Redwood Diner

Food was ok. This is the first time I have eaten here in all my years of living in Rotterdam (47). I wouldn't write home about it. Don't get me wrong, if I lived on that side of town, it would be a great place for comfort food. I have been told that this place was dirty, and I have never steered clear of places just because of someone else's opinion of an eatery. It was perfectly fine in terms of cleanliness.

I've been frequenting this diner for the past few weeks, thanks to the prices at Blue Ribbon skyrocketing. I wasn't sure what to expect, because this is an old diner that has been in Schenectady on Hamburg Street forever. What I found was a pleasant surprise. We checked it out for brunch one Sunday, and found that the menu was varied like most diners, they had some great specials, and the wait staff was very friendly. What makes or breaks a diner experience is the staff, a clean uncluttered environment, good prices, and obviously the food. This place gets a thumbs up for all of those factors. My chicken sandwich was really great, but more importantly the French fries that came with it were perfectly cooked diner fries. Something that a lot of places mess up by using starch coated french fries, bad seasonings, or poor cook temperature. I'm happy to report that there were none of those problems here. The next time I went back I had French toast, which was excellent, perfectly cooked bacon on the side, and eggs exactly how I wanted them. Simple and to the point, that's what good diners are known for and I'll be coming back for years to come.

Food is decent, not the best local diner but it will get the job done in a pinch. The staff is friendly and timing is usually good. So now you're wondering why the 1 star. Well our last visit was a bit of a surprise when the check came. I got a breakfast burrito which comes with home fries and a side of salsa (at least it did last time I was there over the summer). My wife got an omelet and asked for no tomatoes. I asked for peppers, onions and tomatoes on my burrito and an extra side of salsa. The food came, it was decent enough. I like their salsa so I wound up using just about all of both servings. The check came and to my surprise the peppers, onions and tomatoes that I asked to have added to my burrito was a $5 upcharge. The salsa was another $2.25. I have no problem paying some extra to have stuff added to an order, but this seemed a bit extreme especially given the fact that there was no more than 10 pieces per add-on in my burrito. I would suggest heading over to Lorenzos or The Point Cafe to a better food and wallet experience.

Got there early in am still ended up waiting even though there was only 2 tables there !! Ordered my food from a rude waitress that seemed like she was in a hurry!! The food came and it was cold so I said to the waitress it was cold and she took her sweet time sending it back to kitchen!! About 20 minutes later it came back!! It was horrible I ate two bites and asked for check!!I think all they did was microwaved it!! Never going back again!!

Lady came in today to pick up a large order of food....Lady behind counter was VERY RUDE to her, telling her to "move out of the way" and further treated her rudely and disrespectfully... I was embarrassed for her, and will NEVER come back in here again! Learn how to properly greet and respect your customers or get another line of work!