Kirby & Holloway Family Restaurant

NEWSFLASH! BURNT TO THE GROUND this weekend (2÷1÷2014) A total loss (unless you’ve eaten there, in which case it may be viewed as a positive.) However, we will miss the retro, Mid-​Twentieth Century neon sign on Route 13.
No news if they will rebuild – but seeing as the Friendlys in Middletown, an equally awful place to eat rebuilt after a patron toasted the place with a cigarette tossed into the mulch outside, Kirby Holloway may return for a second helping because Lord knows we don’t have enough greasy spoons with mediocre food in Dover.

I’ve been to this restaurant many times but only for breakfast. I will not go for lunch and dinner. It is dirty and the servers are not great. But… I continue to go back because it is CHEAP! Breakfast is good for the money and worth it. But any other meal… It’s a NO!

I visit Dover occasionally on business, and what started randomly has become a custom. They feed me well and seem genuinely happy to do it. Go eat there.

I can’t speak for the dinner here, but breakfast was delicious and cheap. My omelet was stuffed with fillings and the blueberry waffle was perfect. Crispy, light, with juicy blueberries. Plus, it’s all SUPER cheap. This place is the perfect greasy spoon.
The bad: coffee is weak, hash browns are undercooked, and for fellow Jews, the potato pancakes are literally pancakes with potato pieces in them, not latkes.
Overall, highly recommend!

Friendly atmosphere. Great service. Food was very good. I will return when in Dover again

If I could give this place zero stars I would. We walked into this place and it smelled like dirty diapers. You think this would of been our first clue but we wanted to give it a shot. Our waitress was rude as hell and was rolling her eyes at other guests wen they paused to look at their menu when ordering. My wife ordered the chicken fried steak an I ordered the chicken cordon blue. The chicken fried steak tasted like fried clams and was tough. My chicken cordon blue tasted like they put it together, boiled it and then slapped a crappy piece of cheese on it. No taste what so ever! There were 5 other couples that had similar problems also. Do not I repeat do not go here. It is a waste of time, money, and taste buds.

Let’s be honest… this ain’t fine dining. First, I’ve only ever been here for breakfast, so I can’t speak to their other offerings, but the breakfast is good, and cheap.
The waitstaff has the appearance and demeanor of the small town career waitress — a little gruff but not mean, and I’ve often found that the kill ‘em with kindness approach works to get a smile out of even the most cantankerous server.
I typically always get the creamed chip beef and haven’t been disappointed.

I was in town and looking for some good diner food. This place is cute with their farm nick nacks. The waitress was friendly but no one else seemed to be. The bathrooms, while small, they were clean.
I ordered the breakfast #1 which had 3 pancakes, 2 egg (cooked to order) and either sausage, bacon or scrapple; I got the scrapple. The pancakes were good; almost pumpkinish. The eggs how ever, I don’t know, tasted oily. How can you mess up scrambled eggs? The scrapple was extremely hot inside (no steam) and I wasn’t prepared for it. Usually the waitress warns you if something is going to be hot.
This is a place for the locals; a bunch of people eating solo. I don’t know, I mean it wasn’t awful but if I’m in the area I might check out another diner. I hesitated to give it 2 stars but it really wasn’t friendly and food wasn’t that good.

This place is great! Great food! Their scrapple is supposed to be among the best! Delicious desserts and baked goods.

As soon as we walked in it felt nothing like a family restaurant. Instead of a good morning or welcome, it was a «sign-​in on the clip board.»
We waited about five minutes. The waitress tell the host that there is a booth open, he pointed to us and said you can have a seat over there –_​–
Our waitress came over and said what can I get you: still no greeting of any kind or name.
My wife wanted a grilled cheese, but they don’t serve lunch until 11:30, so she got a English muffin instead. I didn’t know that a grilled cheese was considered lunch. She doesn’t eat pork and there was no type of substitute for breakfast meats.
I had the blueberry pancakes with eggs and home-​fries. They food was less then mediocre as was the service.

The food here is cheap, and plentiful. Perfect for breakfast while on the road.
My husband’s family lives in Dover, so we end up spending a night or two in town each year. We tend to eat out, as my mother-​in-​law is a fantastic Southern cook. Her dinners are amazing, and they take all day to make, so we eat in one night and out the other. We have found ourselves eating at Kirby & Holloway a few times, and I think it will be the place I request from now on.
Dover is a strange place. It does have an actual downtown, but I’ve only been through it once in more than 20 years of visits. The majority of what is seen in Dover is one stretch of highway containing every chain restaurant in business today. They even still have a Boston Market!
Because of all of the chains, I’m happy to support a local, family owned business. The food is predictable, middle of the road, greasy spoon diner fare, but the portions are plentiful and the place is clean. Even better, the money spent stays in the community.
Nothing spectacular, but nice to have around.

For a quick fix, it’s a good place to go. If it’s crowded, then continue further and find another place. But it’s not a bad place to get breakfast. He funny thing I noticed is that they asked if I wanted separate checks for each person that was with me.

I drive by here everytime I see the fighting blue hens go to battle up in Newark. They always greet me with arms wide open. That scrapple really reminds me of home. Down home, no frills and fantastic.

Very cheap food that only attracts the 70+ crowd. It seriously looks like retirement home in this place. The food is inexpensive but also is of the greasy spoon diner variety so if you are 70+ and like a bottom of the barrel dining experience, go for it.

Went here for breakfast while on a road trip… I thought it was really good. Typical diner with good food and great service. Super busy but our waitress was very attentive. I ordered the apple pancakes at a fraction of the price I pay for them at IHOP. Really a solid diner.

First of all, Dover is the single most depressed place I’ve ever visited save Pittsburgh and Detroit. Those two will win every time, hands down, but Dover isn’t far behind. Unfortunately, the Eastern half of the United States is riddled with cities and towns that look like they personally were ground zero for the economic crash.
That being said, the one thing you can do there is eat, eat well, and eat for practically nothing. The following brief review can be applied to almost any restaurant in Dover.
I didn’t have much in the way of expectations for Kirby & Holloway because, coming from the DC area, my standards for diners have been busted ridiculously low. It looked like a popular place, so I decided to give it a try. It was clean, service was prompt, and everyone was relatively friendly. I think I spent about five dollars, and was handed food for a freaking village. This small mountain of food was also surprisingly good. For reasons unknown, I’m extremely picky about biscuits and gravy, so I order it everywhere I see it. The biscuits were fresh, the gravy was actually homemade, and the home fries were legitimate. Considering I spent roughly what I used to on my high school cafeteria lunch, I kind of felt like I was getting away with something.
Besides the races, there really is no point to being in Dover. With that caveat; if you MUST be there, I recommend Kirby & Holloway.

This place was barely so-​so. I come from the land of diners, Jersey, and was sorely disappointed with the fare, service, and atmosphere here.
The signing yourself in thing is just plaid odd and no one tells you that you must, thankfully I read prior reviews and was aware. Then, when you are called, it’s from some other place in the restaurant, there’s not even a hostess to escort you to your seat.
The table was dirty and ill stocked, most of the condiments were low or missing.
Old decaf was served and then took ten minutes to replace.
The patrons were… Interesting. Be prepared not to gawk.
The food was so-​so, nothing to rave over.
Anyone who gave this restaurant anything above 2 stars must have sub-​par standards for eateries. It’s so unspectacular that I’d rather eat at Waffle House.

For a city/​village as bereft as Dover, Kirby and Holloway’s is a 5 star establishment. It’s the bee’s knees (of Dover). You can get a full plate of decent food for fewer than 6 dollars.
Keep in mind, the line can be so long it’s not worth your time, in which case, head around the corner the Countrie Eatery, a fine competitor
I highly recommend this place to travelers, don’t miss out on the pie.

Um, 5 stars? No.
I tell people that Dover is where people go to die, so I guess that makes Kirby’s where people go to eat their last meal. I’m not so sure why people like this place. It’s your average run-​of-​the mill Perkins-​type place, but with worse service.
The BF and I went there on a Sunday around 1:00, realizing that we were probably hitting the church rush. The host had just left the desk before she had a chance to greet us, and we didn’t realize you had to sign yourself in to get seated until the couple who came in after us signed in. That was our fault, so we signed in and waited…
And waited… The host never returned so we waited, for about 5 more minutes with no one to give us a heads up on the wait time. There were number of servers at the front running credit cards, but not one of them looked up to see the hungry faces that wanted attention. At one time, there were even three servers waiting to use the one machine, but none of them thought to tend to us. Instead, the entire front of the restaurant was playing a waiting game — servers and patrons.
You can see either side of the restaurant from the front, so we could see that there were empty tables that could have been seated after a quick wipe-​down. Still, as we waited, another couple came in and signed in. About a minute after that, the lady of the couple who had just signed in asked one of the servers (waiting for the CC machine) if they could take an empty table they spotted in the left dining room. The server, obviously having no clue on the sign-​in hosting system, replied, «Sure…I don’t see why not». And gave that couple the go-​ahead to sit down.
I found that unfair, but being non-​confrontational I didn’t say anything, neither did the couple that signed in before us. Finally after a total of about 10 minutes of waiting, one of the servers passes by and says, «Has she not seated you yet?» I honestly looked down at my legs and said, «No, she hasn’t.» She gave us the go-​ahead on selecting our own table.
At this point, there were four empty tables and we let the couple who signed in before us get first pick of the tables and we sat ourselves at the next table.
Then we played more of the waiting game. That table before us was greeted about 3 minutes after we all sat down. We had the same server but instead of stopping by our table after she was done with the first table, she left to get their drinks, making us wait a few more minutes before she came back to our table.
We finally had the chance to order and the food was just average. Nothing I would go out of my way to eat here for. The BF had the Veal Parmesan — ok. I had French Toast, eggs, and bacon — ok, anything your average diner could do, but not as fast.
I understand how people can get nostalgic for places like these and I understand there’s not a lot to choose from in Dover, but I don’t think it would warrant a 5-​star review or my repeat business.

When in Dover, I always stop into Kirby’s for breakfast.
The food is delicious and it is definitely under priced which probably explains the crowd of people at breakfast time.
Where else can you get a home cooked meal for under $ 5. In New York I am used to spending $ 15 for the same meal.
Clean and homey atmosphere. Check it out next time in Delaware. Would eat here all the time if they opened one in New York.
Their sign is also awesome Reminiscent of Vegas circa Sinatra era.