Good service can enhance an already good dining experience, but it can’t do much when the food is bad. Bad service, on the other hand, is always a detraction—even if everything else is good, poor service can ruin the day.
When we walked into the Village Diner in Latham, things seemed promising. The smells from the kitchen were definitely appetizing, and the non-smoking area where we were seated was quite well separated from the smoking section. I started making some notes, but I was soon interrupted by a jarring voice: "You ready to order?"
My companions were still looking over their menus, and I hadn’t even opened mine yet, so I asked for a few more minutes. Our waitress did an impressive job of conveying that this was a major imposition, and brusquely asked what we wanted to drink. She took our drink orders and stalked off.
We shrugged this off and looked back at the menu. It was quite comprehensive, with a wide variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options. In other words, it was fairly typical for a diner, with average prices. (We spent $24 for three people, including tax and tip.)
The waitress was back with our drinks (including a pitcher of water, which was nice) very quickly, and again asked if we were ready to order. We were ready this time, but I still felt somewhat rushed. This feeling was only exacerbated by the very terse manner with which she answered simple questions like "What’s today’s soup?" It was as if we were wasting her time by asking.
The food came back quickly, and there was an error in one of the orders—by this point, it wasn’t a surprise. The food, fortunately, was mostly good. My pancakes and bacon were quite tasty, though the home fries were very plain and needed salt and a lot of pepper to be palatable. My companions ordered sandwiches, and both the reuben and the grilled swiss and tomato were rated highly by them. The french fries, though, were just plain bad, with about half of them undercooked. Their hot chocolate got mixed reviews—I thought it was too sweet and not rich enough, but both of my companions enjoyed it quite a bit.
Coming back to my original point, bad service can ruin an otherwise perfect meal. The Village Diner, however, was far from perfect to start with, and with several other better choices closer to campus, I recommend you look elsewhere.
To get to the Village Diner, take Route 7 (Hoosick Street) west out of Troy. Stay on Route 7 as you cross the Northway in Latham. (You’ll have to make a right at the traffic light at the end of the ramp for Northway exit 6.) The Village Diner is on Route 7 (Troy-Schenectady Road) on the left about three miles west of the Northway, just before Albany-Shaker Road.
