Mike’s Restaurant

My daughter and I wanted breakfast before our train left from the Schenectady Amtrak station so we walked to Mike’s. The menu is posted on the wall and features standard grill items. We sat at the counter and the staff was friendly. I had eggs and bacon and crispy delicious home fries. My daughter had a steak sandwich that she enjoyed.

Been going to Mikes for Hotdogs, and Onion Rings for yrs. The staff always been polite sure occasionally there extremely busy so you wait a few minutes the dogs have always been great as the onion rings. It’s a great place to grab a quick bite to eat.

Best Coney dogs I’ve found. I live in Michigan now where Coney Island restaurants are as common as a Starbucks, yet none compare to Mikes.

Terrific hot dogs, with the most amazing sauce! People who don’t know, call it chili, but it is not chili. It contains no beans and has a flavor profile all its own. Place sex on top of a yummy tube steak cooked to perfection on their grill, YUM! Top it with cheese, and DOUBLE YUM!!!
Hot dogs not your thing? It sucks to be you… but if you not will make you tasty cheesesteak, burger, or even a gyro!
, First Prize Mike’s is a terrific breakfast spot summation mark making eggs, omelets, French toast, pancakes, and anything else you can think of that comes off a flat top.
Area as if this wasn’t enough it was, they have fries, onion rings, a bunch of other stuff you can throw in that oil to come out golden crispy and delicious… But the crowning achievement is there few but delectable dessert options. The rice pudding is very good, but the tapioca is AMAZING!
Damnmit!!! Now that I wrote this review, I’m starving…

When we get Mike’s we have to get the hot dogs with the works. The food comes fast and hot and is always tasty. This is the best solution downtown Schenectady has to the typical fast food places. The French fries and the onion rings are also delicious. I haven’t had anything else there, but I’m sure it’s all just as great.

A Classic and the perfect place to celebrate National Hot Dog Day! Onion rings are very, very good. Can not beat the ambience here, either — a perfect setting for a classic dog w everything, w a side of rings, washed down w an icy cola. Friendly and efficient staff (thanks Melissa and Chad). Feels like you are taking a ride in the Way Back machine. Plenty of parking. And you can walk across the parking lot to Stewart’s afterwards for an ice cream cone, the perfect dessert.

i stop in when i can, food is great, always looks and taste the same, very friendly staff good prices, wish they were in Amsterdam id eat lunch there every other day yummy

I have been going to Mike’s Hot Dogs for almost 3 decades now and the food is just as good as my first trip. But there are just a few things a perspective diner should know…
1. If you are looking for linen napkins and sorbet between courses (you are probably a pretentios jerk) keep driving.
2. The name is MIKE’S HOT DOGS so if eggplant parm is what you crave GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.
3. It’s obvious to a DUCK that this may not be the cleanest establishment and if thats something that will bother you GO ELSEWHERE.
4. One of the reviewers mentioned the phone booth… Really? Needed words THAT bad that you reviewed a restaurants PAY PHONE?
Having said that, if you are looking for decent hotdogs with above average service Mike’s is the place for you (unless pay phones really matter to you…)

Don’t care. Mikes is what mikes is. Try it here and shut up!
But don’t order Bacon on your sandwich. It’ll double the price.

This is a gem in Schenectady that serves the best hot dogs and burgers. Food is cooked right in front of you and the prices are cheap!

Heard that Mikes may be closing down so I decided to make a visit.
I can see why they are closing. Don’t believe the hype. This place isn’t that great.

Had a #6 breakfast: scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon and coffee for $ 6.99. Was perfect!!!

Simple place and an Erie Boulevard fixture. The menu is limited, hey, they sell hot dogs. Fries are fresh and awesome, chili digs with onion and mustard are as good as you’ll find outside of Plattsburgh (hot dogs everywhere up there).
Tempted to do breakfast, prices are reasonable, staff is friendly, courteous and consistent. Not alot of turn over here.
Service is quick. It may not be fancy, but that’s not why you go and it’s part of the charm.

Awesome chili dogs made the way we love them, meat sauce, onions and mustard! Sauce is spicy and perfect, dogs and skinny not big and fat, perfect .
Fries are also awesome, real fries, not frozen and recooked. Great service and atmosphere just like the good old days.

I’ve always found it rather interesting that I’ve gone to Mike’s (famous for their hot dogs) for nothing more than a steak sandwich. I don’t know what they do but it always melts in my mouth like butter. My only complaint is that for the price they charge, they could give a bigger sandwich. I’ve never tried anything else here, but the cheese steak is the best in the Capitol region. I just wish it were bigger (or cheaper).
I could do without their fries most of the time which the quality of them seems to vary from visit to visit, for some reason. I’m pretty scared of their one-​person bathroom which I always feel like I’m going to get trapped inside if I ever shut the door…
I also don’t like the fact that I never seem to get a refill on my soda here (out of at least 20 visits I’ve made to this place, I think I was given a refill only one time — perhaps it simply costs extra, as it does in some restaurants).

I stop here from time to time, it’s far from fancy, but it’s awesome if you want to grab something quick. Staff is always friendly and the food always good. I usually get clam strips or a cheese burger, or the gyro, and all of hem are delicious and who doesn’t like fresh cut fries?
The place is dated and in need of a touch up, but a great gem in Schenectady.

Stopped here while in the Schenectady area on business. Was here a couple years ago with a large group.

Got two hot dogs all the way with the handcut fries and a lemonade.
Did not disappoint and the lady running things was funny and perfect for this gem.
If your looking for a fancy lunch, go elsewhere.

My dad came here when he was a kid and he brought me here as a kid, and I will bring my kids here. I LOVE Mike’s hotdog’s, as soon as my husband and I get off our plane we always make this one of our first stops. I’ve only had the dogs and fries! Why mess which greatness?

So delicious and inexpensive. They only take cash but they do have an ATM inside the place and a Stewart’s next door. Great football food when you don’t want to cook!

For a highly-​regarded local institution, highly disappointing.
For a lunch counter /​hash house, I have pretty low standards. Good, fast, and cheap will get you three stars out of the box, and extras like ambiance and something nice like old fashioned «hiya hon» service or an ultra-​cool specialty will get you a couple more.
At Mike’s, on the requisite two visits, we got: fast, and none of the above.
I can’t call it cheap when my $ 1.79 three ounce cup of brown crayon water, excuse me, «coffee» isn’t refilled once and a hot dog right out of the Oscar Meyer pack with some sides runs the tab up over $ 10, not including tip (and while my rule is I NEVER stiff a server under any circumstances, because it’s a hard, crappy job and no matter how badly you do it you deserve to get your pay up to minimum wage at least, on at least one visit Mike’s sorely tempted me to break the rule. Which I did not.) We also tried the burger, which tasted like it was from an expired Costco bulk pack, and the steak, which made me think I need to reconsider Steak Ums as being perhaps higher quality. And the legendary meat sauce? Tastes like Ragu meatball that’s been left boiling in the bottom of the pan.
And I will say any place with a sign like Mike’s, and menacing statues of fries and a hot dog (about to eat themselves?!?) normally is My Kind of Place. But in ambiance I note incidents from separate visits. One was the pay phones (yes, they have working payphones, or at least one works, in phone booths) which would normally be kind of cool, except there was this guy TAKING phone calls at one of the booths and giving you the stink eye if you got too close while he was transacting his business. (And I thought that was just a made-​up thing for the Sopranos.) And today, in the middle of the day, I came out to my car after eating to find a guy peering in the windows, who took off running when he noticed me. That’s the kind of ambiance I can live without (literally, I hope).
I strongly suspect many positive reviews have been fueled by nostalgia as much as anything — I can see the hangout qualities even if I can’t feel the love, personally. But I can feel the heartburn. Gack.