I consider myself something of a classic diner aficionado, so I was curious to see what a new diner that generates so much interest could be like. I've read the existing thread in this sub about the place, and I too was pretty shocked and disappointed by the prices given the lip service paid to accessibility. Still, I wanted to check it out just fo research purposes, I guess you could say. Here are my scattered observations
.
- expensive but not so much more expensive than certain classic diners (I went to Pat & Lorraine's in Eagle Rock  recently, the Reservoir Dogs diner, and it was more expensive per person for an omelette and a coffee than M&H, I can think of other pricy but beloved diners like Nick's Cafe, Pie n Burger)
.
- the wait was long, 2.5 hours for me arriving at 10:15am and only got longer for people who came later, but maybe it won't be that way forever, and there are other diners with long waits like Jongewaard's in Long Beach, I went there on a Monday recently and the wait was over an hour, even worse on any given weekend, I remember waiting a long time for the Pantry too
.
- customers looked like more families than influencers
.
- the vibe feels like kind of a mishmash of different diner aesthetics, it feels like its pulling from LA diners, New York diners, Midwestern diners, ends up feeling like nowhere in particular
.
- I ordered the infamous patty melt, listed at $27 on the menu but I was only charged $22 for it, it was pretty good but not "the best I've had in my life" as Silverton boasts, not a fan of the spicy mayo, and the onions are like, full layers that have been caramelized which I found weird, why not just regular sliced onions that don't make the bread slide all over the place, also greasy, but the patty itself is pretty big and very good, bread is perfectly crunchy
.
- fries not included (ugh!), $8 for an order, they're those like, scabby type fries and fried in beef tallow, good but not great
.
- my wife got a pancake and matzoh ball soup which I tried, pancake was solid with crispy edges, matzoh ball soup was weirdly sweet, matzoh ball was weirdly firm, but not bad necessarily
.
- Partway through the meal one of the staff was like "want to try a waffle" and just gave us an extra waffle for free, I figured maybe it was overcooked because it looked a little dark around the edges, but it was actually perfect, this is the one thing that definitely lives up to at least some of the hype, maybe not worth 2+ hours but like, in theory
.
I like Phil but this is not a diner, it's a simulated experience, but what irks me about it is that Phil has insisted it is not that but is in fact a real diner, and also that the idea of an "elevated" diner (or an elevated anything tbh) seems to come from a place of implicit contempt for the thing they're trying to elevate. I for one understand that the food isn't always the point of a diner experience, and knowing that, I have had many truly sublime experiences in diners. Diners are conceptually complete. They don't need a millionaire celebrity to come in and fix them. Especially when Max & Helen's is so vague about what exactly justifies the prices and the hype. In what way is it elevated? I'm not entirely sure. 