I had never heard of Downtown Diner before eating there.
My parents and I were in Alexandria, Minn., and were looking for a place to eat. I Googled, “restaurants near me” and that was the first one I said, so we went there.
It was an intriguing little place. It was the type of diner Gordon Ramsay would walk into and immediately get angry and start cussing up a storm.
If you’re looking to get a filling meal on a budget, this is the place for you. Nothing on the menu cost more than $9. The chicken strip basket was like $7.25.
The strips were respectable. They were standard, frozen chicken strips, but they tasted good and had a nice crunch.
The fries and ranch could have been better. They were the type of fries that I really like — crispy and salty, but they tasted too greasy for my liking. Had they not had the taste of grease, this basket would have been a bit of a sleeper and scored a high-six or even low-seven.
The ranch tasted like regular, store bought ranch. Which is fine, but didn’t elevate the basket in any way. It also came with a nice piece of toast, which I appreciated.
Overall, I give Alexandria’s Downtown Diner a 6.3. The basket was OK, but the fries dragged it down a little.
I feel like the exact same people eat at this diner every week. I got the vibe that not many new customers walk through the door, but they have a loyal, local following. I also feel like they opened in the 1980s and haven’t touched anything inside the restaurant since.
6.3.
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