America. The Diner

This review pertains to Ten Tables, the pop-​up concept that frequently uses this restaurant as the dinner location.
We were there for the Halloween concept menu, and had some really good food. It was a neat experience, but for the price, I’ve had better meals.

Louisville’s a tough market for restaurants. Let’s just say that up front. New kitchens open every week and they have to be on top of their game on every facet to make it.
I’m a big fan of the other spots in the Staggers arsenal, but America TD just didn’t hit for me.
The first issue was the lighting. It’s a harsh, bright blue light and casts the whole place in a pretty unattractive light. Even something as simple as lowering the lights a bit and going a little softer white on the bulbs would help a ton.
The food came out room temperature, but beyond that the cheese sauce was just plain not good. Service was sketchy. The servers were nice, just inattentive.
I’ll give it another shot because Dustin’s other restaurants have me hooked, but just like the state of our national politics, America the Diner suffers from lack of direction.
(see what I did there?)

It pains me to write this review. I really wanted to like this place, but after having both Breakfast and Diner at America, The Diner, I can’t recommend it.
The Breakfast was the better of the two meals. I ordered the All-​American Breakfast. Two scrambled Eggs, Hash Browns, Toast and Bacon. A little overpriced, but not half bad. My second visit came at Dinner time. I ordered the Country Fried Steak Special. It was really bland. There was no seasoning on anything.
I don’t want to totally trash the place and I’ll probably go there again due to the fact its so close to my house. Maybe with a little time, America. the Diner will improve. There are a ton of eating options in the Highlands and America, the Diner is really going to have to up their game if they hope to survive.

After reading all the reviews of course I expected to get what everyone was saying as well and unfortunately I was right. It all started because a friend of mine had said that her and her husband have always had great service and food when we met a Great Flood to discuss my boyfriend’s art being hung there this month.
We show up an hour before closing, which is generally when you get stellar service or terrible service. There was nothing stellar about this experience.
I ordered the hot brown with cheese curds and a side of coleslaw and Scott ordered a grilled cheese with corn beef on it with onion rings as a side. He also ordered a Manhattan as that is his favorite drink and I got a West Sixth Cocoa Porter. His drink comes out and it’s basically a shot of yellowish liquid that was $ 12. In my life I have never seen a yellow Manhattan as it should be brown with a red tint to it from the vermouth/​cherry. No such thing here. Luckily my beer was ice cold and delicious but that thing they call a cocktail really started the meal off low.
The food finally comes out and it looks delicious. The cheese curds were huge and the hot brown was messy and covered in gravy. Scott’s onion rings looked wonderful however the grilled cheese was less than desired. It looked like they had toasted two pieces of bread and melted the cheese in a microwave for 25 seconds. It was not gooey or grilled looking like a typical grilled cheese is and it’s pretty hard to mess up a grilled cheese considering that it was probably the third thing I learned how to cook for myself! His onion rings were actually decent — comparative to freezer burnt onion rings you bought months ago but still heat up because you’re too lazy to get something somewhere else and the struggle is too real to order delivery.
I dig into my hot brown and the first thing I notice is that it should have been called a cold brown. At the warmest parts it was lukewarm and the bacon was burnt. While playing with it I also noticed that a whole bay leaf had been left in the gravy and as someone who dropped out of culinary school one of the first things they tell you is to take out bay leaves because they are course and can do damage to the insides of someone if eaten whole due to the stem being as durable as it is. I tried the cheese curds and they were also lukewarm at best. While the menu said it was white cheddar (my favorite cheese) it actually tasted like some gritty, nasty, greasy mozzarella cheese. The coleslaw was the highlight of the night and that’s depressing because I’m sure this was a store bought container of just basic coleslaw, but it was the only thing that I could stomach to eat all the way, had I not already felt sick to my stomach from the other food.
The service was decent, nothing to rave about. It was a little annoying that the bartender that night was more interested in flirting with the guy at the counter and feeding him food while working (hopefully better than ours or I doubt there will be a second date) instead of fixing a proper drink for my boyfriend.
I will not be back. This is in a great location and unfortunately it just doesn’t work. If this is what America tastes like the get me the hell out!

I was excited to try this place, hoping it would really feel like a diner but have higher quality diner food. I was a little disappointed. It does not look like a diner inside… but nicer. I guess on one hand that is good but the diner look is fun and I was hoping for that. The food is a cross between a basic diner menu and a random-​we offer everything menu. I would say the food is ok. I ordered a quesadilla which was run of the mill and tasty. The fries are crinkle-​my favorite part of the meal. The beer list is ok, nothing too fancy but most of the regulars pop up on the list. I need to go back and try breakfast.
I wish they were open 24/7…that would add to the american diner feel!

I’ve been wanting to try this place for awhile, mostly just to see how it pulls off its name.
Let’s start positively with the only star of my breakfast: the pancake. I got a pancake for a side and it was such a great diner-​style hot cake. No frills, just light, flavorful, soft, and buttery. You could tell it was grilled on a skillet with butter bc the tops had that nice crisp to it. I wouldn’t mind grabbing a few of those after a night at the bars! Or really anytime.
Although I liked the way it looked inside, and the waitstaff was very friendly, I’m rating this a 2 because of the rest of the food. Ok really because of one food item that ruined the meal: queso. Queso? The delectable melted cheese that I generally could drink? Not this kind. Unfortunately it was more like nacho cheese at a baseball game than anything resembling the flavorful Mexican cheese. And it was on a ton of breakfast items along with a potent amount of green onion.
Now, if it wasn’t for the electric orange cheese, I think there could have been things that I liked on the menu. The lunch side looked good– some spins on normal diner food, and there were a few breakfast items that could also be successful. Unfortunately I just tried the eggs in a nest and the eggs Benedict. The roadside hash was a little odd too. I couldn’t tell what was mixed in it, but it was definitely green onions and on the wetter side for hash. When I scraped the cheese off, burst the egg, and mixed everything on my plate together it became fairly decent. Luckily the two dishes were only $ 7 and $ 8 respectively and had nice portions. We also got a side of link sausage that was very good.
All in all if someone wants to try it, I will definitely go back and give it another shot for the other food. I just don’t want to see that nacho cheese again.

The burger with the grilled cheese was good but the matzo ball soup was no good. Service was long but they were light staffed and the waiter was pretty cool

I really wanted to like this place– but, with a slew of amazing restaurants in the Highlands, it is necessary to be exceptional.
Pros: the hours of operation, large menu (which can also be a con)
Cons: The food is a-​okay. Nothing extraordinary, yet not horrible. The service is incredibly slow.

Pros: 1. open forever on the weekend, making it a very convenient local alternative to Waffle House. 2. Kitsch American décor is cute. 3. Menu is huge, there’s so much potential.
Cons: 1. I ordered coffee and got one mug of lukewarm swill with tons of grounds at the bottom. I had to chew my last gulp and it was emotionally traumatic. I received 0 refills. There was no creamer on my table.
2. The food was soul-​crushingly bad. I got eggs in a nest, which described as sunny side up eggs, sourdough toast, queso, and green onions. There was far too much bread, not enough egg, and it was drowning in queso which appeared to be just velveeta and pimento cheese. It made me gag. I am not a picky eater, so this is remarkable.
3. Despite the restaurant being mostly empty, we got pretty much no attention from out server. I hate it when servers are too involved in your life, but come on. Am I expected to bribe somebody for a refill? I left most of my food untouched and said no thanks to a to-​go box, but wasn’t asked if the food was okay.
I really want this place to survive and thrive because we don’t have any local breakfasty diners around here, but unfortunately it looks like if I’m craving greasy breakfast food, I’ll probably just make the journey out to the burbs for some IHOP or Waffle House. Even IHOP’s coffee is superior and I never thought I would ever say that in my life.

So delicious! Came in at 10am on Sunday and had brunch. LOVE. I had the Benedict, bf had the eggs in a nest. This was so delicious, but bf was too full to function after! We will be back!

I was really looking forward to America The Dinner. But just like American politics it was very disapointing. From the looks of the exterior and interior I found comfort in being in America. Once the food was served I was shocked and disgusted by the dog grade of food they served. The corn beef hash was nothing more than two over cooked eggs with tons of onions and thin pieces of burnt potatoes. It was also the first time I had seen someone use deli style corned beef in a hash.
Service was average. Love the décor. Food was cheap and still not worth paying for.
Hopefully the lunch or diner items are better.

THIS PLACE IS AWESOME! We have been to America. The Diner probably 6 or 7 times since it opened and absolutely love it! We were totally surprised to read some of the less-​than-​stellar reviews on here — very puzzling. The people and service are great, the menu is huge, and everything we have ever ordered has been super-​tasty! For someone looking for a «diner,» this is the real deal. If your definition of a «diner» is Steak and Shake or Denny’s and that’s what you’re jonesing for, you will be disappointed — they cook and serve real food at America. The Diner. Also, the place is VERY inexpensive. We aren’t sure how others could honestly say it’s expensive. For example, an egg is $ 1! A HUGE pancake is $ 2! You couldn’t get that much at McDonald’s for the same price.
May we suggest …
Bialy with lox and cream cheese (all authentic)
Hot dog with cole slaw on the side
Pancake with blueberries
Waffle with blueberries
Scrambled eggs
Coffee (it’s particularly good)

In a city like Louisville where there are so many great places to go to, this place was a solid «meh.»
Décor — 5 stars. I love America. Enough said.
Music — 1 star. Horrible country music. Granted, I’m not a country music fan, but this music was especially horrible, even for country music.
Food — 3 stars. I had the dirty south burger. The macaroni was ok. The meat was ok. The bun was really good and buttery. Just an ok burger overall. The tater tots were really good though, crispy and delicious.
Price — 1 star. With the quality of steak and shake, I’d hope for the price of steak and shake. For $ 15+, I’d rather get a truly amazing meal at Hammerheads or Mussel & Burger Bar.

I really wanted to like this place, as it has great people involved with an expansive and appealing menu. But, it’s obvious they’re still working out the kinks. Service was okay, nothing special. Our food actually came out before our drinks (and just soft drinks, nothing special). Food also was okay – the ham was overly salty but the tots were nice and crispy. I will probably give it at least one more try, especially with lunch or dinner to see how that fares.
So while they still have some service and quality kinks to work out, it definitely deserves to be a solid staple in the Louisville food scene.

When your toddler Wales up at 5:30 am on a Saturday, there aren’t a whole bunch of breakfast options.
We tried America. The diner and loved it! All around we had pancakes, fresh fruit, bagel and whitefish salad and biscuits and gravy. Everything was fabulous!
We also decided to order the Nutella monkey bread. Hey, it’s the weekend. Wonderful! A little bowl of goodness. Despite its smaller size I would recommend sharing. It’s very rich!
The waitstaff is amazing. Please remember, we brought our wild two year old in there at 6 am. Our waiter talked to him, let him jabber and let him put his sippy cup in the diner cup. Very attentive and so kind.

The menu needs to be condensed. Standing water by the back entrance, major fall hazard, employees smoking by the back entrance and a lot of clutter as you walk in the back entrance. Now for the food I ordered a fried bologna sandwich, which looked good but I have never had shaved Bologna and needless to say I will not eat it again. It was not good and yes I know it is Bologna but I love Bologna. The tater tots were really good. My husband ordered the signature burger and he said it was pretty good but the burger needed seasoning and the onion rings were good. A little overpriced for what you get kind of a greasy spoon.

Much like America. The Nation., America period The Diner period is big on hype but comes up short on delivery. A good late night greasy spoon diner with simple, hearty breakfast and traditional sandwiches would be easy to execute and do so well in this neighborhood. This food is hard to screw up — a testament to its popularity.
When we visited, my friend ordered Grilled Cheese. The Sandwich. with onion rings. He received a cheese sandwich and straight up Ore Ida frozen fries. I ordered a milkshake and received a $ 6 glass of milk with whipped cream on top. Our server was friendly, but man, the fare sucked.
Maybe, like Rumplings, this is just another experiment.

I had high hopes for this place. I loved the pics I saw and the idea of having a New Yorkish diner here in the Ville made me happy. But man, they need some time to figure things out.
The food was okay. Mine was decent, my friend didn’t love hers. It was also cold. Which isn’t on the chef.
The service was some of the worst I’ve ever had. At first, my friend and I said to each other «Oh, it’s busy. They weren’t expecting this kind of a crowd since they are new.» Then it became «let’s grab some menus so they can see that we are new customers» into «she never did bring me a cup of coffee» then «do you think she ever put our order in?» And finally «I have cash, let’s just guess how much we owe.» It was the same throughout the entire place. You could feel it… no one was talking to each other at their tables. We were all trying to see if the other tables were having the same experience. One poor couple was finishing up their meal when we arrived and were STILL THERE when we left, sitting in silence waiting for someone to take their money.
I’d be willing to try America again, bad service won’t keep me away from a new business. I realize there is a learning curve, but this visit was a swing and a miss.

Overall not bad, I enjoyed the food, the service was very nice, and the atmosphere was cool.
I think they are still working out some kinks with being so new, but I enjoyed everything all the same– curious to come back a little later to see them in action once they settle into their groove.
Small note– I wish they offered regular shakes

America was good. I had the eggs in a nest with roadside hash and my companion had the bagel with cream cheese and lox with cheese grits side.
The eggs were cooked well past the sunny side indicated on the menu but no big deal. The queso on top was flavorful but clearly made with velveeta and a little too thick just a little disappointing from the roux guys The roadside hash looked good but the potatoes were underdone and crunchy. The grits were really good cheesy light and fluffy well executed. Overall very good and I am sure once they have their feet firmly on the ground they will pick it up.
Service was really attentive even if a little understaffed. Tipped 25%
Value was there for money spent.