Found this place by accident. Needed a bathroom and something to eat. Got off at the Snowhill exit, heading south on Rt. 13, about a mile up on your right. Holy cow! Best fried chicken I ever ate. My wife had a cheesesteak that was outstanding. This definitely will be our lunch stop on our yearly trip to OBX. read more

this place allows people to be seated who they like that walk in with me me me atitude and cry and expect special treatment. We waited 20 minutes for our table and some one walks in demands a table and they give it to her. The solution? "oh, go see the manager, i just work here"! A lot of people were waiting it means nothing. We have been regulars here, they lost a customer. Heard people in line say the same. Don't waste you time coming here. read more

The food was plentiful and you definitely get heaping portions. Our server Barb was very kind and attentive. My reason for the three stars is it's very dreary in there... they really need a facelift. I understand the diner vibe but this was just sad. The other reason being with so many staff in there I could not understand why almost every booth was dirty, do the servers not prebus? Is it all up to the bussers because if so they should have gotten some of the tip I left. The point is even with good food and nice servers, if the place looks sad and dirty it's not gonna get the five stars. read more

I live 3 hours away and since I was visiting I wanted to come for some home cooking yumminess. We arrived at 3:48 and found a seat. We were awaiting 2 more in our party, but the staff did not know at that time. No on addressed any service to our table or even a hello until 4:02. kept looking at my phone yes accurate times... at 4:02 a guy with a beard goes I can get your drinks but Kim will be your waitress. So we give him our drink order and also for the two others we were waiting on who arrived at 4:06. kim finally comes to the table at 4:12. she takes all our orders. our food took a long time she never came back to refill our drinks. the food was delivered at 4:39. she walked by one time and said some sarcastic remark impatient people and walked off after the second time we had to get drink refills. between forgetting the string beans in the order which someone else brought. I made it worse by wanting a smith island piece of cake. she takes the last slice and scraps the crumbs dried up and all onto the top. does she bring the cake... nope leaves it on the counter for ten minutes with other customers walking to get their to go orders standing over it. i has my 12yr old get it. the only reason i gave Dayton a 3 at all is because their food is heart warming home cooked. i left her an 8 dollar trip on a 50 dollar check... not because she deserved it... but because i was like a deer in the headlights. number 1 worst service ever in my life and since I am almost 50 that's says a lot. especially when 2 other tables she serviced came in and out before we did. one came in at 4:48 was in and out before we left! she got them containers bags ... we had to get our own. we come early because my dad is hearing impaired and to much noise is hard on his hearing aids. we ended up leaving finally at 5:22 when she finally brought our check. do not get Kim as your waitress read more

I'm not one to let a dingy restaurant dissuade me from eating there... I love an old greasy spoon breakfast. And don't let it surprise you, this place could use a good scrub and update. We have been a few times, and seemed to be the youngest people in the joint by two decades each time. The menu is like eating at my grandmother's house, and I mean that in a good way. It's comfort food, Eastern Shore style- and I've had good soft crab sandwiches and oysters when I've ordered them. The prices are reasonable, and the service is adequate. read more

This is what a diner should always be. Really good food with an amazing waitstaff. I loved everything about this place. We went for breakfast. No frills, hot eggs, delicious French toast, crispy bacon and excellent house potatoes. The food is very good here (for breakfast) but the waitstaff and environment is what really makes this place a gem. People were getting up from their tables to greet and talk with other people they knew. Obviously many, many people in the area return to Daytons for breakfast and I fell in love with the community environment. Our waitress was hysterical and more than willing to alter any order, and get us what we needed. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this place (at least for Breakfast.) read more

Disappointing second visit. Self seating so we chose a booth. The waitress had a serving tray on it and rather than nicely say "I'll be with you in a moment" she grabbed the tray in an angry gesture and stalked off. A few minutes later the same waitress tossed down menus and without one word uttered stalked off again. I found her to be uncomfortably RUDE and we felt as though we walked into an unfriendly atmosphere. I decided this was not the restaurant for me and expressed to my husband "lets leave". As we were exiting the restaurant this same waitress barked a "I'll be with you in a minute" across the floor. Really? Like yelling that across the restaurant would change my mind. Nope. And mind you this is 2pm with maybe 3 other couples are in this establishment. Not for us. Never again. read more

This was the worst breakfast food I have eaten in a long while as it had no taste/flavor. I hate saying anything negative, but it truly was awful. Otherwise, the service was fine. read more

Food is good. Home cooking fair portion sizes for the price. Service is consistent. Consistently bad. The servers are not trained at all. We were in today for lunch. Our server took our order and got our drinks...And never came back. Another server brought us our food. He got us refills on our drinks and he cleared our empty plates, he also got her tip. We had to ask another server to get our check. Original waitress brought it and offered to get us diet drinks to go. We were drinking lemonade. Go for the food but don't expect good service. read more

I love this place. I've only ever been here for breakfast but it's some of the best in town. The menu is simple and downhomey. No crepes or croissants here. What you will get is a carafe full of coffee , plate sized pancakes, mounds of home fries, perfectly cooked bacon, grits, eggs , .... You get the picture . All of the entrees are dirt cheap too. I don't think there is a thing on there over $7.95. Come early on a Sunday...it gets jammed packed pretty quick. The service , is beyond 5 star. You 'll meet some of the finest folks in all of Salisbury serving up your food. Very courteous , very friendly. read more

It's always a treat for us when we want fried chicken. I'll go and get mine here at Daytons. Lived on the Eastern Shore for 28 years. Went to Daytons on occasion. Recently have gone more often. Our waitress was super nice. We love the turnip greens, and chicken. We have been very pleased when we dine in. I will continue going there as long as they are open. read more

Great place to go for breakfast. They have awesome service especially if you get Pete as your server. Lots of breakfast selection and very reasonable pricing. Coffee is weak, but I personally enjoy a few cups without jumping off the walls. Weekend mornings are pretty busy, so expect a little wait to get a table. read more

Dayton's is definitely a locals place--no yuppies; just good old plain Eastern Shore folks eating good ole Eastern Shore food. The fried chicken can't be beat in taste & price. Very economical. U do not pay for the ambiance though in a funny way it is here!! read more

I never knew it was "Dayton's Chicken & Seafood!" In fact, I don't think I've had any meal other than breakfast there. The food is good "down home" cooking, and the service is friendly and fast. The dishes, glasses and flatware don't always match. It is often quite crowded in the earlier morning - around 7 to 7:30 a.m., but most of the clientèle seems to be working folks so the tables turn over pretty quickly. I wouldn't hesitate to go there again. read more

This amazing diner serves southern style food. Friendly staff, seats late even when closing. Super fast service for the quantity of patrons. Their chicken and dumplings are to die for. So are their creamed chipped beef plates. The greens and stewed tomatoes rock too. Don't miss! We have lots of large family dinners here. read more

Dayton's is an economical restaurant. i personally like to eat breakfast here. The Dayton's special is normally 5.95 and it included coffee. I didn't see any health conscience breakfast items on the menu if you ware looking to eat fairly health. read more

Good food any time of day and decent prices. They have everything from a simple grilled cheese sandwich to burgers to fried fish & crabcakes. Soups are also good - try the clam chowder. This would be a 4-5 star review except that the service is awful. The best staff member is the older lady cashier who greets everyone as they enter and rings people up with a smile. Our waitress, a heavyset lady with glasses and shoulder length hair (which should've been tied back) was slow to approach our table, slow to refill our drinks and super slow to bring our check. The restaurant was not busy - 8 tables occupied and only 3 in her section. The busboy - middle aged man with dirty apron clearing tables - walked through the restaurant twice shoveling food into his mouth from a small bowl. And there were several tables left uncleared during the 40 minutes we were there. Love the food but floor staff needs to be retrained. read more

Great place to eat Ham steak was amazing staff is great. Young people should go there just to watch how hard older people work. Busy place yet everyone handles the pressure without a problem. Will definitely be coming back read more

We were antique shopping on a rainy day in Salisbury and in a heavy rain took a chance and pulled into the parking lot of Dayton's. As we into the restaurant with saw that it was a homey simple place. We were greeted by a very friendly waitress named Barb and she was a hoot! She went over the menu with us give us her personal and colorful commentary on each and every item. My wife ordered the four piece chicken dinner with macaroni and cheese and coleslaw and all were delicious. I bravely ordered the liver and onions with mashed potatoes and gravy and the greens and every bite was delicious, best greens I have ever tasted! Honestly one of the best home cook meals we've had in a long time. Definitely a comfort food diamond of a find! If you go there make sure you ask for the waitress Barb! read more

I've been going to Daytons since I was a little girl with my family and food and service used to be great. Last couple of months service has been hit or miss, but usually bad overall. But today service was bad and I received a burnt chicken breast I sent it back and got another one that was extremely overlooked very very dry. I went up and spoke with the owner Gordy and he went into the kitchen and brought out another breast that was also over cooked. He then tried to tell me that the breast have to be cooked that way to ensure they were done. NEVER in my life have I ever seen chicken cooked like that, Gordy then turned around and walked into the kitchen while I was in the middle of talking to him. I do not recommend this restaurant to anyone and I will never go back, as it was apparent that the owner cares less about his customers. Seemed like all he must be interested in is money. Also maybe the health department might want to know there are roaches there. read more

I would have given this a 3 star as the food was good, the server was awesome, but at the end of our meal my son went to the restroom and found cock roaches coming out of the kitchen area. YUCK! read more

This is a very popular spot for breakfast on Sunday and my wife have been going for years. We are definitely not "regulars" but good customer's nonetheless. That being said, Dayton's policy regarding "reserving" tables and booths for their "special" customer's sucks and I'm leaning towards never going back. We went in for breakfast this morning and, as usual they were busy. We were second in line and patiently waited for seating for two. The people in front of us got seated and we were next. The couple behind us in line were chatting with my wife and the woman said "what about that table down there?" My wife told her she checked that table and it said reserved so all of us kept waiting. In the meantime a waitress walked by and recognized the couple behind us and promptly plucked this couple from line and seated them at this "reserved" table the lady had mentioned. They simply just left us to keep waiting. It's obvious that the table was NOT reserved until a waitress recognizes somebody. This policy is not acceptable and only serves to alienate other customers. We will not go back. Ever. read more

Very disappointing. I ordered a Hot Turkey Sandwich, and imagine my surprise when it was brought out with BEEF gravy. It wasn't even real beef gravy, just something from a jar or can. I was even more surprised when I tried eating it anyway and realized that it was just deli sliced meat thrown on some bread. My husband ordered the Hot Roast Beef Sandwich and we had to flag our waitress down and ask her to put it in the microwave to heat it up. They had obviously put the hot gravy over the cold deli meat thinking that would be enough to warm it up, but they were wrong. If we had wanted deli meat on bread with some instant gravy, I could have gotten my first grader to do a better job. And the flies! So many flies! read more

This place definitely needs a makeover, someone please call Gordon Ramsey!! My first dinner experience wasn't too great. The inside appearance was the first turnoff, but was focused on trying the great food I always heard about. Once seated, couldn't help but to notice the unwanted guests....flies. Now I"m thinking, I'll order something hot, not cold. Finally, my husband and I ordered a chicken dinner (buy 1 get 1 half). I ordered the yams and stewed tomatoes as my sides. LOVED the taste of the chicken and was blown by the deliciousness of the stewed tomatoes (YUM!). My husband went to take the first bite of my yams and behold...a dead fly. As a previous restaurant manager and currently in my first tri-mester, sanitation and ambiance comes before great food anyday! read more

We are in the area for an extended stay and have eaten here at least ten times (within the past month) with various groups while caring for an ailing family member. The fried chicken, for which they're "famous," is hit or miss. Sometimes it's cooked to order and delicious, and other times (like-once again-last night) it's left over and reheated (in grease?) making it overcooked and inedible. There's no consistency in quality from one visit to the next. Last night, the drumsticks in our two fried chicken dinners were fresh and delicious, perfectly cooked, while the thighs in both dinners were dried out, dark brown on the inside by the bone, and completely flavorless. It wasn't food I would have wanted to eat, much less pay good money for. I mentioned it to the man at the cash register (waitress never came back so we could complain) and he insisted the chicken was all cooked fresh. Period! I should have brought my plate to the register with me to show him how "fresh" it was. And the mixed vegetables, although otherwise delicious, had excessive added SUGAR in them. Dinner service was tediously s-l-o-w, every time. Lunch service was efficient and quick. Want to love this place but hate never knowing what to expect. read more