kaiser's diner

great food, terrible service. just got back from eating there. the burgers are absolutely phenomenal, and i strongly recommend the sweet potato fries, they are out of this world. however, part of what goes into a great restaurant atmosphere is the service you receive. i had what i believe to be the absolute worst service i have ever had to deal with in my life. i sat at the bar, was brought my drink, and then ignored entirely for 15 minutes. in previous trips there, the waitstaff has never had an issue with taking my order directly from the bar and sending it to the kitchen. however, despite my attempts to flag waitresses or the barkeep down to send an order back, i finally had to get up, track one down, place an order, then go back to my seat. the only othertimea waitress spoke to me was to bring me my check, and then to take my plate. i'm sure at this point many people would be thinking that it was a busy night and i should expect service like that. unfortunately, that was not the case, maybe 10 tables were taken in the entire restaurant. the waitstaff was more than ready to handle the small crowd tonight.

i'm not saying i wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anybody, i absolutely would, but i would simply warn them of the questionable service.

you don't go to kaisers for the main dishes you go for the finishing course, dessert. the ice cream at this place is over the top for the price. be careful ordering certain items which they will warn you are huge because some of their ice cream dishes are in fact massive huge. the firsttimemy wife and i got ambitious we took on their largest sunday and gave up half way in. wonderful dessert stop but i have reservations about the other dishes i tried.

we decided to go to this place after our first choice was not open.  i have only eaten at this place once and that was years ago.  i remember not being impressed at thattimeand was hoping that impression would change.

the decor is ok.  the tables and chairs wobble.  a littletimespent fixing the furniture could go a long way.

the menu had what i would consider a very random selection of food.  i ordered their spinach salad with grilled chicken.  the food came our very quickly.  my salad was nothing special.  spinach, sunflower seeds, feta cheese and lemon dressing.  chicken had a nice spicy kick.

overall,  my impression of the place has not changed.  not my first choice for a lunch/dinner spot in midtown.

disappointed. this was our second trip to kaisers and we decided to try the catfish, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and onion rings. it took twenty minutes to get our food. the catfish was really good. it had a crisp coating and was a light golden color. the green beans were well seasoned. the mashed potatoes were very lumpy and there was not enough gravy. the fried chicken tasted like they just dipped it in plain flour. no seasoning whatsoever. we were not greeted when we came in, were never checked on, and were not greeted when we left. if we come back, i think we will stick to the burgers.


-----20 mar, 2015-----

nostalgic. my husband and i ate here 3/14/15 for lunch. they have an enjoyable nostalgic atmosphere and the staff was very friendly. we were greeted as soon as we walked through the door. our order came within a normal period of time. we both had the bison burger and onion rings. the burger was juicy and well seasoned. the o rings were a touch greasy but, hey they are deep fried after all and they tasted good. the onion had a sweet flavor and they had a batter type coating on them. another staff member greeted us during our meal and made sure we had everything we needed. we didn't leave enough room for dessert so, maybe nexttimebecause we will definitely be going back.


-----20 mar, 2015-----

bison burger. it was juicy and well seasoned. i really enjoyed it.

stick with the ice cream and burgers. avoid the rest.. i have always loved kaiser's atmosphere and ice cream. we tried them for the firsttimesince the place changed ownership and we were very disappointed. i assume the ice cream is still the same, though we didn't try it because we left in disgust. first of all, they have different menus for lunch and dinner, so if you go there for dinner hoping to have a salad entree (like i was), you're out of luck. second, the food is overpriced for what it actually is: the same frozen and quick-cooked standard issue stuff you can get in most of the restaurants anywhere. we ordered fried pickles, i ordered the "hand-breaded" chicken tender basket with side salad (which had an upcharge) and "homemade" macaroni and cheese. my husband got a burger and fries, and my child had a kid's burger and mac and cheese. the fried pickles are the same ones you can get anywhere: frozen, pre-battered pickle spears. my "hand-breaded" chicken tenders were also the same chewy boring ones you can get anywhere. my upcharged side salad was ok except for the fact that several pieces of lettuce (roughly 1/3 of the salad) were wilted and brown. the mac and cheese was fine, but it probably wasn't "homemade." my husband and my child enjoyed their burgers; my husband said his burger wasn't greasy at all. third, when the check arrived, we were surprised at how expensive some of the items were. my boring chicken tender entree cost more than the one at irma's, and irma's chicken tenders are actually hand-breaded fresh. for some reason, my child's side of mac and cheese was upcharged. i think it's because they put in the kids meal sized mac and cheese instead of a normal side serving. we weren't told in advance that this would happen. and last, the service was decent. our waitress was very nice and took good care of us.

i'm planning on going back for ice cream sometimebecause i've heard that it's still good. however, i'm going to avoid their regular menu aside from the burgers from now on.

ever wonder about this place? don't bother.. ever wonder why this place is always close? because its sh*t. sorry to say, i've haven't felt so negatively about the (lack of) food and service at a restaurant in years. came in around 7pm, after being extremely excited to see this place open.
there were 4 occupied tables, one of which was a young family of 7. had never been here before, and my so and i stood in the middle, in front of the counter, unsure if it was seat yourself or not. servers moved by, and behind the counter. we were not greeted, and no eye contact was made. we stood there awkwardly for about 5 minutes until we seated ourselves. we sat there for about 5 minutes, and nobody came over to us. i had to get the attention of the server from the table next to us to ask "do we get menus ourselves?" and she said "oh, i will get one of the girls to get menus for you." got the menus, took about 10 minutes for them to take our order (burgers) and bring drinks. all the servers disappeared except for the one on the other side of the restaurant. about 10 minutes go by after our order.
i started feeling nervous about being here. it was very quiet. i looked around, and see: table 1, family of 7: has food. seems to have problem with order, as the lady is handing plates back to the server. table 2: a man and his daughter sit with salad and scowls on their faces. they are not eating the salad. i watch them wait 15 minutes to get salad dressing. table 3: a guy and girl. the girl keeps turning around and looking for a server who is never there. table 4: behind me. having a low conversation about how long it has been since they ordered. i have spent 30 minutes in this restaurant now, and seen nobody receive food. at the 20 minute mark after our order is taken, we have to get up and go a waitress if our food will be along shortly. she looks nervous and leaves without reply. she comes back over and says they are working on the order. we wait another 20 minutes (40 minutes since we ordered). i am irritated, i am hungry, no server has willingly checked on us, no "sorry about the delay" has been said.
it has been a frickin hour since i walked in the doors. the people behind me get their food. i hear the girl say her dish is cold. i'm not taking this. we get up and tell the server we are leaving. she says "ok bye."

i go to irma's and get the same gosh darn burger i ordered an hour ago in 10 minutes.
don't ever waste your money ortimewith this pathetic excuse for a business.

new owners, same bad place.. i used to go to kaiser's as a child. i heard that they had new owners and got my hopes up, the lasttimei went it wasn't that great. sadly the new owners must have inherited the same bad recipes. everything we had seemed overly salted. my hamburger should have been labeled as a "salt burger". my friend ordered soup, which was cold. we asked them to heat it up, which they seemed to think was too much.
they heated the soup, which was then returned fifteen minutes later. the soup was decent, but nothing to brag about. it was highly overpriced for how it tasted.
we held out, hoping the ice cream would be the redeeming quality. it wasn't. they claim it is still made with cream, but it tasted like it had far too much milk. either they are trying to be cheap, or they lost the original recipes.
overall, 34 dollars for a meal for two isn't bad. but nexttimewe want burgers and shakes, we will go to braum"s.

sad. we use to eat here pretty often. the lasttimei went in though the service was bad. the place was dirty and gross and the food was horrible.
with new management and better employees this place would be wonderful again. too bad it won't get the chance since they are closing doors

never again!!!!!!. i've been here twice the firsttimewe only got a scoop of caramel salted ice cream. it wasn't bad so i went back and order a brownie fudge sundae. it was disgusting!!!! they put it in one of the plastic cups you drink out of, the fudge was gross and the brownie was hard. to top it off the whipped cream looked almost cottage cheese like. never again!!

how are they still open?. wow. this place was just awful. went for lunch today. two of us ordered hamburgers, 2 different kinds, now who knows if we got the right one, because the guy that brought them out didn't care to ask, and by thattimeand the looks of both, we didn't care either.
took about 20 min to give us very overcooked burgers that you would make special for kids at a cookout. small.
add to that a small order of fries. how this minus drink comes to $8-9 before tax i will never know.
maybe it's the ice cream that is twice as much as other places.
the service was a joke, we had to clean our table, no one ever even said they were sorry about it.
their prices are a joke, the food was a joke, the service was a joke.

very disappointed. this place looks fun when driving by and even better inside with it's décor and historic photos on the wall. that's where the fun ends.
it's never a good sign in a restaurant when customers who come in after you start receiving their food. two burgers took over 30 minutes. cold fries undercooked, burger overcooked ... hockey puck, small (bill was over $20) and one burger order was wrong (no requested bacon).
i also noticed several other customers complaining and sending food back. no manager was seen. nobody asked how our lunch was. what a waste oftimeand beef.

i walk in sit @ the bar for ice cream no one says a single word to me that worked here. a guy and his two daughters @ the bar were greated and served. i stood up to take photos, mind this was my 1sttimebeing here. i walk around still not one employee said how may i help you or anything. well after waiting 6 minutes & 43 seconds it was clearlytimeto go. geez what kind of service was that, so much for happy hour.

slow service, average food. the reataraunt is inviting with the fun decor but the pleasure ends there. the reataraunt was mosty empty but it still took a very longtimeto get food while the employees talked in the corner. if you are intrigued by their homemade ice cream- be willing to wait 15 minutes before they get around to scooping it. also, the sandwiches have nothing special to offer.

kaiser’s was established in 1910, has been in this location since 1918, and has stood the test of time. we hoped to find out why on our trip. we came a little after 11 and there was a small line which gave ustimeto look over the menu. kaiser’s has the vibe of an old-school ice cream shop and really fits well with the area. a few of us got the special (catfish) and the rest went for burgers. i went for the classic bacon cheese burger because, let’s be honest, we all know bacon is best. also, sweet potato fries are one of the sides that you can choose from instead of traditional fries so i choose them. our dishes came out one by one and they all looked great. when mine came

new owner. well this was not a smooth transition to a new owner as evident by my meal on nye. i debated on putting this review up but i think it only fair. i fell in love with kaisers about 2 years ago, their food was upscale dinner and it was amazing. so different and had a feel of home cooked all at the same time. there were 5 of us out to dinner, we all got our food at different times. by thetimethe last item came out most of our food was cold, it was chicken strips and they weren't even cooked all the way through! most everyone else said the food was ok, but they had never been to kaisers when it wasn't serving diner food. the menu is completely changed, gone are the things that made it special but the prices are still the same, too expensive for what you are getting. i ordered a turkey burger, it looked ok when i got it, i bit into it and it tasted terrible! the cook didn't clean the grill at all between burgers and all i could taste was a beef burger, i actually had to check to make sure it was turkey in my bun. i don't eat beef so it was incredibly disappointing. the mac & cheese was terrible as well. complete mush the noodles were cooked too long and tasted awful. overall if you liked kaisers from a few years ago you are for sure going to be disappointed.