McDonnell’s Restaurant

I have been a frequenter of McDonnell’s ever since my father moved to the area. It is a true neighborhood gem complete with taxidermy animals mounted throughout the front dining space. The old world feel combined with the warm smiles of the servers and the good home-​cooked food make this place worth stopping by.
Most recently, I was here for a meal over the recent July 4^th weekend. With few restaurants actually open on the holiday, I was surprised that such a family-​style establishment was indeed open for business. My dining partner and I were both ravenous so we ended up ordering meals — his the chicken parmesan, mine the ham steak. We «upgraded» our meal to include a salad (or a soup if you prefer) and dessert for a mere $ 4. To say that you are served a side salad is an understatement. The salad is huge, and though its base is iceberg lettuce, they include cucumbers, onion, tomatoes, croutons and cheese. The salad alone should be over $ 4. My meal came and the ham had beautiful grill marks on it, and it was also gigantic (that isn’t to say I didn’t polish it off… but perhaps I shouldn’t have in one sitting). Lightly glazed and served with a grilled slice of pineapple it was also accompanied by my choice of potato (mashed with gravy) and a side (Italian green beans). To top everything off, we also had our choice of homemade desserts. We opted to take ours to go since we were stuffed and I chose the blueberry pie while my friend had the lemon meringue.
For a total of $ 16.95 I received ALL of that food. Personally I am not sure how they can charge such reasonable prices and still stay in business, but as long as they do, I will be a steady presence when I am in town visiting my family.

I can’t remember when I have paid for a worse breakfast! Eggs over cooked and tepid home fries. Ordered my potatoes crispy, got mushy instead. Dry toast no butter on it or offered for it. Coffee only warm and got cooler while we waited for the waitress to bring cream for it. Not that I plan to be in the area again any time soon but won’t be eating here again.

Our dinner was a decent value. The food was simple and a little plain but nicely presented. The house salad was as large as the waitress promised which was a great deal at $ 3.75. The fried zucchini was a good appetizer. The smoked ham was fine and the grilled cheese and french fries were good. The mashed potatoes were not good.
The waitress was courteous and the owner stopped by a few times to say and a tell a joke. Nice guy.
The place is very wooden, trying to reference the old days. Wagon wheels used in the railings. We had to change booths since I am tall and the one we were seated was strangely narrow and my knees were hitting a cross board or something under the table.

Returned a year after my first visit and another great meal a block away from the Best Western. Great slice of life and a friendly time-​capsule of a restaurant. It’s our favorite meal in our recent stay in Carbondale, PA. I think I was a bit unfair with the food in my last review. It was really pretty good.

Nothing fancy here but good decent reliable food. I like their red cabbage side. Haven’t had a meal I didn’t like. Great for breakfast. The many animal heads mounted on the wall are a bit odd but whatever, good desserts, all homemade.

I think this place has been there since Carbondale was a Indian trail.
Ate there a few times and have no complaints.
There’s something to be said about longevity