Empress Diner

I will never come here again. The place is filthy. I have come here many times in the past but the last time I was there, there was dried up mayonnaise on the mirror. I also got food poisoning! I ordered chicken parm dinner. When I got it there was a big hair right on top of the cheese! When I asked for a replacement the waitress said okay and came back with the exact same dish (minus the hair)!! GROSS!!! I was kind of outraged and requested they make it again. Well. 5 minutes later and the same plate with more sauce and cheese than before. I could tell because no two chicken cutlets are exactly the same! I ate a little of it but had lost my appetite. I started feeling sick about ten minutes after and spent the next two days of misery. STAY AWAY!!!

I come here often because of proximity to work and it usually hits on most of my orders, I usually always get an omelette because I’m a breakfast junkie, and never complain when the order is right. Sometimes the order can have things I asked to be removed but they remove it with no problems, just wished it didn’t happen as often but other than that this place is far better than most diners in the area and will continue to come back for more. The burgers are alright nothing special, and the gyro is a good bang for the buck. 4 stars as of now with 5 star potential as soon as I can feel comfortable leaving knowing my order is good lol

It can be a hit or miss, but I’d pick this place over the Elmwood Park diner or the Parkway diner for diners within 1 mile from where I live. I don’t usually bother going through the menu cover to cover and just get whatever specials was on. Ordered a gyro dinner special that came with a soup. The split pea soup was pretty ok, but I’ve had better gyro elsewhere

Nasty food and bad service! Do yourself a favor and pick another diner… Any other diner !!!

Great service, great food. In love with the soups. Try the lentil, and split pea. Owner is very friendly. I’m new to Fair Lawn and this place has been godsend. The choice of restaurants in the area are pretty bad. Their breakfast is also really good. And they make a great grilled chicken. I’m there a few times a week. The owner made a joke and said that I’m a soup freak, lol. Cause I’m always buying them. He said you know Rick James Superfreak? I said yeah. He said well you are soup freak. Had me laughing the whole day! Great people!

Thank you to all the staff at Empress! We had a group of 40, and the staff made us feel welcome and took care of us. The food came out quickly and was delicious!

Decent food, but the staff is rude as hell. Never again.

Visited with a co-​worker on a Tuesday late morning. I had the banana walnut pancakes and a side of Turkey sausage and my co-​worker had the Turkey club with French fries. My three large pancakes were filled to capacity with walnuts and bananas. The sausage consisted of 4 links. Tasty. Overall satisfied with my meal. I must say their coffee was tasty. Very surprising for most diners. My co-​worker ate most of her Turkey Club. Service was Ok. Typical diner fare. Nothing bad to say.

This was my first visit to Empress Diner. It was a Saturday at 12:30pm. I ordered the linguini with red clam sauce. There was no background music which makes conversation easier. Alfonso brought me my bread, Italian meatball soup then linguini. It was very tasty and evidently smelled good since a patron sitting next to me wanted to know what it was. Needless to say, dinner was skipped that day.

This diner was okay, I liked there chicken sandwich it was good. The service was a bit slow for a diner that didn’t have so many people it. It’s somewhere to go if it’s late at night but otherwise it’s not one of my favorites but it’s still decent and it’s nice looking inside.

I give Empress Diner 2.5 stars but I rounded up because they’re open ²⁴⁄₇ and that’s pretty sweet. ²⁴⁄₇ is how all diners should be. We need to make it a law or something.
Anyway, I come here relatively often solely because of proximity. It’s close by and convenient. Prices are reasonable and maybe slightly cheaper than your average Jersey diner.
I always order take out but I’ve dined in once. It was on a Wednesday at 1am. I came with a group of 10 people but even besides us, it was unusually crowded for that time frame. There was even a family with little kids. The experience wasn’t good, of course. The food took a really long time and the waitress wasn’t coming around as often as she should. The problem was she was the ONLY waitress on this busy Wednesday night. Not her fault. Empress may not have anticipated how busy this Wednesday would be and it’s probably not always like that. Just a fluke, I suppose. What I found most offensive was my boyfriend’s microwaved pancake. Of course, we have no proof it was microwaved. But seriously, if that’s the best they can do as far as fresh pancakes go, that’s just sad. I hope to god it was microwaved then, for their sake. The rest of the food was ok, my chicken wrap was supposed to have avocado and it didn’t. The people who ordered eggs said they were good. Actually only the egg people and disco fries people didn’t complain. Everyone else felt ehh about their food.
Regardless, my take out experience is always good. Food’s ready in like 10 – 20 minutes and they’ve never forgotten anything. Overall though, I think their food is average. I’ll be back because it’s convenient.

It’s a diner, what else do you need to know? Best one in three towns, best in Fair Lawn that’s for sure. Very good food, quick, hot, with friendly staff. Great coffee. Prices are reasonable, location is convenient. Parking lot could be bigger though.

Overpriced for low quality food. Won’t be coming back. There are definitely much much better diners locally that I would prefer to spend my money at.

Amazing food. We’ve slowly been working our way through the menu over the past several months and have yet to be disappointed. Great Staff, always clean and a very fun place for the entire family to enjoy a good meal. Our kids love this place as much as we do. The Empress is without a doubt our favorite diner in northern NJ.

One of my favorite diners. There food is soooo good and their Cheese cake is one of the best deserts I’ve ever had !

I don’t understand how this diner could get so many positive reviews.
The food is horrible, the service is slow, and the restaurant is so filthy.
For the reviews that mentioned it being «The Best Food», these people must have been fed Spaghettio’s and Encore dinners most of their life!
Unless you want to spend your evening on the bowl, writing a review on Unilocal about your horrible experience; Do not eat here!

First there is no kids menu so you have to order food and drinks from same menu as adults and at the same price. Ice tea was $ 1.50 per glass expect kids get a cup about half the size (smaller size but same price?).
Second their menu shows Specialty Omelettes are served with home fries and toast. However when i ordered the Mexican Omelet which says it’s served with chips the waitress Donna said it is chips or home fries or toast. She leaned over the table to point out on my menu with her pen that is was or and not with… but she quickly realized she was wrong but continued to say it was not all included.
This was my first and last visit. Is Donna wrong or is she just trying to run up our check for a higher tip?

Delish! Cheap and great food. Easy place to have a convo. Try not to sit next to noisy young children, usually next to the television.

I was in for breakfast recently. Reasonable prices and decent — not oversized — portions. Canadian bacon and eggs were just perfect. It has a nice, quaint, neighborhood feel to it. Great cheerful service as well.

This restaurant is a great little diner.
Suitable for a simple little business lunch or a breakfast or dinner.
The staff is easy going but attentive great at suggesting menu items.
People that leave negative reviews for this place either don’t no what the hell they want or they just assume this is supposed to be some sort of Bistro it is not.
Its is a great place.