Instead of the Empire Diner, Just Go to A Diner

Your wallet and your dignity will thank you later.

Empire Diner
210 10th Ave.
Chelsea
Open since: 1976 (!)
Price: $$
What to order: Waffles?
Jeff's Rating: 6.2/10

Your neighborhood diner gets the "Restaurant Impossible" treatment.

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When I first moved to New York, like any good tourist I had plans to hit the “famous” restaurants – not necessarily good (although sometimes quite tasty), but nonetheless immortalized in film, music, or other media. These aren’t the places that top the Eater lists or the Michelin Guide, but they still hold some level of prominence in the city food scene purely by the size of their pop culture footprint.

Elaine’s, from Billy Joel’s “Big Shot” (they were all impressed with your Halston dress and the people that you knew at Elaine’s/and the story of your latest success kept them so entertained) was at the top, until I heard that it had closed years before I ever touched down at LaGuardia. Magnolia Bakery’s cupcakes made the list because of Sex & the City, and then I realized (as one quickly does) that their banana pudding reigns supreme. Tom’s Restaurant, from Seinfeld, never lived up to the hype, but will no doubt be the subject of a future blog post once I finally finish watching Jerry and the gang on Netflix. Some restaurants I still haven’t had the chance to experience (Delmonico’s, the Rainbow Room), and some I’ll never be able to (if you know someone who has a table at Rao’s please let me know).

Here rests the Empire Diner, smack (smack-dab?) in the middle of a group of restaurants with impeccable pop culture pedigrees but questionable culinary bona fides. Although the building that Empire sits in has operated as a diner in some capacity or another since 1946, it didn’t become an iconic restaurant until the ‘70s when its renovation and stylish exterior led it to become a favorite of filmmakers such as Woody Allen. Meanwhile, artists of all shapes and celebrities like Meryl Streep caused it to develop a thriving social scene. It would go on to feature in movies and television shows into the early 2000s (see Law & Order and Men in Black II), and then it closed in 2010.

When I moved to New York in 2017, Food Network celebrity chef Amanda Freitag had already tried and failed to resuscitate the restaurant from its flatlined state (her version of the Empire lasted but a year), and, just months before my arrival, a new team had supposedly taken the reins for another shot. Despite such fortuitous timing, it took me four and a half years to finally check out the Empire Diner for myself. Here’s my report.

It's 1:00 pm on a Wednesday, and I should be working. But it’s a slow day at the firm today, and I’ll probably have to log back on at 8pm for something or another, so I don’t feel too guilty when one of my colleagues suggests having a small group head out to lunch for some “mentoring” paid for by the good people at [law firm name redacted]. The Empire isn’t too far away, and I figure now is as good a time as ever to check it out if I can persuade my coworkers to make the trek in the pouring rain.

Success! A few minutes later and we’re in a taxi (paid for by the good people at [law firm name redacted]). By the time we’ve arrived at the diner, I’ve perused the menu on my phone and found it on first impression to be overpriced and unremarkable, but nonetheless I’m excited when we arrive to finally check off a place I had been wanting to try for so long (in retrospect, an altogether silly desire).

It’s particularly grey and dreary outside in a Hound of the Baskervilles sort of way, but when we walk into the Empire Diner even the diffuse light from streetside manages to gleam off of the chrome accents lining the bar and overhead lamps. I can’t speak to its original incarnations, but the new Empire Diner appears to cast itself (as was trendy in the late-2010s) as an “elevated” take on the classic Diner experience. The décor, while invoking classic mid-century motifs, is consequently more subdued than what you might expect from American Graffiti or Happy Days. The Empire wants you to know – this is Manhattan, not Modesto.

Same goes for the aforementioned menu. The Empire Diner looks you straight in the eye and tells you that your chicken and waffles will be $26 dollars please (by the way, that’ll be $34 if you order it off of the dinner menu), as if it’s begging you to question where a supposed diner gets off charging so much for its fare. But hey, this is a law firm mentoring lunch, so the Empire and I don’t need to have that conversation today. I order my chicken and waffles, and the table splits some $14 artichokes too. And who knows, maybe the food is just that good.

It's not. We chow down on the artichokes and talk about our futures. I can tell you that I didn’t hate them but I have nothing else memorable to say. That’s not what I’m looking for from Empire. I’d allow mediocrity from any diner along the New York State Thruway, but not from this Manhattan mainstay. If Empire wants to talk the talk, it has to – cliché incoming – walk the walk.

The chicken and waffles are pretty good. The waffle is fluffy and golden brown. Thick slabs of bacon drizzled with maple syrup make for a great salty-sweet combo. The chicken on the other hand is fairly dry and altogether uninspiring - I contemplate some of the great 10 dollar fried chicken I’ve had at diners on Route 209 and thank my employer once again for sparing me from the indignity of paying.

As every junior associate knows, mentoring cannot occur without dessert, and so we make sure to order some for the table. A chocolate Sunday with peanut butter ice cream is pleasant but fairly standard. I dip in my spoon as I ask my coworkers some anodyne questions about the law.

Despite not eating at any of the original Empire Diner iterations throughout the years, I feel I can safely say that the current Empire is a shell of its former self. It operates in the same post-war art deco building, complete with a stylish Empire State Building jutting strikingly into the sky from its 1976 renovation. Nonetheless, the modern-day diner lacks the charm, character, and uniqueness that ought to befit a restaurant of its cultural stature.

The fact is, for all the mid-century finishings and appeals to its ancestry, the Empire Diner is no longer a diner. If you want high quality “American” food at a similar price point check out Cookshop right down the street. If you want a real diner in the city with half the price and double the soul, there are plenty to find (Hector’s on Little West 12th Street comes to mind).

In the meantime, the Empire Diner tries to split the difference and largely comes up short.

At least now I’ve been sufficiently mentored.