“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” – James A. Garfield
Breakfast in the Skook is celebrating its one-year anniversary! In doing so, we decided to check out one of the most iconic restaurants in Schuylkill county – The Garfield Diner! This old school diner is located on Market Street in Pottsville. After its first closing, it became a Mexican restaurant for a few years before reopening this past winter under its original moniker. On October 28, 1960, it served as the backdrop of John F. Kennedy’s speech when he visited Pottsville during his presidential campaign, just a little over a week before the 1960 election.
The newly-opened Garfield Diner was bought by the previous owners of the Pottsville Diner – which was our very first breakfast stop last June. We wanted to see how much of the food and atmosphere have changed since the relocation. Our crew this morning consisted of five members: Bryan, Kevin, Matt, Mike, and special guest, Tonya. Tonto had to work today so Tonya, who is Matt’s fiance, took his place.
We arrived at the Garfield Diner around 8:15 a.m. There were quite a few customers already dining as we made our way into the restaurant. When we received our menus, we noticed that they were the same ones from the old Pottsville Diner! Nothing really has changed except for the name of the diner at the top. Both Matt and Mike, sticking with tradition, ordered the “2-2-2” special. This consists of two eggs (Matt – scrambled; Mike – over-easy), two bacon strips and two sausage links served with toast and homefries. Kevin ordered his usual mushroom and cheese omelette with homefries while Bryan had the “Creamed Dried Beef” platter. This was basically creamed chipped beef served over toast and homefries. Our special guest, Tonya, wanted to show-up her soon-to-be hubby by ordering the “He-Man” special. This meal consists of three eggs, two pancakes, your choice of ham, bacon, sausage or scrapple (she chose bacon), homefries, toast and coffee.
Establishment: 3.5/5 – Scores points for being a retro diner. This place is cleaner than the old Pottsville Diner and doesn’t have the greasy smell that sticks your clothes like the other restaurant had. There are 10-12 booths for seating and a lot of stools at the diner counter. It is a bit small, but there is more seating than you would think. There is some parking out front but most of it is on Market Street. It is a neat little place that takes you back in time.
Service: 5/5 – Service was fast – only a 9-minute wait to receive our meals. This was similar to the old Pottsville Diner. Our waitess frequently refilled our coffees and asked us if we needed anything throughout our meals. No complaints here.
Appearance: 3/5 – Our food looked decent. Everything was hot and the portion sizes were suitable. The coffee mugs were larger than average which required less refills.
Taste: 3/5 – Once again, very similar to the old Pottsville Diner. One thing that has changed, however, was the sausage links. They are now serving the Brown-n-Serve frozen sausage links like many of the diners we’ve visited have been doing. Everything was about average. Bryan thought his creamed chipped beef was a bit tasteless, but very filling. The bacon was just like Mike remembered from our first blog. Matt, who used to love going to the Pottsville Diner, didn’t think it lived up to the old place but had no complaints otherwise. Both Kevin and Tonya enjoyed their meals but thought the food was average.
Price: 5/5 – Very cheap. Only $34 total for the five of us!
Overall, the Garfield Diner is very similar to the old Pottsville Diner. Our crew enjoyed this experience more than our first blog, which was when the Pottsville Diner was nearing its demise. We were only in the diner for 30-minutes from the time we sat down to the time we left, so if you want a quick meal for a very cheap price, this is the place to go. Oh, and the atmosphere is pretty cool too!
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Have a breakfast spot for us to visit? Email us your comments or suggestions at schuylkillbreakfast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter: @SkookBreakfast.
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