T's Diner Style – Provo UT

On an especially hectic night, both Roni and I couldn’t muster the energy to cook a meal at home.  We were thinking of places that we could try and T’s Diner came to mind, as it was near the house and had recently opened.  I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from a place that bills itself as “American and Authentic Colorado-Mexican” cuisine.  Having tried both sides of the border on the menu I was left with mixed feelings.

On the one had, our first visit led to us discovering the best burgers in Provo.  No joke!  I had the guacamole bacon burger and the meat was well-seasoned and perfectly juicy.  The guacamole tasted fresh and it was the best that I have had in a while.  Roni’s burger was also well seasoned and expertly prepared.  The fries were also quite good, but don’t expect crisp perfection here.  These fries were a bit soggy, but were good enough that both Roni and I loved them.  The restaurant itself is simply decorated, and seems to dance the line between casual diner and fast food.  Perhaps that is the reason that it is merely “diner style” instead of a “diner.”

On the other hand, our shakes were a disaster.  I had a caramel shake and Roni had a chocolate shake.  These shakes were so watery that they were scarcely able to be called shakes; it was more like flavored milk.  Based on the burgers, we ended up going back to try the Mexican side of the menu; we were quite disappointed.  Roni ordered a carne asada burrito.  While the flavors were nice and the food tasted quite good, she could barely get through a bite without a rather large piece of gristle.  I can understand a piece here or there, but almost a full quarter of the burrito was inedible connective tissues (FYI: “inedible connective tissues” is rarely a good thing).  This speaks to laziness in preparing the meat and poor quality control in the kitchen.  In my dish, I ordered a green chili sauce to go over my burrito, but red sauce was put on.  Otherwise, there just wasn’t anything special about the burrito; it was immensely mediocre.

Our service also left much to be desired.  We sat at our table for several minutes after we were ready to order without anybody coming to the table to check up on us.  There was only one other table seated, so I doubt we were lost in the crowd.  Also, the server never came back to check up on how our meal was doing.  If she had, we would have told her the issues we had with our food (Roni with the gristle, and me with the wrong sauce on the burrito) and moved on with the dinner as happy customers.  However, the most unnerving thing was that when the waitress brought the receipt for me to sign she just waited there and STARED at us while we filled out the tip amount.  Not just in a friendly “let me get that for you” kind of way, but in an awkward “I want to see the how much of a tip you leave AS YOU WRITE IT” sort of way.  Furthermore, she wouldn’t give back the credit card until we had filled out the tip amount.  It. Was. Weird.  I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in a restaurant setting before.

With that being said, I really cannot say enough good things about T’s burgers.  If you want a the perfect diner-style burger, then this is the place for you.   However, I suggest that you get you steer clear of the Mexican menu and that you get your order to go.

Category: Fast Food
Food Quality: 3.5
Portion Size: 4
Speed: 4
Flavor: 4
Overall: 3.5
Price: $2-$8

tl;dr- Great burgers, mediocre Mexican.

T’s Diner Style
520 N 900 E St
Provo, UT 84606