They still exist in small towns. But not in my modern city.

If there’s an old couple that eats there every day then you know you’re about to have a good meal.
- At my workplace we have two guys who come at open every morning. They even have their newspapers delivered there lmao
  
  They’re living my dream. That sounds divine

My modern* city has some diners but the price is over $10. One place is like $15 near me, I know of others that are more expensive. I still enjoy eating at any diner when I leave the city.
*America has questionable modernity.
- Yep. I got $12 scrambled eggs with toast, and a $4 coffee.
  When I went into a small town, it was $7 for everything.

Ours closed years ago. It was always the same cook and the same waitress working there for at least a decade. It made the local fast food breakfast look ridiculous. Omelet platters for 10.00. You'd be lucky to find that for 25.00 anymore, honestly. In a small town of less than 5000 spread out over such a big rural area, they just couldn't keep up.
- I am sorry for your loss

I've seen the red Coke cups since I was a kid, but not blue Pepsi ones.
- We found a place in… North Carolina maybe? That had red Coke cups but only served Pepsi.
  When asked, they said something about how Pepsi was going to charge them for their cups so they kept using the Coke ones. When asked why they stopped selling Coke, they said something about how Coca-Cola was giving them way less money than before so they switched to Pepsi.
  I don’t remember much else about that place other than they had AMAZING chicken.
  The American east coast is an adventure.
- Yeah this blue plastic is some alternate dimension Frankenstain bears rascality
- It's always a disappointment to see the blue Pepsi cups.
  
  "Is Pepsi ok?" "NO!!! NOTHING IN MY LIFE IS OK!!!" runs off sobbing
  "........I don't think that was about the Pepsi."
  
  I like the color blue better than red, even though I prefer Coke over Pepsi. That said, I prefer Mt Dew (owned by Pepsi) over both. Well, diet Dew these days, but still.

Dial the dates back by about 10 years, next to a news article about the restaurant 5 years earlier than that, and you're bang on.
- Agreed. If the award plaques aren't from at least 10 years ago, then it's not authentic.

Mine installed a bunch of tvs and only play fox news constantly, so I stopped going.

I worked for the one in our town a couple of times.
Hard work, but fun! And this starter pack nails it lol.
- One thing that always sets these diners apart is the hard work. They tend to be busy so the wait staff don't have much downtime, the cooks always seem to get food out in less than 20 minutes even with a packed restaurant. I really hope the owners respect and pay them well for it. I've also noticed I've never really heard an argument or anyone barking out orders like a drill Sargeant. The manager knows being loud doesn't get stuff done, instead they take orders, run dishes or pick up the slack where ever needed because that actually helps. And as a customer, I defintely have more respect for the diner if the manager isn't above carrying a couple dirty dishes.
  
  Yup, you get in, you bust your ass, and everyone works with respect, or it falls apart.
  The pay, ehhhh, not so great lol. Small diners like the one I worked have razor thin margins. The supplies for breakfast are cheap enough, but overhead is not, and there's limits to how high you can price things. Like the meme said, you get much above 10 bucks in a diner, you start losing sales volume in excess of what the price increase can bring in. A little marketing can partially help that with specials and some well selected naming of dishes, but there's a limit.
  And a double hell yeah to the manager or owner needing to be on the ball too. If they aren't, the whole thing falls apart for one. But when you're elbow deep in grease, with burns on your arms and sweat barely holding in your headband, if whoever is in charge isn't handling things too, it's not good. You won't hold good staff like that.
  The one I worked at, the owners busted hump every single day. When things wound get rushed, one would be keeping things stocked in front and back, and the other would be helping me. And I do mean helping, not trying to take over.
  Compared to the waffle house I would sometimes take a shift at, it's a totally different work vibe, even when the manager is amazing. In my case, the manager was a friend, so it was great, but still different than either the diner in town, or at other places I'd go to as a customer and watch the flow.
  It's insane work. But it is fun, if you find cooking fun in the first place. You've got fifteen things going all at once, new orders coming in, and you're pushing yourself to make everything perfect out of pride and not wanting to do it again. It made me totally understand why stimulants are so common in the business. It's also why it wasn't something I kept doing lol.

Here's the thing; bacon, eggs, sausages, bread, and potato for hash browns costs fuck all. Get these ingredients for $50 worth, and you will enjoy a breakfast of this calibre for many mornings. The missing ingredient is motivation. That's why you pay 80% extra to get someone else to do it and it still seems like an excellent deal.
Remember this when the menu is doing eggs benedict for $23. It better be real fucking good eggs benny because the contents on that plate cost very little.
- Remember this when the menu is doing eggs benedict for $23.
  A proper eggs Benny takes more than the cost of the ingredients and mere "motivation".
  That hollandaise sauce ain't nothin to play with, and will bring even the most motivated to their knees.
  A full plate of hash browns, eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes is easily done in the amount of time it takes to go to and wait at a restaurant, though.
  Self Proclaimed Brunch Restaurant Enjoyer
  
  That hollandaise sauce comes out of a bucket from Sysco.
  
  I write a breakfast blog about my home state and the Hollandaise is the top judgement. Then the quality of the poached eggs. Then the base. And of course the home fries must be fresh cut, red bliss potatoes.
- What about eggs Woodhouse?
  
  Which diner are you eating at?

There are a few around me that survived covid but they're much more expensive now. I do miss being able to frequent them.
But mind you some items were always silly priced. Sometimes it'll be juice at $4.99 for like 8oz, sometimes the side of bacon was $6.99 and you'd only get 3 pieces. Even 10 years ago.
- That's how my town's diners are today.
  $12 for waffles. $20 for waffles, eggs, and sausage.
  Breakfast is now as expensive as dinner.

There are still a lot of these in New York City, so long as you get out of Manhattan itself.

I just moved to a place with one of these! It's fantastic. The owner is the type of guy to come refill coffee himself.

COVID killed one of these for me. The "Farmhouse Special" was $9 and was a literal platter of hashbrown, egg, bacon, potatoes, and whatever the fuck else. Skinny guy like me would eat half, then graze over the leftovers until the following day was done. God I miss waking up helplessly hungover and apparating there. It was like Denny's on steroids.
- When you say killed, do you mean they closed? Or do you mean that same meal is now $45?
  
  They closed and the location was bought by a new breakfast joint.
  Full disclosure, the new place was pretty good, too, though they were much more expensive compared to the original place. The new place was a good "eating out" place, where I could get a decent meal and a drink for an ok price. The original place was more of a, "you hungry? We'll feed ya" type place, where you would order the same "Farmhouse Special" three times, and you'd get three slightly different Farmhouse Specials, but they would all be amazing.

One of the few good things about New Jersey
- There are a bunch of good things about NJ but yeah, diners are up there.
- ok, flyover

In Oklahoma these things are still standard. Literally every one of those points looks like the place my wife and I go about once a month except they forgot advertising in the tabletops.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YQicjj3YxT5ng87LA?g_st=ac

Don't know about locally owned, but there definitely is a place near where I live that feels like it has a similar vibe to this. Love it. Can't say the name because it seems to be a local place and don't feel like doxxing myself despite the fact I've probably done it unintentionally before on here.

This is just a waffle house

Closes at 2PM.

Man, I remember when all that food cost $5-$6.

These exist in the UK, too!

"Common Eatery", in Foxborough, MA
Eggs Benedict is the best anywhere around. Eggs poached just right. Hollandaise is yummy. Can mount those on traditional, homemade hash, crab cakes...
Home fries are freshly cut red bliss potatoes that have a light mix with onion & peppers.
Coffee is decent (not high end) and filled whenever less than 1/2.
Slight discount for cash vs. credit.
Locally owned. Plenty of regulars. Mostly wonderful servers. Except for that one older, dark haired lady that whines a lot.

Shout out to Mama k's in Visalia CA and the runway Cafe in woodlake CA

There are a few of these near me. Spot-on!

Recently traveled from Colorado to my hometown in PA and there is no lack of these diners. Quite the shock going from 16.99 for a burger and fries to 9.99 for basically anything on the menu. And, of course, everything is delicious!