Squeaky Rail Diner

Terrible Steaks. Decent service.
I’ve gone here several times, when it was both Summerdale Diner, and now the new «Squeaky Rail». And guess what? When you don’t change chefs, you end up with the same food. Multiple times, I’ve ordered steaks at this place, and while the cut of ribeye seems to have gotten a smidge better, the overall taste of the steak is unchanged. First of all, I always order medium rare: which, if the chef at Squeaky Rail is reading this, means «Warm, Red Center», not «Dry, Grey, charcoal.». Never once have they gotten this right.
Secondly, a steak is supposed to be seasoned. With something at least. The standard is usually salt, pepper, garlic, and onion. All conspicuously missing from the Squeaky Steak. So, for $ 18 at Squeaky Rail, you get a bland, overcooked, chunk of cow, and sides straight out of the can they came from. For a decent Ribeye, drive 2 miles north on 15 to Marysville Diner. Their au jous is amazing.
I will say, though, that the Squeaky Rail Feast for breakfast is decent, but only at 4 in the morning before everything has been sitting in steam trays for hours, and you can get it cooked to order. Avoid the sausage patty, though. Tastes vaguely of dog food. Just as bland and tasteless as the steak.

Sweet Tea and breakfast served all day! Meatloaf was mediocre but the Reuben sandwich and onion rings are great. Very clean and the service was fast and friendly at lunchtime on a Saturday. We recommend!

Yuck! and Rude! I begged not to go here. It was not crowded of course. First, Thanksgiving had a limited menu, each item was $ 19.95 w/​salad or soup, beverage, pie. A local good buffet is not much more. At 2pm they were out of all dark meat? The soups were cream of turkey and split pea, 2 big sellers when people are mostly eating turkey. The salad and the turkey itself was the only edible thing served, even my soda was pure carbonated brown water. The mashed were warm powdered and were extremely dry and gross, the gravy was sysco fluorescent yellow salty, chemical stuff for chicken! The stuffing smelled like playdough and had an odd taste.
The menu listed several pies and after ordering, we were told that we couldn’t have cream pies because it should not have been on the menu. It was a mistake that the owner knew about & told her servers to tell customers they would have to pay for it? Really? Although, there were at least 3 cherry pies in the case, we told that they were out of cherry? We saw them on the way out.
I asked the waitress to tell the owner that I was not happy, but she didn’t have the courtesy to come over to correct anything. Just at the register took 10% off, big deal, too late. I wouldn’t even bother ever going back and I will encourage others to beware.
I felt like we had entered the twilight zone. It is quite obvious that they don’t care about their customers, quality of food, and are too stingy/​greedy/​snobby to give someone a different slice of pie that was on the menu even on a holiday.
I am nearly 50, and it was one top 5 bad experiences at a restaurant. If they had any class, they would have apologized for the menu mistake and tried to accommodate us before we paid! The 4 of us agreed, it was bad food and bad service!

This is the diner formerly known as The Summerdale Diner. After a lifetime baptized as The Summerdale Diner, the new owner renovated and christened the building as The Squeaky Rail paying homage to the rail yard across the road. The renovation is nice and much needed. The bathrooms are nice and quaint and less torture room looking as they were under the old owner. Food is basically the same. Menu layout is nice again paying homage to the train yard. There are some small tweaks to the menu including individual small bags of chips which some love and some hate. I am undecided as I don’t eat chips. The staff are young and energetic. All in all, I would eat there again (in fact, I am planning on it) and I would definitely recommend to friends and family.

We were on our way back home and my husband wanted some lunch. He didn’t see any place he wanted to try as we headed south on I-​81. So, we agreed that once we got on Route 15, we would try someplace in Enola.
When we saw the Squeaky Rail, I suggested stopping in. I told my husband that if the place didn’t look clean, we wouldn’t eat there. Upon entering, it indeed looked clean. We were greeted and seated immediately. We were here around 2:30 p.m. on a Thursday and the place wasn’t very busy.
We were looking for a not too filling meal so we zeroed in on the sandwiches. I saw that they had a grilled cheese sandwich and for a little extra money, you could add bacon or ham. Our waiter showed up to take our drink orders. The drinks aren’t listed on the menu so I asked him what they had. He said, soda, iced tea and juice. So I asked if they had ginger ale. He said «nope». Well, what did they have? Pepsi products, it appears so we both ordered a root beer.
I ended up ordering a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon. It comes with chips and a pickle. The server asked if I wanted fries — no, just the chips. My husband ordered a BLT which also came with chips and a pickle.
The grilled cheese sandwich, while edible, was the worst grilled cheese sandwich I ever had. It didn’t even hold together as it was easy to separate the bread from the filling. So, I looked closely and noticed how incredibly stingy they were with the cheese, with 2 very thin slices that didn’t even cover the bread. The bacon portion was generous enough but the cheese barely registered. I know that the grill needs to be greased to cook a grilled cheese sandwich but my sandwich was super greasy. The chips came in a bag and were a local brand that is made in York, PA (I forget the name), they were okay.
My husband found his BLT to be decent enough which had me wishing that I, too, had ordered one. He said he would eat it again.
While our server was attentive, he wasn’t the friendliest — not rude or nasty just on the abrupt side — I guess that’s the best way to put it.
Before the tip, lunch cost $ 14 + change, so no complaints about the price. Like many diners, you pay at the register. We don’t know if we’ll stop in again next time we’re driving through. My husband says he would go again. I say, that if we do go, I definitely will order something else.

Third follow-​up review.
Stopped in for a late breakfast on my way back to Virginia.
The place was hopping, as it was 11:30 on a Sunday, but I was seated almost immediately, and had my order placed in no more than 5 minutes.
I ordered the American cheese omelet, hash browns, and wheat toast. It was out in probably no more than 5 to 7 minutes.
The omelet was absolutely perfectly cooked. Far too often you get an omelet when a restaurant is busy, and it’s been overcooked and is rubbery. Not this time.
The cheese had a very nice flavor, subtle and creamy.
Again, the hash browns were the absolute star. Beautiful crust, not even a remote hint of being burned, and wonderful texture.
I love this place!

We had breakfast there not impressed. The sausage patty was terrible. You did get nice size portions. The waitress was ok but too busy, had to wait for her to come back.

This diner was very disappointing. Today was my first visit and I was served a sandwich that was actually greasy and slimy. I couldn’t eat it. It was even disgusting to look at. I will never attempt to eat there again.

NEVER EATING HERE AGAIN!
Let me start by saying the service was fine. The food however in both price and quality was absolutely horrible. I had a waffle with chopped beef and gravy, corned beef hash, bacon, and orange juice. The gravy was the most bland gravy I’ve ever tasted. It tasted like flour and water. There was next to no meat in the gravy. The corned beef hash was over cooked, salty and you don’t get much for $ 3. Bacon was ok. BEWARE a cup of orange juice is $ 3 !!! It’s not even a big cup of orange juice. All in all it was $ 18 for the little bit I ordered. $ 18 for one person to eat a crappy breakfast is ridiculous. I would not recommend this place and I will not be returning.

not that great of food. The woman manager is very disrespectful to her fellow employees. I was in for dinner with my 2 children and my husband and we could hear the manager yelling at her workers it was very unprofessional. Will definitely not return.

Very friendly and attentive staff. Loved my meal. Grilled chicken for a chicken cordon bleu meal. Made fresh there.

This place is fantastic! I had a cheeseburger and it was really fresh and tasty, something that is getting harder and harder to find around our area; great service, family friendly and the owners are very friendly too. I will definitely be back and will be telling everyone I know about this place.

My family has been here 3 times since they opened. The Pittsburgh Steak Salad, Reuben sandwich (twice), The Squeaky Rail Feast, hot turkey sandwich and the Shrimp Basket. Every thing we have gotten has been very good and the portions are large. I was expecting either the small fried shrimp or at most 6 large ones. When they were delivered to our table it was a full dozen large shrimp.
We stopped going to the Summerdale diner years ago because the food was horrible. It is nice to have a good diner close by once again.
I also love the name, it is so appropriate!

Well i, ve been there to squeaky rail the salads we ordered was delicious good lookong the service was good and fast and my friend broiled seafood combo was the best its a nice place i recommend it

Tried the remodeled Summerdale Diner for dinner. For those of us in Central PA waiting for a quality 24 hour diner, modeled after those found in Philly, NJ, Baltimore or even York and Lancaster, that breaks the mediocre — poor quality of all other Harrisburg area diners… the wait continues. Standard bag salad, burnt crab cakes with clumps of soggy bread filler, typical canned vegetables. Prices are reasonable bordering on cheap so at least we didn’t overpay.

I got to the Squaky Rail Diner during a slow time, so I was sat down immediately. The waitress was very nice the entire time and when I ordered my food (the Mushroom Swiss Burger with a side of French Fries), it got to me fairly quick (approx. 10 minutes maybe). The food was cooked to perfection, however I wish they didn’t put so many onions on it.
My roommate, who was also with me, ordered three slices of French toast. They were cooked well, however it was the first time we have been to a diner where the syrup comes in little packets.
All in all, the service was good! I would definitely come here again and would recommend it to friends and family.