What is a Diner?

A diner is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of American life, especially in the Northeastern United States, as well as in the Midwest. Some examples can be found throughout Canada and parts of Western Europe.
Diners are characterized by offering a wide range of foods, mostly American, a casual atmosphere, a lunch counter, and late operating hours. "Classic American Diners" are often characterized by an exterior layer of stainless steel — a feature unique to diner architecture.

The first diner was created in 1872 by a man named Walter Scott. He decided to sell food out of a horse-pulled wagon to employees of the Providence Journal in Providence, RI. Scott's diner can be considered the first diner with “walk up” windows that were located on each side of the wagon. Commercial production of lunch wagons began in Worcester, MA in 1887, by Thomas Buckley. Buckley was very successful and became known for his "White House Cafe" wagons. Charles Palmer received the first patent in 1891 for the diner. He built his "fancy night cafes" and "night lunch wagons" in the Worcester area until 1901. Like a mobile home, the original style diner is narrow and elongated and allows transportation on the roadway.

In the traditional diner floor plan, a service counter dominates the interior, with a preparation area against the back wall and floor-mounted stools for the customers in front. Larger models may have a row of booths against the front wall and at the ends. The decor varied over time. Diners of the 1920s–1940s feature Art Deco or Streamline Moderne elements or copy the appearance of rail dining cars (though very few are, in fact, refurbished rail cars). They featured porcelain enamel exteriors, some with the name written on the front, others with bands of enamel. Many had a "barrel vault" roofline. Tile floors were common. Diners of the 1950s tended to use stainless steel panels, porcelain enamel, glass blocks, terrazzo floors, Formica and neon sign trim.

Diners almost invariably serve American food such as hamburgers, French fries, club sandwiches, and other simple items. Much of the food is grilled, as early diners were based around a grill. There is often an emphasis on breakfast foods such as eggs, waffles, pancakes, and French toast. Some diners serve these "breakfast foods" throughout the business day and others who focus on breakfast may close around 3:00 pm. These are most commonly known as pancake houses.

Coffee is always present at diners and almost always of high quality. Typically, diners do not serve alcoholic drinks.

Like the British "greasy spoon", the typical American diner serves mainly fried or grilled food, i.e.: fried eggs, bacon, hamburgers, hot dogs, hash browns, waffles, pancakes, omelettes, deep fried chicken, patty melts, and sausages, usually with a side item of baked beans, french fries, cole slaw, or toast.

Many diners have transparent display cases in or behind the counter for the desserts. Typical desserts include a variety of pies, often on view in a separate transparent case.

The food is usually quite inexpensive, with a decent meal available for less than $10.