Located off Park Street north of Destiny Mall and adjacent to the Syracuse Farmer’s Market, the Market Diner is rock ‘n’ roll-themed with a cafe-like atmosphere. Owned by the Marinos family since 1974.
The CNY Regional Market is a sprawling flea market in central Syracuse, open on Saturday and Sunday, and Thursday May through November. Many folks stop at the Market Diner to fuel up for a morning or afternoon of browsing through endless tables of junk (I mean, er… treasures), though it is not exclusively tied to the market. When a friend and I visited, I ordered an omelet with toast and a bowl of grits. Grits are usually iffy this far north, but these weren’t too bad.
Despite being quite crowded that morning, we were seated, put in our order, and received our food in a timely manner.
The Market Diner has a traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu with a few custom items, most notably the State Fair Sausage Sub. The sub comes with Gianelli sausage, onions, peppers, and provolone on a grilled sub roll for $7.99. Nonna’s Double Meat Lasagna, Zelma’s Meatloaf (“Famous for our HUGE portions served with smothered in Silky gravy with soup or salad and two sides”), and Niko’s Pot Roast, each for $10.99, are also available.
The Market Diner has a 4.5/5 average out of 88 Google reviews. Visitors generally like the large food portions and helpful customer service. Yelp user Anthony T. writes, “I love this diner. It’s in such a great location… the food is always hot and the portions are huge. It’s nice to support local and get a better experience than any other chain around.”
In general, negative feedback involves patrons who usually like the diner, but for some reason had a bad experience. “…the food came and for the first time ever it was terrible,” Yelp user Hillary M. writes. “All 3 of us had issues. My omelet was completely different than it ever has been and the French toast and waffle were both absolutely tasteless. The syrup was watered down, bad, with what I have no clue!? So all in all, our food for the first time ever was disgusting.”
Being short on staff, hiring an inexperienced employee, or just being overwhelmed by a rush of customers can give any restaurant a bad day.
The Market Diner is located at 2100 Park Street in Syracuse, New York. Phone: (315) 474-5247. They are open Monday through Saturday, 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 5 a.m. through 2:30 p.m.
M.A. Kleen 