Arena Diner Restaurant

This has to be the worst dinner in hackensack. I went there last night for a second time. I ordered the open face turkey sandwich. It looked horrible, and it tasted even worse. There was no flavor at all, and to make things worse. It was lukewarm. Ir came with cranberry which was warm, and the only thing edible was the french fries. i told the waiter I wasn’t happy, and he gave me the menu to order something else. I figured the turkey triple decker sandwich you couldn’t go wrong at any dinner. It was ok. I’m not going back there ever again. The first time I ordered a chicken panini and ot was horrible. My advice is don’t go there. There are better dinners in Hackensack than this one

I was hungry so I decided to stop here– it was terrible. The wait staff is very friendly; however everything else was horrible. I ordered the French onion soup and it was flavorless. The bread tasted stale and there was barely any onions or cheese. Next I ordered the bacon Swiss burger medium rare, of course. after a long wait the burger came out and was completely overcooked– tastes like leather. Absolutely no seasoning– it didn’t even taste like meat. Ever heard of salt and pepper. I hoped the second time they would at least get the cook right– however, it was worst than the first. This one tasted like nothing. I definitely wasn’t going to try for a third time. I sucked it up a ate what I could. Never ever coming back here again. I would never recommend it to my worst enemy.

Had a pleasant lunch here. Food was quite good Diner fare. I had a great salad with plenty of feta cheese and my companion diner had beef goulash which was very tasty. French onion soup for starters and strawberry cheesecake were also tasty. Server was excellent and friendly. She went the extra mile to have raspberry ice tea not on menu, made for fellow diner. A little out of our normal area but will return because of this good experience.

Well kept diner. Staff is very nice. Challah french toast is absolutely delicious! All of the other dishes I’ve had here over the year are good as well.

A cozy local spot for us. Open 24 hrs and service is quick!
The kids enjoy it and the food okay. Honestly we keep coming here because Rose is a great! She is so welcoming and has a great memory lol! She knows our girls by name and knows all about their fun activities. (Dance/​cheer/​soccer) she remembers it all and the kids love that! Today Rose was out and we were served by Denise. She is great as well. Very attentive and come over at least four times after we got our meals to assure we were okay.
Today’s meal came to $ 45.05 and here is the breakdown.
Meal 1 — disco fries (gravy and yellow American cheese) $ 4.75
Meal 2 — Hungry man with pancakes (2 eggs over easy/​bacon/​3 short stack pancakes) $ 9.95
Meal 3 — Hungry man with French toast (scrambled eggs/​two turkey sausage/​French toast — see pics) $ 10.95
Meal 4 — corn beef hash w/​2 eggs sunny side up/​French fries/​white toast) $ 8.95
Drinks — 3 diet cokes and 1 coffee $ 8.95 total

Took my son here today. The table was filthy. My son had the French toast and said it was good. I got the «crab» stuffed mushrooms. It was more like a stuffing mushroom with very little crabmeat. Would not recommend this place unless you’re really hungry and don’t care much about the quality. On a positive note our waitress Lizet was very sweet and attentive

Standard Jersey Diner. I’ve been here who knows how many times. I like the environment – my daughter loves the fact that the bathrooms are down a set of stairs. Kids love bathrooms.
I’ve never had a bad diner food meal here. (Because it’s weird how all diners’ food is pretty much the same.) Service has always been quick and attentive.
The prices have gone up a bit, but I don’t come that often – sometimes after Mass with the kids.
So come here and get diner foods.

Great Jersey diner. Had a wonderful waitress named Coleen who made the experience a great time for me my mother and Grandmother. French onion soup was delicious

I came here to get a quick breakfast with my girlfriend and the eggs looked as if it was made in the microwave and left out for two days. The bacon was barely cut and clearly the cheapest brand. My girlfriend asked for a replacement, but still horrible. I get sick just by passing by this place now of days. I will never eat there again

The food was pretty good can’t complain. Our service though was excellent so just for that we will return. We made sure to tip our waitress generously and were pleased to see how excited and thankful she was. Thanks Colleen!

We are locals. We go to this diner once every 1 – 2 months. We generally, have a 3 – 4 star experience. Nothing incredible but nothing bad either. (Any mistakes that occur are generally fixed to our satisfaction.) It’s a diner and it’s nearby which is why we go. After today’s experience, however, we won’t be back for a few years.
My husband & I had the cream of turkey soup (flavor is a little bland but it’s a good soup). Our son had his usual chicken fingers and French fries which was fine. This is where today’s good experience ends.
We decided to split a Reuben sandwich. How hard could it be to prepare a Reuben? We would soon find out.
The Reuben arrived burned all over. Crust was black and the cheese was burned to a crisp. I imagine the corned beef was overcooked in there as well. We sent it back. The waitress yelled for the cook on her way into the kitchen. A bit low class but I’m sure it happens.
A very few short minutes later, the sandwich arrived with cheese melted all over. The sandwich arrived so fast that it was hard to believe that they could have redone it so quickly. My husband started to say «well this is better» when he realized that underneath the nicely melted cheese was the SAME BURNED SANDWICH that we had just sent back. They didn’t even try to take the old cheese off. Maybe they couldn’t. Who knows? The original cheese was so burnt it may as well have been welded on.
The waitress came over again and this time we were irritated. The manager/​owner (we aren’t sure who he is. He roams around) came over and asked what the problem was while the waitress was taking the food back.
The waitress said «oh, it was a little burnt» while they both walked away. «It was a lot burnt» I yelled after them. She asked if we wanted them to redo it and we said no. She asked if we wanted something else and we said no. The manager (or whoever he is) never apologized. The waitress wasn’t very apologetic. Just matter of fact asked if we wanted something else as if nothing had just gone wrong and they hadn’t screwed up.
At this point, we didn’t want to chance eating anything from that kitchen. Quality control had reached a new low in there and what was even harder to believe was that the servers & manager didn’t seem to find this to be a problem.
So in case anyone from the Arena is reading this, let me be clear. We aren’t upset that the Reuben was burned the first time. Mistakes happen. We find it incredible, however, that the kitchen thought that putting melted cheese over a burnt sandwich that was just sent back was acceptable. This was deliberate. What made them think that melting cheese over a bad sandwich would make it all better?! And to add insult to injury, the waitstaff & manager didn’t think it was a big deal. This makes us think that this sort of thing happens a lot at the Arena. Quality control is lacking & customer complaints land on deaf ears. Why in the world would we order something else?
Although the other food we had today was okay, after this kind of treatment and the absolute atrocious quality control, we won’t be coming back. Maybe that’s why there were only 5 tables filled in the entire place. Other locals aren’t coming back either apparently. Too bad.

Chicken gyro was extremely dry and tasteless. There was not enough tahini sauce to improve the taste. Yet, the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh and prepared well.

I will say that Arena served one of the best turkey burgers I have ever had the pleasure of eating. The burger came cooked to perfectuon; the juices were incredible. They must have know I was a midwesterner, as they added two big slices of American cheese. The lettice, onion, and tomato toppings were fresh and crisp. And the bun was the perfect size to handle the massive size of the burger. This is a burger you will go out of your way to eat again, to make sure you have one more taste. I know I will be stopping back before leaving town.
As far as the service– it was friendly, quick, and efficient. The prices were reasonable. One thing to mention is that if you’re dining on business and need an itemized receipt, plan ahead. They have to copy the hand written ticket and their copier/​printer is from 1992. It took about a minute per receipt to get a paper copy.
Well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Came in to the diner for a quick breakfast. We went in at 11 so no one was really there. The place was absolutely FILTHY. Ordered the three egg special with bacon. Bacon was burnt to a crisp as was the bread. The home fries didn’t taste like anything at all. Won’t be going back again.

What happened to this once iconic diner? Use to be THE PLACE for Sunday breakfast/​brunch. late night snack or just a place to meet up with friends. Has Gus & Son just given up? Remembering the parking lot packed– now your car sits with very few.
The food is just as lonely. I ordered crock of French Onion soup. OK so I got very weak lite coloured water with No melted cheese or croûton. Hmmm
Then ordered what was once their famous over stuffed «fresh oven roasted» turkey (fresh roast on premises). I think not!!! Come on guys who are you trying to fool? Unless Oscar Myers was in your kitchen. Oh and let’s NOT forget the STALE rye bread. F/​F undercooked & NO flavor.
Service — I’m STILL waiting for another glass of soda!!! Oh wait I see her… she’s outside finishing her cigarette. OK she is walking over. Oh. what a surprise — here’s my check & there goes my server

I really don’t know what happened here. This used to be a fabulous diner and from looking at the reviews written, it seems there are moments when it is fabulous and at other times like I experienced the other night.
A relative drove in from Massachusetts to visit for a few days so we decided to go to the Arena for dinner as it was convenient to where we were going.
The place was not terribly full as it was 8:30 well past the dinner rush. We were seated promptly and service fell apart after that.
While able to order in a fair amount of time and got our soup (came with the meals) a little slowly, it took forever to get our main meal. Over 30 minutes.
The waitress disappeared for most of this time except when we saw her sitting down visiting with friends who’d come in to see her. When we finally got her attention and politely asked how much longer, she told us we had ordered the wrong meal if we wanted to eat quickly.
2 of the 3 of us had salads with grilled chicken and the 3^rd had a hot meal that was a regular on their menu. Diners are supposed to handle a wide variety of food and get it to you quickly cooked right. Zero score on this.
What I can tell you about my meal (grilled chicken Cesar Salad) is that the chicken was cold and not completely cooked. Some of it was raw. I should have sent it back but I didn’t because it would have taken forever. We were there 1 hour by the time food actually arrived.
Hopefully the people who own and/​or run the Arena diner will take the breakfast shift manager (reviews below raved about breakfast here) and give that person the job of restoring it to what it once was — a really great place. Right now it isn’t.

Love this place… whenever I visit my kids Arena is a must… always decorated for the upcoming holidays. friendly staff… the food is always fresh, hot and delicious!
French toast with bacon is always my favorite… day or night!
I live in California now so East Coast Diners are a must for me during my visits!

I came here with my husband for breakfast on a Friday morning.
It was nicely decorated for Christmas.
Service was okay. Nothing spectacular but not bad.
My husband had the hot chocolate and he liked it. Nice presentation.
I had coffee. It was meh. It could’ve been a bit warmer. I feel that it got cold very quickly.
Both my husband and I ordered the French toast. It was bland. My husband felt it was undercooked. My husband thought the scrambled eggs were meh. The sausage was fine. Overall not horrible but I would probably go to chit chat diner for French toast over this diner if I’m in the area again. Oh and instead of mints when you leave they have cookies. Those were tasty.

This was such a «meh» diner. Came here and ordered 2 eggs over easy with corned beef hash. The eggs were fine cooked as i asked. But the corned beef hash with mush. A really gross texture to it that turned me off. The home fries were also mush. I personally like my home fries a little more well done, crispy on the ends. These were borderline mashed potatoes My boyfriend got the hungry man special which came with 2 eggs, choice of bacon or sausage and pancakes or french toast. He liked it but nothing wow worthy.
Also this diner is hawking items for sale. Like baseball memorabilia on the wall. Weird.
The décor is very dated, i hate seeing carpet on the floor of a restaurant, its just as bad as seeing a carpet in the bathroom.
The service was very friendly though, thats a positive note.

Mother’s Day dinner.. well more like a lunch. My bake seafood dish was good. But mom’s roast beef swim in the Au jus juice. The waiter spilled the juices on her purse taken away plate.
My refill tea was a strong ass ice coffee! Don’t expect a smile or appreciate for your dining. This place have run it course like other out dated diners… dead.