12th Street Diner

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Wow! Fast service! What is better that crawling in after too much fun. placing your order and BOOM! Food! :) Everything a person could want at 2 am: D

I stopped in to the 12 street diner for breakfast a few days ago and it was pretty good. The scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon were all very good, and exactly what I was looking for from this little diner. I will definitely go back.

For something that is downtown and calling itself a diner, 12^th Street Diner fails on a few key issues. When this place first opened it’s doors, I got pretty excited to have a diner that I thought would be 24 hours open on Washington Ave. Boy was I disappointed. Time went on and 12^th Street’s hours kept dwindling away. I understand that it was probably a business decision and the lack of foot traffic at night was a little lack luster, but for the 100’s of service industry folk getting out of work late, I could have seen this as a go-​to spot for these cats. Alas, The only times that this diner is open late is on Friday and Saturday’s for the drunken frat kid crowd.
Let’s talk about food. The food here is pretty good. Not Rooster or Half & Half good, but better than City Diner and definitely Courtesy. So, it beats it’s other diner competition. However, the menu is bland and there really isn’t anything on the menu that will ever keep me craving. I usually get either eggs benedict or a slinger when I sit down to judge a breakfast spot. Both are well done with the slinger being my second favorite in town. They put fried onions on it. YUM.

I think this is a pretty decent place with some good food, one of those places that is what it is. I had a good experience here but I was the only table in the place (like 2:30pm) so I can’t go much higher on this visit. I did try the fried egg sandwich and a short stack and both were very good that I likely would get again. The menu is sorta like an Ihop or Denny’s maybe? but you will rarely see a diner rise above a 3 star experience, that isn’t what a place like this is for … it’s for the just hungry crowd and on the weekend they are open 24 hours a day so you can imagine in this location it is packed wall to wall. This seems like a diner that is trying to be more than a diner and they do have some cool décor pieces and it was very clean when I went so I do think it is worth a try.

First off… I am really disappointed that Unilocal reviews let me down here… I went based on reviews from this site and the fact it was on the way to the city museum from our hotel. I cringe to even give this place a star only because there are no negative stars.
I guess my opinion of «great food» and others that have left reviews on here are quite different. So let me start with this… if your idea of «great food» is rancid ketchup, horribly greasy disgusting fries, dry meat that seems as though it was cooked hours before, microwaved tatsing pancakes and bacon, dry crumbly eggsthen yea, I guess you will love this joint.
The service is HORRIFIC! We went around 10am… it waas busy but not slammed. There were servers everywhere and they seemed beyond frazzled. We sat and we waited… and waited… and waited. In this 35 minutes of waiting at a dirty table, we were passed multiple times (by multiple I mean close to 50 times by 5 – 6 servers) I asked numerous times about getting the table cleaned and old plates from previous people cleared. Asked for menus, drinks… anything. Always same response of «be right with you».
Finally a server came and took our order –of which came out wrong by the way.
Kids got pancakes, eggs, bacon –pancakes were like the microwaved type… and that is probably an insult to eggo… because they werent even as good. Cold, rubbery. Same could be said about most the food actually. Cold, Dry and Rubbery.
Eggs were crumbly and dry. Bacon –which was requested crispy came out flimsy and also seemed to be microwaved.
My husband and I both got the Lucy Burger. Oh… where to begin… well the meat itself was awful. Dry, rubbery and Cold. Stuffed with cheese? I think not. What cheese? And let me warn you about the caramelized onions… they appeared to look like beets and were SO GROSS! Thank God we got them on the side. I took a pic I will try to upload soon. The ketchup at the table tasted rancid. Really really BAD.
The mayo that they charge you 50 cents extra for… hot and smelled bad… so we didn’t use it.
.
Now, typically I insist on speaking to a manager in these situations… however after I guess the waitress saw I was pissed she went and spoke to the manager about how long we waited (this was prior to ordering food… she came back and said «he doesn’t give a shit, but he is a complete ahole and we all get verbally abused here all day every day by him. I hate this job.» …uuummmm ok. So needless to say I just paid the bill and we went down the street to Curuso’;s breakfast. much better.
As far as the décor many people have raved about on here… I mean, it’s alright but nothing better than Johnny Rockets or Cheeburger Cheeburger… I wasn’t impressed by it.
Bottom line: Skip this… there are too many good places to eat in downtown st louis to hit this joint… I would almost accuse the owner of posting fake reviews and having friends post positive reviews on Unilocal and other sites because when I went nearly every table was pissed and unhappy and like wtf?
I would literally eat off the floor of a waffle house before ever dining in this sht hole again.

This place definitely deserves 3 stars. If I were to make a porridge related analogy, this place is not too hot, but not too cold. Then again… it’s not «just right» either. Okay, forget the porridge analogy, I don’t even like the Goldilocks story, I don’t actually know what porridge is (someone Google this for me, I’m lazy right now) and they don’t serve it here anyway. Moving on.
I’ve been here twice now… amazing I haven’t been here more considering how much I frequent Washington Avenue on the weekends!
The first thing I ordered was some sort of breakfast country fried steak thing in gravy. It was pretty decent, I’ll go ahead and recommend it. The second time I went here was just a few weeks ago. I got something called «Big Hoss», or something along those lines. You’ll be able to find it on the menu. It’s a HUGE breakfast and way more food than I could eat. Eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, toast and pancakes. Their pancakes suck, and if I were willing to cook food at home (I am not willing to do so), I could cook better pancakes than this. The rest of the breakfast was good.
Service at this place sucks. In fact, at the last visit it took forever for the waitress to come back and take our order, and then they completely forgot to serve our food when it was ready. Serious. I’ll come back here anyway as this type of establishment has it’s place and the food is not bad… but don’t expect to be blown away by any aspect of this place.

First of all, I heard about this place from some of the cooks who frequent my job. Went on a Saturday night. The atmosphere is laid back. My son really loved the décor. The prices are reasonable and the food was good. Waitress was very helpful and friendly!

I ended up here with friends grabbing a quick lunch
I ordered the BLAT, Bacon Lettuce Avocado Tomato sandwich with fries. The sandwich had a generous amount of bacon along with the non-​bacon items. The fries were satisfyingly crunchy and plentiful.
The chili dog my friend ordered was huge and made me a bit jealous. He was pretty happy with it as well.

I visited here today for lunch for the first time. What caught my eye first was the awesome décor. It truly is a 1950’s diner. From the logo to the jukebox, old coke machine, the vintage tv and gas pump lights it had this relaxed atmosphere and the food smelt amazing. The also have 2 flat screens mounted near the counter and are running old 50’s movies on them.
I got a Philly cheese steak. It came with fries. I’m not sure where they get their fries from but they are seasoned and amazing. The hoagie that the sandwich was on was fresh and freshly toasted as well as the meat being fresh. The onion and green peppers were grilled and fresh and still crisp when eating them. I walked back to my office to eat about 3 blocks and the meal was still warm and delicious. I will be back.
And I was back which made me want to add to this review about the over all value of this place. For 6.75 I got this visit what was about a ¼ burger with swiss cheese, and mushrooms and a good probably ¾ to full cup of fries. Had a soda with it 3 refills entire order was under 10 bucks this is awesome can’t wait to go back.

I usually come to 12^th Street Diner with the co-​workers – we’re really close by – but this place is starting to become a joke.
The food takes forever, which always prompts the ‘Did they have to kill the cow first?’ jokes. The service is friendly, but never around. Never. Around. And they invariably get some part of our order wrong.
Their scrambled eggs are not real eggs.
This place is losing a star from me. I don’t care if they serve waffles at 1pm. I’m losing patience.

While many restaurants suffer from long waits, 12^th Street suffers from multiple waits. By that I mean, at 3am, you’ll wait for a table, wait for water/​coffee, wait to place your order, wait to get your food, and wait to be checked-​up on. Individually, none of these waits are absurdly long, but they add up. Still, 12^th Street narrowly redeems its third star by offering up a fun atmosphere (made more fun by the 3am crowd), good food, and good prices. And the waitstaff we perchance encountered were all friendly, which can’t be an easy state to maintain after a long night of waiting on drunk, hungry, impatient diners. The lesson is: if you go when 12^th Street is busy, make your presence known so you don’t get lost in the shuffle.

I went to the 12^th Street Diner with my dad, boyfriend and our foreign exchange student who is from Japan. The diner was pretty crowded because there was a Rams game about to begin! It was speedy & tasty! I ordered the Viva Las Vegas Omelet with egg whites and wheat toast. My dad had the biscuits and gravy, my boyfriend had pancakes, eggs and bacon and our friend Dyo had the Slinger– he was in heaven! The Slinger was huge, however very good and somehow it was demolished. My omelet was good– not too much cheese (just the way I like it).
The diner was definitely a good experience, great location, and quick service!

I would like the half-​star option on this one. It was slightly better than good and I definitely had a nice experience.
The food was pretty well prepared and the service was decent. If you expect great food from a diner, then you probably haven’t been to a lot of diners.

Quite a few mixed reviews!
I sneaked out of the office for a tasty lunch with my brother and his wife and they warned me that the breakfast items weren’t great. They suggested the joint, so I had to ask ‘why’ if they hadn’t had better experiences there. Apparently a few of their office buddies mentioned that it was the best place ever, referring to the greasy diner burgers.
Needless to say, I had a greasy diner burger and I wasn’t disappointed! It was a really large patty on a buttered, thick bun, and the fries were crispy and seasoned lightly.
Prices were cheap and the service was fast. Sounds like if you’re partying somewhere downtown, this would be the place to go for a midnight snack!

And so we came back. I can’t say it was because I had to have dish X, Y, or Z. It’s more that Downtown St. Louis lacks any decent breakfast options that are:
1) Open on the weekend
2) Not in a hotel
3) Not crêpe-​based
I had the biscuits and gravy with a side of sausage. It was «ok» — maybe even 3 stars. But service there. Sigh. Just bad. And it wasn’t really all that busy.
They have officially earned the status of «I’m not going back unless I’m completely smashed at 3:00am and starving.»

The Good: My service was very nice, but more on the apologetic end than in terms of genuine friendliness. My visit was late-​night, however, and even though places that service Wash Ave’s party-​folk (why was I even there??) might be a little jaded when it comes to the average customer.
I ordered a burger, which was okay. It was a burger, but could have done a little better. No complaints, but I do wish my bun was a toasted and did not dissolve upon contact with my hands. The fries were another matter and tasted like they were pre packaged, which is okay, since this is a diner. But little things like that make you wonder what else is pre-​packaged.
My friend ordered the lasagna, which was described as breaded, deep-​fried, and covered in marinara. That sounds indulgently good, right? Wrong. We received grayish noodles, which made me think the worst… «Did the cook give us the burned leftover piece?»
Whatever…
We asked about the lasagna, after a few bites. It wasn’t horrible, but looked kind of funky. The server/​manager/​God Bless her soul for putting up with us on such a busy night went into the kitchen, and talked to the cook. Her diagnosis on the matter was that the grayish quality of the noodles were mainly in part due to the mushrooms and pesto sauce. But she did take it off our bill (which she didn’t have to) and took my suggestion that the cook shouldn’t bake pesto and mushrooms into a lasagna w/​marinara.
We also tried a very solid chocolate milkshake that wasn’t anything to write home about, but okay and worth the price. It was also huge, so I suggest that couples order one.
I guess, if I ever find myself hungry and downtown, I’ll try it again.
A diner can be great and leave a lasting impression. So far, this one hasn’t done that for me. But then again, in a district like that, it has potential to grow and become better.

Was here for a conference this past New Years at the Edward Jones Dome and looked for some places to eat.
This place was walking distance from the dome. It had nice 70s décor and diner style food like the name implies. The food wasn’t expensive and you got a good amount of food.
The Reuben and chili fries were good. Ate at this place a few times. It’s good!

I really want this place to be good… I’ll almost always give a place a 2^nd chance. In the case of 12^st Street Diner, I’ve tried it about 5 different times now. Overall, I’d say the food is OK, but it’s still a fun place to visit. The service has been good each time and the atmosphere is also fun, designed in a 50’s or 60’s style diner with an old jukebox and TV’s showing episodes of «I Love Lucy» and I think «The Andy Griffith Show» and «The Honeymooners». The diner is also open late, which makes it one of the only options for late night food in downtown St. Louis.
I’ve tried various items off the menu:
The Greek Omelette comes with feta and spinach and was disappointing the one time I tried it. It came flat without any fluff to it and didn’t stand out in taste. I want to try it again someday just to make sure it wasn’t a one off.
The Slinger, which is a St. Louis tradition, was surprisingly good. Normally a slinger consists of eggs, potatoes, and a hamburger or sausage patty smothered with chili, onions and cheese… all served with a side of toast. Well, this version was a unique twist with eggs, hash browns and biscuits covered in gravy, chili, cheese and fried onion strings. I enjoyed it.
The burger was good from what I can remember. Standard diner burgers. I do like the fries which are an average cut and have some kind of light batter and seasoning on them.
The hot wings were disappointing the one time that I tried them. I’m not sure what it was about them… maybe under fried? They lacked that slight crispiness and the sauce was so-​so, but not the best. The dressing also lacked in flavor.
Be sure to check out the desserts near the register. The chocolate cake was delicious!
I’m sure I’ll be back again!

After the closure of Crepes in the City, I went in search of a new breakfast destination nearby… and I found it! I stopped at the 12^th Street Diner today for a leisurely Sunday morning bite and was pleasantly surprised. Open by 7 am on Sunday, it made it the ideal stop after my early morning walk. The menu is pretty standard for a diner, but standard fare can be good! I started my day with a $ 2.50 bowl of oatmeal. Oatmeal typically seems to have a cement like quality, but they served me a big bowl of fluffy slow cooked rolled oats with a cup of fresh raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, brown sugar, cream and butter. For $ 2.50! I also ordered two poached eggs on the side and while I didn’t realize they came with crispy hashbrowns, I got it all for an extra $ 1.50. It’s not often that I can feel full on something quality for just over 4 bucks.
Everything was delicious, service was attentive and there were Post-​Dispatch papers available for reading. I believe there is also Wi-​Fi based on the lady using a laptop next to me.
All said and done, I will be back for another cheap and delicious breakfast!
Second trip: Just as good as the first although significantly busier! Same great food too– they do a really great job. My friend Tara loves it too!
2÷17÷10 OK, this place has become a regular breakfast haunt for me and it is delightful. I’ve had multiple things off their menu (although the cheapy oatmeal is still a favorite). Their veggie omelet is delicious– never browned, never too big. I only wish they’d put out some Frank’s Red Hot rather than Tabasco (blasphemy some are thinking). Always great service and really nice people!