a seat (weekends) but that just shows how popular this place is. Waitresses know names of all the regulars and are generally friendly and service is good. Maria the manager is the BEST!!!