Diners are a unique treat to the natives and visitors of New Jersey. The goal of a diner is to give visitors a throwback to “the good ole days.” While most diners are known for their 1950s burger-and-milkshake aesthetic, a big part to a successful diner is a good breakfast service. To be a successful morning diner, you must be quick with food, attentive to customers, and reasonably priced. While diners, like our local Reo Diner, accomplish this in spades, The Edison Diner fails on all of those fronts, and is by all accounts a bad diner.

The price of food is one of the most important, if not the most important, factors to consider when deciding where to eat. It is so strong that almost any restaurant with bad food can be excused for its price points. Unfortunately, The Edison Diner has both mediocre food with outrageous prices on both food and drink. In my experience, I ordered a classic eggs, bacon, and homefries platter with a small orange juice that I refilled once. It came out to be an egregious $20, with 8 of those dollars going towards the small orange juice and it’s one subsequent refill. When I got the bill, I felt betrayed and scammed, especially considering the food was below average with soggy eggs, burnt home fries, and rubbery, undercooked bacon.

The speed of service was unforgivably slow for no visible or conceivable reason, especially considering the populous of the establishment floated around 10 in my hour-long stay. The waitress appeared about 10 minutes into my stay, which gave me ample time to make a final decision on food and drink, and was also patient and helpful in clearing up my confusion about menu items. However, after we gave our orders, our waitress seemingly vanished into the twilight zone, as she was missing from our general area, depriving us of some desperately needed refills. She then miraculously appeared with our sub-par food about 40 min later, and with the check about 20 min after that. My visit was about 30 min more than it needed to be.

Overall, The Edison Diner has no standout features or positive distinguishing factors from any other diner in the tri county area. The food is mediocre, the service is slow, and the prices are overinflated. Avoid this diner at all costs, your money is better spent almost anywhere else.