The Flame Diner

I came here two nights (or er early mornings) in a row with a group of friends after a night out. I got a ham omelet and buffalo wings. I don’t recommend the buffalo wings. They were more like fried chicken (and kind of dry). However, I enjoyed the ham omelet. Great place to sober up and get some food into the system.

I’ve been here before and they usually give you an amazing bagel lox and cream cheese. Here is what I got tonight which ruined my faith in them. And because the Unilocal app sucks so bad when trying to post a photo, I gave them one less star.

Perfect place for breakfast! Standard home cooked yummy diner breakfast is what I just want most of the time. Not that fancy overrated brunch places. Places like this is hard to come by in NYC

How lucky am I to have this classic, New York diner on my way back home! Great selection, value, service and hours (24). I am equally a fan of their 44^th Street location but the prices here seem a tad milder. The best diner fries, ever.

This isn’t a review of their food but of their delivery guy and their customer service. I was walking across the street with my dog. Yes, I had the right of way. I could see this bike in the corner of my eye and he wasn’t slowing down. I wanted to make sure he saw me crossing and he had to stop so I said, «Slow down. Hello? Hello? Woah!» I had to stop short and pull my dog back. He was inches away from running into my dog. I saw him stopped at the light ahead so when I caught up to him, I asked where he worked and he said, «The Flame.» When I got home, I called them up and the guy on the phone… his response, «You should slap him next time.» So basically, it’s my job to assault their delivery guy if I happen to run into him instead of them giving consequences? He proceeded to tell me he’s not responsible for their delivery guys!!! So who is? He passed me to someone else who asked me what they should do? I said it’s not up to me to decide but you need to know that you’re delivery guys are careless.
Worst case of management.

Nice place. The service was very good and the portions were generous. And this place doesn’t gouge you… good value.

MATZO BALL SOUP IS INSANE!!! ITS SO DELICIOUS!!! The matzo ball is HUGE as a softball. I really love this place. It’s the best matzo ball soup I’ve had in years. I’ve eaten here everyday since I’ve been back in NYC. The staff when you can’t and order is friendly too!

I see why its called the Flame diner because the food here is on fire!!!
Me and my buddy stumbled into this place around 2am after having quite a few drinks most of the night I was skeptical and he was optimistic about coming in. I believe his comment was «why be in New York if you cant go into a 24 hour diner while drunk and get some food!»
He was right as I ordered the patty melt which came with a nice sized order of fries. Was one of the best patty melts I have ever consumed and the fries were right on point. I wanted to order another patty melt, but it probably would not have been in my best interests lol!
It was very late so the place didn’t have many patrons. People that work here were very nice to us and made two drunk asses feel right @ home

The food is pretty decent, but you’re better off ordering on
or seamless, because when you call up and order it they add money on the price. Its a lil shady.

One of the few diners still standing in the hood. 24 – 7 service. Good for breakfast fare. Sandwiches. I love their carrot cake. Service is great. Food is good-​reliable. Good Nyc people watching at its best. Their cooks have a tendency to refry their sausages, pork, roast chicken which I avoid. It’s becomes jerky.

Though a little cramped, the veggie burger was to die for, and my group shared some delicious pecan pie to go.

Please do not eat here!!!
Just ordered 3 meals off of Seamless: a Lumberjack and two omelettes. Our food came very quickly, but one of the omelettes was the wrong order, and the other 2 had hair in them (pics included).
We called the restaurant back and told the manager the situation. He had a hard time believing as he had «packed them himself.» He asked what we would like instead, but we asked for a refund as we no longer wanted to eat anything from this restaurant. He proceeded to ask for our address so he could pick up the food and we could «talk.» At that point, he told us that he never been talked to this way and hung up.
This place has horrible food and customer service. Will never order from here again.

I feel like diners are better in of one of two places: Jersey or the 80’s. I remember them being good growing up, I swear.
So the two stars is sort of scaled to take into account years of lowered expectations. I ordered the appetizer combo with chicken tenders, fried zucchini, mozzarella sticks, and «wing dings» (chicken wings), as well as a side of onion rings. I had been drinking, I needed fried food.
Surprisingly he mozzarella sticks were the best thing on the plate, crisp on the outside, didn’t taste frozen. The wings were juicy on the inside but very, very bland for something fried. The zucchini sticks were OK, the chicken tenders were bone dry. Onion rings were thin and bland, likely frozen. The marinara sauce that came with everything was watery and lacked flavor.
I nibbled on some of my friends dishes. The fries weren’t anything special, but the pancakes were solid and the bacon was cooked nicely.
We had a large party on New Years day morning, so it was hard to seat us. They had to split us up between three tables, but two of the tables didn’t get their food until after the main table did. Even if there are different servers at each table a little more coordination would have been nice.
I got a kick out of them carrying Sanka and had the Family Guy song about it stuck in my head for awhile.

Okay, let’s begin.
This diner is our spot to go every time we have class. We’ve been coming here for the last couple of months. Usually it’s a decent dinner, well priced for Manhattan and a lot of food. Today the service here was horrible! The server was never around, our food came out quick (which usually would be good) but it wasn’t hot, the server kept us waiting for 15 minutes for water, and as we finished out food he, with an attitude, told us «that’s it?»…we told him no and ordered desert… it was really uncomfortable and unpleasant. That is such a shame!

Great NYC diner experience — open 24/​7, very quick service, and huge menu. I walk by this place a lot and they always seem crowded, so they are doing something right! There is always a manager there keeping things running smoothly and staff is very friendly. Definitely a great neighborhood breakfast choice!

Typical american breakfast diner. Waffles, Pancakes, Bacon and egg and again «make some coffee»
Klassisches Diner mit Waffeln, Pancakes, Bacon und Ei und immer wieder Kaffee

In the middle of the hustle and bustle of midtown is The Flame a restaurant with a diner-​like menu, a hard working staff and top notch food.
Although we arrived at 11am on a Saturday, my party of 4 was quickly seated and water served as we perused the diner size menu. All around us patrons were eating a variety of brunch or lunch dishes many of whom appeared to not be first timers.
As I had a marathon the next morning I kept it simple — Egg white omelette with grilled vegetables, mixed greens and dry multi grain toast rounded out with a fruit bowl. Service was prompt and in no time our meals were brought out. Not greasy or oily., my omelette was chock full of vegetables and my two pieces of toast helped fill in the remaining cracks. I even snuck a few of Mark C. ‘s sweet potato fries and they were crispy and decedent. Although the toast was served with grape jelly the waiter was happy to bring over marmalade when asked. Water glasses were constantly filled and our plates were quickly cleared by bus boys as soon as we were done.
The space is a bit cramped (there were a lot of diners in their small space) but waiters and waitresses deftly maneuvered among each other and the patrons. They have only one bathroom so be prepared to wait if you happen to drink to much water.
The staff turns over tables quickly but I never felt rushed to leave and lingered over that last glass of water.
I longingly looked at the desert case on the way out and might have to pop in after the race for a slice of cake and some sweet potato fries.
Solid dining location.

Stopped by for a quick, late dinner on our way out of the city. Friendly proprietors and wait staff. Reminded me of the Greek diner in my hometown, G&Ds. «Welcome to G&Ds! Drink lots of beer!» they’d say with a smile as customers would arrive. The folks at Flame weren’t quite that friendly … maybe more «Midtown friendly».
I had a burger and my wife the gyro plater. While neither were spectacular [the meals. neither of the meals. my wife, is of course, spectacular], they were solid options.
Would we go back? Probably. We tend to be in this part of town somewhat often, and aren’t always looking to spend time on a leisurely dinner while visiting.

On the weekends, I usually get breakfast in the morning and any number of diners in the area. I have tried several and it was time to try the Flame. I was seated immediately and the waiter brought me coffee and took my order. I got typical breakfast food-​eggs, bacon, toast, juice and coffee. It was great-​the service was good, it is a nice sized space and service was prompt. it would recommmend and return.

Maybe it was an off night. But by looking at the other reviews, maybe not. We were wandering around looking for late night bites after my friend’s amazing dance performance at a theater nearby. Then came, the Flame Diner.
Inside was a bit packed, but we managed to snag ourselves two booths across from each other. After looking over the menu a bit, I ordered myself a Vanilla Egg Cream and my table ordered some Spinach and Artichoke Dip to share. I could tell, our waiter was a man of little words/​and kinda the grumpy type. It really came out when our order came.
Now when you order an appetizer, you’d think… hey there should be enough to share? Well not at the Flame Diner! The app consisted of a giant bowl of artichoke dip (fine) and maybe I KID YOU NOT 7 tortilla chips and what looked like the remains of the chip bag… you know the small tiny pieces you can’t do anything with. Really odd portion ratio. You can’t even eat all the dip then. So we politely brought it up to the waiter saying… there was so little chips, is this really an appetizer? «YES» And… is there anyway we can have more chips? «If you want more chips, extra charge.»
Well, alright then.

Stopped here for dinner with the nephew after a very long day.
We were seated promptly and expected the experience to be seamless. This couldn’t be farther from the truth!
We sat at our table with no greeting, water or menus for 6 minutes. We weren’t starving but were eager to get back to our hotel so were a bit annoyed. They weren’t busy, so that wasn’t the problem. They were actually so slow that the table behind us was being chatted up by a waiter for 4 of those 6 minutes. When he finished his convo, he walked off…
I finally flagged the busboy down. Actually got up and flagged him. He brought us water, menus and got the waiter. I asked what kind of cold cereals they had. He looked baffled. Said I don’t know and went off to find out. He came back and asked us to get up and check their offerings. So we walked to the counter and made a section. We then asked for our cereal and the bison burger combo.
The food came quickly. It wasn’t impressive. I love a good bison burger BUT was never asked how I wanted it to be cooked and didn’t like my finish. We ate, rather slowly as we were playing a game of «what rhymes with…» a few minutes passed after we finished our last bite and no one came by. We noticed other people were given bills, which they payed at the register. So we waited, and eventually gave up. We slowly put our coats on, accessories, and walked to the register. There we had to wait for our waiter to draft up the check.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this place unless you are exhausted and staying within a block with a child that is ready to crash. Or hungover. Those feel the same anyway…