The Diner

I haven’t counted, but l believe this is the restaurant I’ve come to the most in my 8 months in Hong Kong.
If you come for breakfast, you’ll have a difficult choice between such classics as eggs Benedict, a huge stack of pancakes or a traditional English breakfast of Canadian bacon, eggs and beans.
The lunch/​dinner menu is fantastic. Mostly burgers, the Diner taps into some amazing U.S. regional burgers like the cheese-​filled Juicy Lucy and the insane Skirt Burger. The French Fries are perfect– skinny and crispy with a fluffy interior. They also have tempting appetizers like Nachos and Mac & Cheese balls.
The interior is pure Americana with comfortable booths, tile floors and stainless steel grill. If you are looking for a place that gives you fond memories of the USA, this is the place.

As usual, another excellent burger and milkshake! I had a The Dime Burger, and a Vanilla Milkshake. The burger was great, with fresh lettuce and tomatoes, the milkshake was thick and creamy! That’s what a shake is supposed to taste like! Friendly staff, and good service.

Five enthusiastic stars. I haven’t counted, but l believe this is the restaurant I’ve come to the most in my 8 months in Hong Kong.
If you come for breakfast, you’ll have a difficult choice between such classics as eggs Benedict, a huge stack of pancakes or a traditional English breakfast of Canadian bacon, eggs and beans.
The lunch/​dinner menu is fantastic. Mostly burgers, the Diner taps into some amazing U.S. regional burgers like the cheese-​filled Juicy Lucy and the insane Skirt Burger. The French Fries are perfect– skinny and crispy with a fluffy interior. They also have tempting appetizers like Nachos and Mac & Cheese balls.
The interior is pure Americana with comfortable booths, tile floors and stainless steel grill. If you are looking for a place that gives you fond memories of the USA, this is the place.

The Diner is indeed what you think of when you conjure up thoughts of an American Diner in your head. Booths, old metal cushioned chairs, milkshakes, cool music playing, counter service, burgers.
The Diner is an open restaurant and we liked how the entire wall was pulled back and it was open flow of air from the street to the dining room itself. The vibe is there and the décor is spot on with the theme, with some updated modern twists.
The food is burgers, apps and milkshakes for the most part. We opted for Buttermilk Fried Chicken (great presentation, juicy chicken, but very bland on coating flavor and had very little taste), the grilled cheese (its a grilled cheese alright, just a really greasy grilled cheese) and the rosemary salted fries (great shoe string type fri, but lacking in rosemary salt… they should sprinkle rosemary on top to envoke the feeling that these are more rosemary-​ish versus just calling them fries). My husband had a milkshake which he said was just OK and I had a beer.
This menu and this restaurant spot would be easy for families or burger eaters. It appears brunch has an extensive menu, but reviews on that meal seem so-​so.
We might eat there if we were in the area again, but there are too many options, so most likely not.

Came here with some friends for dinner and we shared several burgers and one or two apps, and finished the night with some of their creative shots. The burgers were above average and their shots were really delicious! The appetizers were quite average (we had the mac & cheese balls). I also really liked how their restaurant is decorated — I love the whole old-​school american diner feel they put!
I would come back for their burgers — maybe next time I’ll try the milkshakes!

Came here for dinner with my girlfriends and really liked the décor. The interior is decorated with details of a diner in mind. They also had relaxing music playing, making it nice to just sit and have a conversation. The menu is interesting and I like the variety of burgers offered. The skirt burger in particular looks interesting and I definitely going to the it next time. My friends burger came with a side of fries and beans. They also offer a variety of milkshakes and alcoholic milkshakes. I went for the mocha flavour, it was satisfying though go a bit too sweet towards the end. I like the location as it feels avoids the busy crowds of central.

I tried the blueberry pancake for breakfast and it was so DRY the blueberries didn’t help to savour the dryness. So I added some maple syrup and found that it was watered down. The syrup splashed off the dry pancake and had a strong coffee like taste to it.
It was a struggle to finish the now coffee syrup blueberry dry pancake. I was on the verge of giving up then I noticed I still have a 20mins nephew my haircut appointment so I troopered on but it was useless. The more I tried and elate, the more water I wanted. I eventually gave up and spent the remaining 15−20mins watching Adventure Time on the TV screen.
I was thinking of just giving 1 star but the extra star was the time it took to arrive, it only took 5 mins arrive which is reasonable but i was the only one there.

I can only review the service — we walked in and asked for a table for two in July, very hot outside in HK. The bartender told us we could only sit in the tables for two outside, as they were reserving the larger tables inside the air conditioned dining area for POTENTIAL larger parties… mind you no larger parties were asking for a table at that time. There were 6 empty tables without any prospective customers beside the two of us. We left, went next door and had a lovely brunch at a different spot. When we walked past The Diner after our brunch they still had 6 empty tables inside the dining area. Terrible business.

The atmosphere & openness of the place is wonderful. I wish the food, given the price, was better. The Sunday brunch was so so. The bacon had been sitting out for a while so chewy. The potatoes had also sat out too long so limp & soggy. The chicken, in the Spicy chicken burger doesn’t really work as the spicy was underneath the crust. Good eggs, pancakes, sausage & fries. I wish the place had better food. Looks great & presented well. But so so when it’s in your mouth.

Love this place. Solid burgers and milkshakes. Decent-​large portions. Their grilled cheese is a little sweet, which threw me off but still really good. Peanut butter banana milkshake was bomb — delicious, thick and probably 1000+ calories but worth it.
I enjoy the details in their décor, food and design — like how they don’t include service charge on their receipt and they don’t take reservations. Unfortunately, their service is also quite slow (comes with the experience?) Definitely going to keep coming back to try more of their menu.
I tried suggesting that they add a peanut-​butter and jelly burger to complete the diner experience, but I think they thought it was weird… someone please bring PB&J burgers to Hong Kong — it’s a thing (like bacon burgers)!

So close to us that we didn’t even think before we got seated and crave the patties.
Nice brunch spot for heavy bites. The traditional American platter here can fit two girls, if you consider normal appetite. To top it up, what drives me happy here is the insane milkshake. 100% sugar plus ice cream production, reads ‘milkshake for all’. All those grannies admire that ice cream cart, here goes the shot. Guilty heaven confirmed.
Beg my egg/​omelette-​free comment as I don’t eat egg. Huge portion of everything. Potato, sausage, LOADS of bacon, even a bit too much. Where has the mushroom gone?
I had the stake pancakes. Not fun. Very stiff and dry. Enormous size with no innovation. Very plain paste, no surperise. You ended up pouring syrup to inspire the taste.
I also tried the homemade greek yogurt with berries and musli. Artificial taste, I am sure that is not fresh vanilla. And that yogurt is far from greek sugar-​less style.
It gets full, and too much.

I think I expected much more from this place so was very disappointed when my burger patty fell apart :(
I ordered the Big John (blue cheese and bourbon bacon jam) and I couldn’t hold the burger without it collapsing on itself. The flavours, too, were overpowered by the blue cheese — but I’m not one to complain about having too much blue cheese! Had to use a knife and fork after about 5 minutes manhandling this thing (burger blasphemy) and I wasn’t the only one on my table either — everyone’s patties (from The Dime burger, and the Juicy Lucy) felt like they needed some kind of binding agent — egg, breadcrumbs in milk, or just a longer time in the fridge to set? I don’t know. In any case, I left more than half on my plate. Someone ordered the Mexican on the table and said it was pretty good though.
Also ordered Mac & Cheese Balls cos everyone seemed to be ordering this as an appetizer in reviews, and don’t know what I was expecting really. Kind of anti-​climactic, and underseasoned. a ball of mac and cheese, with a jalapeño slice and tomato relish. Wasn’t worth ordering, and I didn’t even bother finishing this.
HOWEVER! Loved the fries — pulled pork and cheese shoestring fries are super. Love the crispiness of the fries and just felt spoiled silly with all the extras.
Would go here for fries. Probably never again for a burger.

Not sure what is going on in HK at the moment, but there seems to be a huge burger movement at the moment. It is as though we have just discovered this food item and are going hell for leather for it. And now, brand new on Arbuthnot Road, is The Diner. As the name betrays, a traditional American diner, that serves burgers.
The menu is quite simple, you get burgers with a variety of toppings; bacon, cheese, bacon & cheese, blue cheese, onion rings, egg, spicy Mexican, you get fries, with or without cheese and/​or bacon — you get the idea. There are chicken burgers, pulled pork burgers, and to Mrs L’s delight, a proper veggie burger that is a vegetable patty, not just salad in a bun. There are a few starters like nachos, chicken strips, ribs, and a few sides. That’s pretty much it for the dinner menu. There are no dogs, no blue collar plates of fried chicken and mash, it’s a diner that only serves burgers, so really a burger shop. I mention dinner menu, as the brunch menu is more like a Denny’s idea, with breakfast, waffles, pancakes. To me, the brunch menu looks more interesting and varied, and coupled up with the bottomless coffee, I know where I will be on Saturday morning. They also have a reasonable drinks menu of beers, cocktails, and spirits.
The food is great. Burgers are 100% US beef, cooked really well — not as tasty as Big Bite in North Pint, but at least hot through! The buns are toasted and loaded with your choice of toppings. Warning, they do like to stack ‘em high, so you may want to keep it simple. Fries are the shoestring type, which are great for the first few of, but I get bored with eating crisps by halfway. Gimme fat fries any day.
The interior is brilliant. It really does look just an old school US diner. Not that I have been to a US diner in the 1950’s, but from what I have seen in Grease and Back to the Future, I think this is fairly accurate! What gives it away as HK is the huge open frontage that looks out to Arbuthnot Road, the second a taxi goes by, your back in Soho HK.
Service is not included in The Diner, and they go directly to the staff, so you should tip well. The staff are really nice, efficient, and don’t make a grumble when they make a mistake, «Jim Beam Gold», not «Jim Beam Coke» — I know I speak fluent English with a perfect RP accent, but really, how can you get that wrong!