Uncle John Diner

Without a doubt, the best bacon you can possibly get in the capital district. Jackie and Cis are very warm, friendly, and gregarious. You will NOT regret starting your day here.

This is the hidden diamond in the Capital District. The best breakfast I ever had. Awesome atmosphere, great food and the way all dinner should look like. I moved to VA few years ago and I ALWAYS stop by this place before I leave. You will not regret it.

I’m really happy I found this place. Haven’t tried the lunch menu but the breakfast is incredible. Small place, which is a plus in my eyes. Only one person will cook your food, and it’s right in front of you. No worries about an unhappy cook having a bad day and screwing up your meal. It’s the definition of a homely diner. The ladies know their customers, know what they want and deliver it well. Cash only so be prepared. Without a doubt a hidden gem.

Nice people and a quick but very tasty breakfast of eggs over and home fries. Looks like it has been doing business for 100 years, that is both good and bad.

Uncle John Diner is a positive force in the universe.
A perfect example of how to run a local restaurant.
Genuinely friendly staff makes you feel at ease. Great food.
Clean. Affordable. Fast service.
(Breakfast & lunch only)

The best in terms of diners. This is a small place in Cohoes. Seats 20 max.
Luckily its a local «secret» and tables are usually available immediately.
Jackie is great and handles customers with a unique sincerity. Food is made prompt and in front of your very eyes (which is nice… I do like to see whats going on…) I had another favorite in Waterford (next town over…) But I don’t go there any more. Just Uncle Johns.
I DO think the prices are too low. The food is GOOD quality. (Maybe the majority of Cohoes thinks its a fair price. I do not.) Also. Can we do eggs Benedict once a week? I would love it very much.
5 Stars even without Eggs benedict, for goof service food and low prices. Eat here.

The best diner I’ve been too. I was able to stop in while I waited to get my bike fixed, I’m so very glad I did. The people were friendly and the food and coffee hit the spot. I’ll be coming back!

Quaint old town diner… basic diner fair done well. Small cozy old place from yesteryear. ;) Everything cooked to order and came out exactly… Two eggs over, hash brown potatoes and thin sliced grilled ham was good as was western with cheese. A good local place to stop on your way through.

Great place to grab a quick breakfast! Extremely well priced and the food is good.
Staff is super friendly!

This is homemade food, tasty, large portion, fast with reasonable price. Coffee is great too. Cash only, and there’s a convenience store with ATM next door, you can take out cash there.

I just moved to Cohoes so I wanted to find a good place for b-​fast. the food at uncle john’s was very good fast easy and a good value but it is not a place to kick back and read the paper seating is limited and they move you along. Friendly fast good food but not a place to hang out.

Great little mom and pop diner! Got my food quick nice people good food

Great hole in the wall diner. Very homey atmosphere.

Went in for lunch — had a great cheesesteak. Came on a tasty soft roll, American cheese, and I added peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Breakfast is served all day, and the people in my party who ordered this had good looking plates. Make sure you can dedicate your whole lunch hour, as service wasn’t the fastest. But the cook and server /​cook were both very friendly. A few small tables and seating at the counter, with the grill right in the open on the other side.

Not sure why all the 5 star reviews. I’m not trying to be mean, just realistic. Its a small homey place that hasn’t been updated in quite some time. The owners are nice and service is super quick but its nothing you couldn’t make at home. They have a small menu that is posted on the wall. The prices are very cheap.

Unilocal brought us here and we weren’t sorry. It’s a real grill with good food well prepared. There is table seating for ten plus eight stools at the counter.
Be sure to try the sausage links.

This place is a gem. The food is simple, big, and tasty. The prices are very reasonable, although it’s cash only. The restroom is not for customers, but if you ask nicely, it should be ok.
I had the western omelet, corned beef hash and home fries. With coffee, it was under $ 10.
The food was great. It was so nice friendly place to have a big breakfast.

This is the kind of place where I think Unilocal is particularly helpful — sharing hidden gems to people seeking local favorites. If you want to fall in love eating somewhere, I’ve definitely found mine.
Useful info:
The food here is simple yet elegant. I ordered the western omelet (comes with home fries and toast, with an option to add any meats so of course, I added bacon. You could add bacon to ice cream and make it taste better) and it’s about $ 6 and a change. I wouldn’t necessary say the taste is anything incredibly special, but it just has that homey feeling of grandma’s cooking, and you really can’t put a price on that.
This place is open 7am to 12pm (we accidentally stayed till close to 1pm) on weekends and 7am to 1:30pm on weekdays, but closed on Tuesdays. The square footage of this place is 24 by 25 so it’s REALLY small. There’s about 3 small tables that seats around 2, and one for 4, and 8 or so seats on a counter right behind the chef, Uncle John. So a nice laid back breakfast for 2 is perfect, but you’d be pushing your luck for getting a party of four. But small isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you want a very personal experience.
Also, the bathrooms aren’t open to the public so make sure to take care of certain bodily related activities at home.
Unnecessary info:
You can stop reading now because I gave you all the useful stuff above, but I’m gonna continue to ramble because when you love something, you just gotta keep talking about it.
This is the kind of place I’ve been looking for: a really quaint, welcoming, friendly, cheap breakfast diner. I’ve been to 76, Dewey, and one other diner that was recently renovated (I’ll update this when I remember what it’s called). Those places haven’t been worth reviewing (I’ll probably get to it, but they’re mediocre at best). I visited this place once and I already feel like I’m part of a regular, thanks to Uncle John and Jackie.
Uncle John is the guy who owns the place and Jackie, I’m thinking is his wife. Those two are genuinely one of the best food service people I’ve met. I’m not from the US so when I watched movies and imagined what America would be like, these two people are the epitome of what I imagined servers would be like.
Uncle John was a former electrician who opened this place up I think 16 years as a hobby. He loved doing this so much that he decided to quit his other job. He said he loved being able to talk to people coming in and meeting new people and sharing stories, that wouldn’t otherwise happen at other bigger diner joints.
This place used to be open from midnight till next morning, but business went down, so he shortened the hours. I’m hoping things will pick up again so he can extend the hours again. You should definitely check this place out if you don’t want to miss out on the best that Cohoes has to offer!

I had the pleasure of stumbling upon Uncle John’s today, and it was one of the best experiences since moving to the capital region. It is a great old school diner that shows that it has been around since the mills in Cohoes were still operating. It was small, but the food was just right, the coffee was good and we got a great history lesson on the city of Cohoes. I defiantly hope to become a regular.
The menu was simple, standard breakfast stuff, they only take cash, and they are only open until 12:00 on weekends (better get there if you want to order food before 11:45) They are open later on the weekdays (1:30).

Uncle John’s Diner is a small classic greasy spoon located in Downtown Cohoes. The place has a hometown feel and is very cozy and has a lunch counter with 8 stools (grill & deep fryer behind the counter) and a few tables along the front windows. The place has a high turnover with plenty of regulars, some hang out at the tables reading the paper. The walls are decorated with lots of historic pictures of Cohoes and old Troy maps. There are no print menus here, just a blackboard with very basic menu offerings and breakfast specials written on sheets of paper above the grill.
This diner offers the usual breakfast items including eggs, omelettes, pancakes, French toast, meats, toast, muffins, and hot coffee (Coffee Pause), plus lunch (weekdays) including burgers, sandwiches, grilled cheese, tuna melts, and fries. The prices here are reasonable, most items $ 6 or less.
On my way out to shopping, I stopped at Uncle John’s Diner on a windy Saturday morning and the place was moderately busy. Jackie was running the show solo, cooking breakfast on the grill and serving customers. I was offered hot coffee ($ 1.20) after I sat down at the lunch counter. The grilled home fries on the grill looked pretty good, nice and browned, but I decided to get French Toast with Sausage. I watched my breakfast being made, 3 slices of bread dipped in an egg batter and 3 thick sausage link halves, grilled to order. The French toast (buttered) was very good and so were the sausages. I was offered another coffee refill when I was finished eating. The coffee was good. I was thanked and told to come again. Uncle John’s Diner is going near the top of my Diners list.
After having a good breakfast, I continued on my way up to the CP to do some more holiday (window) shopping.
CASH ONLY