Diner Review: Garden Cafe (a.k.a. "Nugget Diner")

Officially, this restaurant is known as the Garden Cafe. At least that's what it says on the menus. People generally refer to it, however, with the more accurate and descriptive name of "Nugget Diner." I like this name more, so that's what I'm calling it.

Oh, and if you're not from around here... it's called the Nugget Diner because the restaurant is in the Carson City Nugget casino.

In most categories, the Nugget Diner is about on par with the other diners in Carson. It's bigger, but that's doesn't make much difference. The coffee is delicious, but so is Cracker Box's coffee. What sets the Nugget Diner apart are its operating hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This is the only 24-hour diner in Carson.^[note] Well, The Grille at Gold Dust West is open 24/7, and there may be others I don't know about. So this isn't true. But it's the only one in "downtown" Carson.

So when it's 3:45 AM and you're hungry after visiting one, two, or all five downtown Carson bars, you go to the Nugget. You go only to the Nugget, unless you plan to spend a few hours sleeping on the sidewalk in front of one of the other diners.

Now that we have the Nugget Diner's best and most remarkable feature out of the way, let's get it on with the rest of the review.

Service
The Nugget Diner suffers in this category. It's not fair to say it's "bad," but sometimes it is unacceptably slow. I once waited for a full hour for our food one late, late night. It was 3:00 AM, and the waitress was apologetic and explained that they had a cook call in sick. But that wasn't the only time the wait at the Nugget Diner was way too long for a diner. I was also here mid-day on a Thursday and service moved at glacial speed. Other people at the table confirmed that it was indeed slow service and not just my severe hangover talking. However, on a Friday morning before work, the service was so fast I hardly had time to look at the menu before ordering. Good thing I have it memorized.

Final analysis: Service is hit or miss, leaning towards miss, but it is friendly enough.


Food
No complaints here. So far I have had the breakfast burrito, the western omelet, the veggie omelet, the Belgian waffle, the eggs Benedict, and maybe some other stuff. Coffee is strong and delicious. The toast is ok, but soggy with fake butter. Hash browns are thin and browned to crispiness, but also have some kind of grease that isn't butter on them. The breakfast burrito is a crowd pleaser, and it's big. The veggie omelet is packed with vegetables including lots of spinach. The eggs Benedict didn't become an instant favorite with me but was OK once I got rid of some of the Hollandaise sauce it was drowning in.

Final analysis: High marks, but they should substitute butter for their butter substitutes.

Price
The Nugget Diner is pretty cheap. Coffee is $1.50, and a veggie omelet is $6.95. A waffle is $4.05.

Final analysis: Definitely a good value. Cheaper coffee than Mom & Pop's.

Atmosphere
Seriously? This is seriously a category? In a word, unobtrusive.

Final analysis: You won't notice the atmosphere. That goes double for when it's 3 AM.


Overall:
Carson is lucky that the one place that's open around the clock also serves a good breakfast. As the only always-open diner, the Nugget Diner would be unstoppable if they could speed up their service.

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(pending investigation of the rumored Slot World diner)