Original Mel’s

To all the people dissecting this place — dude, it’s an American food diner, not Ruth’s Chris.
The food is yummy and the service is great. If you come in expecting classic diner food, that’s what you will get. It’s fast, it’s tasty, and it’s not too expensive for decent food.
Honestly, as far as diners go, this Mel’s is my favorite — if I order something from here, it’s not dripping with oil like some diners have everything.

Even though my visit was a bit longer than expected, Samantha totally assured that I enjoyed my visit. The food was brought out with a smile and we connected very well. I hope if you go you enjoy it as much as I did.

Was very disappointed. Ordered food to go took a couple of bites of my burger then had to turn on the light to make sure I saw what I was eating. My burger was raw barely even cooked. I had to spit my food out.

I have to laugh when I read some of the negative reviews on this establishment. After coming in here for over twenty years this place has been pretty consistant for great diner\ comfort food. The chiliburger is to die for, & the coffee is perfect when recently brewed which is 99.9% of the time. If people would just actually read the menu they would find out what comes with what they ordered. Yes this place is not Spago, but it’s not trying to be.

Mels has been in business a very long time, many, many years. So when I was there the other day I ordered a Sundae.
Wanting to find out what brand it was i asked my server. WAS NOT BREYERS. So that is also a very good sign.

Poor service I will never come back to this place! I’m in walnut creek a lot my aunt owns a store 5 doors down. There were two Caucasian waitress’s RUDE! Did not seem like they wanted to help! Nothing but attitude. There are two two Mexican cooks and a Mexican waiter. I was seated further by the cooks and heard the waitress being so mean to the COOKS YELLING AT THEM. And talking bad about them how they don’t understand? Then being mean to the Mexican waiter! I WILL NEVER COME BACK AFTER WITNESSING WHAT I SAW AND HOW POOR THE MEN WERE TREATED. I hope the owners hire new waitress that have a lot more respect and act like they want to work!

Close at 2:30? We walked in at 1:45 and the waitress said she couldn’t serve us because it was too late. Not sure what’s going on here but i smell false advertisement.

Currently suffering from the worst bout of food poisoning ever… Felt the diaherra start coming on about 25 minutes after I left this place. Wolf man jack killed my stomach will not be back ever again.

This place gave me diarrhea :(
The service was friendly and it’s not too expensive. They are also open late!

After years of coming I’m finally reviewing.
I love this place. It used to be for late night shakes and fries after going to the bars, now I go there in the morning for breakfast, and it’s always good. The staff is friendly and the service is fast, and they have great hours so you can go there almost anytime. I’ve been to a few other locations, and this one is the best.

Excellent service, good food, happy kids. love this place. Stop by for a quick dinner after a fun day at the city with the kids and it was AWESOME!!!

This was my first time here and I must say it was not what I expected. I’ve heard it was a good place for breakfast but the food was bland. I had the 3 cheese omelet and country patatoes and my boyfriend had the Tex mex omelet. The three cheese literally had only 3 cheese and egg no onions, bell peppers. The patatoes were burned. The waitress also made us feel uncomfortable and I caught her rolling her eyes while I was trying to order undecided at that second she asked me. Anyways I will not be coming back

Love this place. Fast friendly service. Huge portions sizes. I like that they also do take out orders so if you don’t feel like actually coming in you can grab your food and go.
They really do have the best pancakes around. I also enjoy their French toast. I always get one or the other. My boyfriend is more adventurous and had tried several things from the menu. He’s always satisfied. I love that they actually serve real bacon. Thick cut slices cooked to perfection. Just crispy enough but not over cooked. And the coffee is always promptly refilled. My cup never gets below half full.
We moved recently to concord and still drive back to get breakfast here. Can’t wait til they open their new location next to our new apartment and we’re walking distance again.

Super fast service, it took all under 10 minutes to order and get my food — granted I was dining alone. Great price for the food and an excellent location. The food was ok, better than a Dennys. Parking is metered after 10am on the street. Its not a very big place so it gets crowded quick at peak times. Service was decent.

Okay, so Mel’s isn’t a classy joint. It never has been and never will be. But the food is delicious, the staff is friendly, and it’s an easy place to go when you just want some breakfast.
They’re good at breakfast and lunch – things you don’t have to think about. Don’t get the meatloaf, don’t get anything called an entrée. Just get simple stuff and you’ll be really happy.

Cams for a late dinner a little past 10 because no where else was open (besides bars) and it was crazy packed with high school students. There is no private lot so you do have to pay for public parking which is pretty pricey in walnut creek.
Restaurant is pretty cramped and has that old school diner vibe. Service was pretty fast considering how many people were here.
I ordered a grilled cheese with curly fries. Great cheese to bread ratio and good diner portions. I love the bread they use here, I think it’s brioche ??? Curly fries are just the average, good seasoning. This dish is also served with a giant pickle on the side, not that into that. Overall I would probably come back if I was craving this grilled cheese.

I came here for lunch a few times, and it has the look of an old greasy spoon back east. The food isn’t terribly great, and it’s quite salty, but comparable to the prices that you get and the food, it isn’t terrible. It’s one of those things where if you can’t think of what you want, you go there and pick out something for lunch.
There is value here in that it isn’t too expensive, and the variety is decent. You can get dinner at lunch time and breakfast, like most diners, is served all day. Overall, I would come back here again for food.

Review #016 — 2016
We showed up around 11 PM on a Saturday night and I was super hungry because I’d been sleeping all day and this was my first meal…
The place is really small compared to the other location in Pinole so there weren’t any seats available when we showed up. Our waitress, Samantha, greeted us and said it would be about a 15 minutes wait so we said that would be fine.
We were seated pretty quickly and she came to take our orders right away. Our drinks showed up within a few minutes. I ordered a vanilla shake and Joshua ordered a chocolate shake. The shakes were kind of runny, but we drank it any way…
Our food probably showed up 10 – 15 minutes after we placed our order and I was very grateful it arrived so quickly since I was starving.
I ordered the California Benedict and it was pretty darn good. They just forgot to substitute my potatoes, but I was too hungry to wait for them to replace it.
Joshua had the chili cheese dog and he attacked it before I could get a photo, but he said it was pretty good.
Owen had the bacon cheeseburger (cooked medium), but it came out more closely to being well done. He ate it any way because he didn’t want to wait for them to remake his order either.
Overall, our meal wasn’t spectacular, but it is nice to have a place that serves decent food late at night when you have so little choices to begin with.

This is the first time I’ve ever been to an original Mel’s. This isn’t to be confused with Mel’s drive in. This is an American diner which lots of American graffiti memorabilia. They have a jukebox as well as a few Booths.
I came in here alone today for lunch and was served by a very sweet woman who was very attentive and kind. I’m actually writing this while still being here.
I sat off secluded because I knew I’d be here awhile as I’m waiting for a friend to finish errands. I ordered the French dip philly style with extra meat and fries.
The fries were kind of soft and didn’t have any type of crisp which was kind of disappointing.
The French dip was alright and had some grilled peppers and onion. The flavors are delicious I just wish the bread wasn’t as wide so it would fit into the small bowl they give you for dipping.
My review would be higher if the fries weren’t soggy. It’s kind of a staple in American diner food that you shouldn’t mess up on. I’m not sending it back, that’s for douches.
The facility itself is really clean. The floors aren’t sticky and the tables are small but they have leafs to expand for larger groups. This is definitely very cute and a nice place for a date or to even bring your kids because of its theme.
While I may not eat here again because the flavors didn’t stand out enough to seek this out a second time, the service was great and it is conveniently located. I could have just had a weird batch of fries.

This is the only Original Mel’s I’ve ever been to. I like the atmosphere as soon as you enter the diner. It gives a very classic diner feel to it. They have a jukebox, posters of American Graffiti all over, neon lights, etc. Even the menu items are what you normally see in movie diners.
My favorite item to order here are the Original Mel fries (then again I can die eating fries). It is fries topped with bacon, sour cream, and chives. The fries usually pretty good, but the last time I visited, the batch of fries was too salty. The bacon pieces are usually about 0.5“x 0.5″ squares. The sour cream mellows out the fries and the bacon’s saltiness and the chives add an extra kick to it. Lastly, the platter of fries is huge. It could be a meal on its own.