Take a Break Restaurant

a few months ago Plaza Diner on the parkway closed down and they ended up taking over Take A Break. i wasn’t really familiar with either restaurant too well so i can’t compare the new to the old, so take this for what it is.
the breakfast here was mediocre. the pancakes were a little on the tough side, not a very good texture but the taste was ok. i remember the bacon being decent as well as the home fries, and the scrambled eggs were also pretty good. i’m on the fence about their lunch/​dinner items. i tried the chicken souvlaki and the meat was good, but i didn’t like how it was plated. i was expecting a wrap with lettuce, tomato, tzatziki sauce, feta, and chicken, but they just gave me chicken served over a pita that was cut into quarters and a side of tzatziki sauce. the sauce was actually pretty good, and the chicken was seasoned well and cooked well. the pita didn’t seem like it was the freshest but it was better than the one i had at Greek House in JC. the fries i had with it weren’t good at all though. i also had their roasted chicken dinner with mashed potatoes. the potatoes were ok, as was the chicken. the chicken was moist and seasoned well. the gravy could have been a little more flavorful though, and the stuffing that came with it was too sweet.
they have a lot of desserts that look really good, but i’ve only been able to sample a few. i tried a cherry danish that was underwhelming, but the baklava here is really good, possibly the best i’ve had, so definitely try that. i also got a cream puff that was probably good when it was fresh, but this one seemed a little stale.
the place looks really nice on the inside and it’s very clean. the service was good too, i don’t have any complaints about that. when it comes down to it, you can get a decent meal here, but do you really want to settle for just decent? there’s better places out there, i’m not sure if i will be back anytime soon

visited on November 14 about noon. We had a roast beef sandwich and soup. The soup was good, but the roast beef was sliced length wise which made it very stringy and tough. Over ¼ was grizzle and inedible. The sandwich had no flavor at all. The waitress even through the place only had a few people was not very attentive. Perhaps another time, but likely wont go back there again

Clean quiet diner (we came in at 3pm).
Service was prompt. Menu had a nice selection of usual diner choices from burgers, Italian, and seafood platters. Prices seemed pretty reasonable. The soups are homemade. Italian wedding soup was very good. We had a cheesesteak/​fries and a Reuben burger which was something different to try. I included pictures because the tomatoes were the reddest I’ve ever seen. Notice the all dark green leafy lettuce. Not the crappy almost white iceberg served elsewhere.
The burger was cooked a little more than we ordered (medium) but it was still good. The cheesesteak was made with big chunks of peppers and onions that were obviously fresh and roasted nicely. The meat was slicked thicker than what you would usually get in a cheesesteak so it tasted nice and hearty. Overall, it’s someplace I would certainly revisit.

The service was friendly, but excruciatingly slow despite the restaurant being fairly empty and plenty of wait staff standing around. Three different entrees ordered across the table and all shared, at best, blandness. The mac and cheese was mushy and lacked any flavor at all; and the cabbage rolls looked like dishrags and tasted like they were coated in ketchup. The cheesesteak was awful — I am still not entirely sure what meat it was. Even the soups were bad — the clam chowder had hard bits in it and the yankee bean tasted canned. The salads were limp and yellow. the whole experience was disappointing.

Horrible. Wife order a philly steak sandwich… barely a pinch of meat. All bread and onions. Went to use restroom… cavelike. one light that barely lit sink area. Sat at toilet and toilet loudly slammed back and forth from wall. Never again. Only reason this dump got one star is it’s required to leave review. I have had better accommodations and food camping…

Nice diner-​like atmosphere, very friendly staff, low prices. I went here yesterday for dinner. I got a salad with salmon served on top, which was excellent. The salmon was seared very nicely (crisp exterior and flaverful) and they served it with balsalmic vinegar dressing. My girlfriend got the london broil served with mushrooms, and it was pretty good. The london broil was an $ 8-​$ 9 special it came with soup, a salad, and dessert! Can’t beat that, considering they have to pay the staff! Would come here again.

Take A Break has struggled over the past few years having to close because of the flood and I think it has gone through some management changes. It’s not in an ideal location being on Old Vestal Road behind the Town Square Mall. I think people forget about it. It does have plenty of parking and I think of it in the diner category. My wife and I went there yesterday for breakfast. My wife had pancakes and an order of bacon. She said the pancakes were among the best she had ever had. The bacon was a large order — 5 or 6 strips and was cooked just right. I had their sausage omelette special. I’ve had better. It was dry and very few pieces of sausage with no cheese. Home fries came with it. They were the «real» home fries which I like, that is, they were slices of potato fried on a grill. The serving was more than I could eat. The service was excellent. My coffee cup was constantly filled. There were two waitresses. If one was busy, the other would graciously wait on you. The menu had a wide variety of choices. I’m not sure I’d rate this as A-​OK, but I’d say OK. The best thing was the price. Our check came to $ 8.24 for the two of us. Coffee or tea comes with it. So, if you’re looking for decent proportions and a great pancake and good homefries, try it out. It’s a clean and bright restaurant with clean restrooms.