A Real Neighborhood Restaurant…

We’d noticed a couple of positive comments on our local neighborhood Facebook site regarding a local restaurant that had been closed for quite a while after a death in the family.  We decided to give it a try…

This truly is a neighborhood restaurant.  Donna’s Diner is located at the intersection of a couple of moderately busy side streets in Lenoir City Tennessee.  It is quite a few blocks away from the main city thoroughfares of US Hwy 11 and US Hwy 321.

How many restaurants have you been to that have refrigerators and freezers in the dining area?  Add in the mismatched chairs and table coverings and you have a real neighborhood feeling…

My bride patiently waited while I took a couple of photos.  Note the outlets high on the wall… (Why?) Our only problem was that the room was so cold that even I kept my jacket on.  You could have hung meat in this room!  It wasn’t hot outside so we didn’t understand why the air conditioners were on at full blast…

The small dining area with the counter was warmer but those curved booth style seats play havoc with my lower back…so we opted to dine in the ‘Artic Room’.  Note: We arrived well before 5 PM so the restaurant wasn't very busy.

Our waitress was helpful and friendly… As was expected, most patrons in Donna’s Diner were regulars.  Everybody knew everyone else and the waitress even knew what some folks wanted to eat without being told.

I forgot to take a photo of my big House Salad before I chopped it up and mixed in the dressing. ($3.50) It included lettuce, carrots, shredded cheese, tomato, cucumber and chopped egg.  All the ingredients were fresh…

Laurie and I each ordered 8 oz. Double Cheeseburgers with Bacon. ($8.50) She added grilled onions to hers and she asked for a side of Homemade Potato Salad. ($2.00) She told me that the potato salad was very good…

When we asked for our hamburgers to be cooked medium rare, our waitress let us know that the cook (owner) won’t cook any hamburgers less than medium.  While that is usually not a positive thing, in this case because of the size of the hand-formed hamburgers, they were still juicy when they were served.  The flavor of our burgers right off the grill was excellent!

Donna’s offers a wide variety of sandwiches as well as daily specials for lunch and dinner.  All sandwiches come with potato chips.  Bread of choice can be grilled, toasted or plain.  Your sandwich can be plain, ‘dressed’ or ‘all the way’.  With the exception of our 8 oz. double cheeseburgers, all sandwiches are priced at $5.00 or less.

In addition to a number of salad entrees, Donna’s offers the normal meat and side plates so common in the south.  Plate dinners, with such items as grilled chicken, codfish or ‘city ham’, cost $5.50 with one side, $6.50 with 2 sides and its $8.50 for the hamburger steak with 2 sides and bread.  There are 12 sides to choose from…

For dessert, one can order banana pudding, the daily special, ice cream or a milk shake. 

Donna’s Diner is a downhome place to have a good burger.  It’s located at 101 Kingston Street in Lenoir City Tennessee.  Phone: 865-816-6035.  Donna’s Diner is a downhome place to have a good burger. Donna’s is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Donnas-Diner/111610582210461.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave