The food is amazing, and the servers at the hot food table are friendly and welcoming. I had the fried chicken leg quarter with their Sunday-only cornbread dressing, cabbage (and/or mixed greens), the sweet potatoes (which can serve as a side or a dessert!), and their famous cornbread in the form of a hoe cake. My Mom had the very tender and delicious baked pork chop with gravy and dressing, mac&cheese and green beans. The line is long after church on Sundays, but they keep it moving, there's always somebody to converse with in line, and it's worth the wait! Carol Sue read more

Fresh food cook every day love the catfish cornbread service is nice friendly always have a smile. The place is clean. I do have a place you can sit down and eat but try to get there early if you're trying to get in for lunch. read more

Diners Delight - a man and a woman in a restaurant - Soul Food Near Me - Saint Louis, Missouri

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The food is always good and plentiful.I appreciate the hospitality always the men are always smiling and happy to serve their customers I appreciate Good service always. read more

The BF and I have stopped in a few times after church on Sunday. The food is definitely hit-n-miss. The fried chicken, greens and mac-n-cheese is always a solid choice, haven't missed yet. We love the seasoning and skin on the fried chicken, it's perfect!!! The chicken is cooked well, tender and moist but yet still fried hard which we love to ensure the chicken is done. A huge disappointment was the beef ribs and rice pilaf, both lacking seasoning and substantial flavor. Yes, the beef ribs are fall of the bone but they are tasteless and over-priced for the quality. The corn bread is good. Another disappointing dish is the smothered pork chops. The porkchops do not stand up to the massive amount of gravy they are sitting in. It renders the porkchop lifeless and soggy and the gravy isn't seasoned to add insult to injury. The turn over is good, so it ensures the food is coming out hot-n-fresh, the staff do a good job at keeping the trays filled. It's worth a try to check out soul food in the STL read more

Diners Delight - Beef ribs - Soul Food Near Me - Saint Louis, Missouri

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Food so good I thought I was ascending. 10/10 no notes. I got the pork steak with yams and Mac and cheese for dinner and my dad got the fried chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes and everything was awesome. I've never had cornbread I liked before trying it here. I will be stopping by again next time I'm in St. Louis. read more

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We Traveled from Kansas City Mo. just to try Diners Delight which we were told had Great Food. When we arrived they only had fried Chicken and Smothered Pork Chops considering it's was the day before Thanksgiving we understood so we decided to order and it was NASTY!!!!!!!!!!! No seasoning on the Chops the Greens were salty as HELL and the Dressing was like MUSH what a big disappointment Never Again read more

Oh, the oxtails !! Delicious and tender; sweet potatoes sweet and succulent without being overcooked; cabbage was just right. The corn cakes made everything come together. I'll be back!!! read more

I had a delivery order for three dinners. When was the barbecue rib chips with black eyed peas and sweet potatoes. It was good I had a fish order and a chicken order they sent two fish dinners instead of a chicken dinner and a fish dinner and the fish on both dinners was horrible . The spaghetti on both dinners had too much garlic in it perry, very disappointed with those two dinners. Will not order again. read more

I have been eating at this restaurant since 1983 and usually at least once a week and I've never had a bad meal and a plus are their hot water cornbread and peach cobbler. read more

Great food, especially their Oxtails on Tuesdays it's to die for, so good and tender. Home made pound cake etc. and the Banana pudding too. Just check it for yourself and the other items on the menu. You can't go wrong! Eat Drink and Enjoy! read more

Old school favorite. The best soul food in the Lou. Long standing business, built on great service great food and prices.

Last time I left a review for this place was three years ago. I went yesterday for the first time in years and things have changed. A lot of the side dishes look like they were out of a can. Even the Mac n cheese, which was one of my favorite things, looked and tasted like prepackaged food that they doctored up. When I go to a soul food place, I expect the food to be made fresh with love. I don't expect prepackaged foods and can goods. I ordered baked chicken, dressing and mac n cheese. The baked chicken and dressing were both good, Mac n cheese not so much. They have also gone up on their prices, and their online menu prices are outdated. Service was friendly, still as I remembered it. Ambiance was family style, I ent on a Sunday which I'm sure is one of the busier days. The line was long but it went fast. I don't have to go again read more

Well, all I can say is that I tried! To start, the staff aren't the most welcoming as you enter the establishment. The server stood and looked then asked for what I wanted. She seemed to have an attitude with a scowl on her face. The food was at best mediocre not even to the level of a banquet meal. I will do Diner's Delight a favor and end my review now. I would not recommend! read more

My husband and I went for lunch and the food was nasty. How can you not be able to season food at a soul food restaurant. A lot of mystery meat looking crap. Green beans from a can. First and last.​​ read more

Great place for down home cooking and they get you served pretty fast. I've been there with the lines out the door and still got my food within about 20 minutes so no complaints on my side. Chicken is very good. Any of the greens are good. I don't think there's anything there they serve bad. They also understand people moving they know how to get you in and out fast read more

Friendly Family style restaurant Great Food Great service Harty helping Drove 11hours and wasn't disappointed I shall return read more

The best honey glazed chicken, turkey and Mac and cheese! The service was good and friendly

It was ok. I ordered the veggie plate collard greens, Mac and cheese and yams. The yams were good but the Mac and cheese made me nauseous lt wasn't tasty at all. The greens weren't that great either, overall I'd say it's an acquired taste of soul food. Friendly people and great service. read more

Very disappointed my entire meal had to be trashed. I had something that was supposed to be baked Mac which was a dry sauce clump of boxed Mac with no flavor and unappealing to the eye. The smothered wings no flavor nor seasoning and the yams tasted burnt. Can not recommend this to anyone, this is a poor representation of what soul food cooking is to be read more

Food was awesome! Well cooked , service was exceptional aswell . Will definitely be back.

This place needs to train all employees owner included on customer services your food will be cold by time they check you out only one person can do that l wouldn't recommended this to out of towners horrible manners and they have the nerve to ask for a tip this is tip for you treat people how you would like to be treated when you're spending your read more

Diners delight is a small soul food restaurant in Compton heights with Big flavors and the taste of home, southern style. Nestled in a residential neighborhood, there is off street parking and a few tables to eat in. It's the carry out traffic that is their bread and butter. This buffet style entrance helps customers get served quickly, service with a smile and you get a Birds Eye view of all the delicious offerings. Every dinner comes with cornbread. My favorites are the smothered cabbage and the baked turkey. They are consistent- same deliciousness every time, maybe that's how they have stood the test of time. read more

Upon entering I noticed that the service was Extremely slow, and no there wasn't a lot of customers at this particular time. When I was next up in line, the server stood away from the stem table and acted as if she wasn't interested in serving me. It took her nearly 3 to 4 minutes before she stepped up and asked what I'd like to eat. The older lady then properly ate my food, but I had to wait a few minutes for the corn bread to be cooked, as well as the customers before me. When I returned to work and began eating my lunch, I found my food to be EXTREMELY salty. I even allowed a co-worker to taste it and they agreed the food was salty. This is the 1st time I've ever found the service and the food to be subpar. read more

I came here years ago with the intent to visit Sweetie Pies. We had driven all the way to St. Louis from Chicago and it was closed. The locals said go to Diners Delight, it's better than Sweetie Pies. When I tell you I was not disappointed... and that's big from a real foodie like me from Chicago. The food was soo good that I still remember it. I thought it had closed down but I had the name all wrong. I'm in STL now with my family and I'm so excited to see they are open. Doing a foodie dance right neow! Best fried Chicken I had tasted and the sides were bangin'. read more

Food is great, service was good. Friendly atmosphere. Prices are reasonable needs better parking

I would have liked to try their food but we were ignored. We went about 6pm on a Tuesday. There was one couple in line and about 5 or 6 behind the counter. We stood and waited for about ten minutes. The couple in front of us kept giving us dirty looks and the workers didn't even acknowledge us. My husband finally said let's go. We ended up at Sweetie Pies. It was a very sad situation because we were made to feel not welcome and all we wanted to do was get some dinner to go home. read more

Diners Delight is located on the corner of Compton and Park, which is a place that you wouldn't expect a restaurant to be at. After a recommendation from a friend, I went to try Diners Delight and since, I've been back a couple of times when I'm craving some soul food. When you step into Diner's Delight, you get a sense of home cooking and the smell of food comes right at you. You order cafeteria style and get 1 main entree and 1-2 sides based on your preference. I recently went and ate with a friend and I got the fried chicken plate while my friend got beef ribs plate. The fried chicken was solid, but I wish that they would give more chicken. I also enjoyed the sides that I got (green beans and mac and cheese) and the accompanying cornbread. The cornbread in the pancake form makes it more enjoyable and is one of the best cornbread that I've tried. My friend got the beef ribs and the portion was just INSANE (picture below)! They piled the plate with so much beef ribs that it was enough to be for two people. The ribs were tender and seasoned well. They also have Fish Fry Fridays where they have Fried Catfish Steaks, which is one of my favorite dishes that they have here. I have enjoyed my experiences eating at Diners Delights and it's definitely a place that I would recommended for others to try. They definitely you a bang for your buck! read more

Diners Delight - Catfish dinner - Soul Food Near Me - Saint Louis, Missouri

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I really don't know what is harder to do. Is it harder to take a restaurant from 4 Stars down to 2 Stars or is it harder to raise a restaurant from 1 Star up to 4 Stars? I'm going to say, it is going from 1 up to 4. Why? Because, I have to swallow my pride and admit, that I was wrong. However, I am happy to say that I have removed Diner's Delight from my No-No List and it most likely will be a place I frequent when I am to lazy to cook (which is often). After seeing DD appear on Ian Froeb's STL 100 List for 2016, I knew I had to give them a second chance. He raved about their Oxtail, but that is not for me. Luckily he also raved about their fried chicken and that is more to my liking. In fact on my recent visit, I ordered the exact same thing I did on 7/11/2012 which was my last visit. Eating the exact same food on 9/13/2016, I wonder to myself, how could I have ever given them only 1 Star. This food is delicious and simple comfort food. The fried chicken is juicy, crispy and simply seasoned with salt and pepper and maybe a little love. There's no over powering spices, it just simple fried chicken like your granny use to make on Sunday after church. This time, I feel in love with the Mac-n-Cheese. As I'm enjoying it with my chicken, I'm wondering how it would match up to the Meatloaf that I saw on the steam table earlier. Oh, that definitely will be a future meal for me. Those green beans that I had, will also be a repeat in that meal as well. DD, I did you wrong 4 years ago. You truly are one of the best 100 restaurants in STL. Your food is simple, it's not overly produced and it is comfort food at its' best. I am so glad you are no longer on my No-No List. It was a No-No for me to have put you on it in the first place. When: September 13, 2016 Why: Lunch and Ian Froeb's STL 100 read more

Diners Delight - White Fried Chicken with Mac-n-Cheese & Green Beans - Soul Food Near Me - Saint Louis, Missouri

Amazingly delicious soul food. My dad has been coming here since I was a kid. I just wish the green beans weren't from a can. read more

I always, ALWAYS, see a ton of cars parked in their parking lot, a ton of people inside, and a ton of people always walking out of this restaurant with white carryout boxes. I've been curious about this place because I always drive by it going to work, so I decided to give it a try one random Sunday. As expected, the restaurant was full of people. It reminded me of Sweetie Pie's in terms of food selection. I got a fried chicken meal with some mashed potatoes with gravy and some mac and cheese. The chicken was delicious, but I was disappointed that I only got one piece - including one entire leg. It was seasoned very well and was super juicy. The mashed potatoes were very homey and had the right amount of butter and gravy on them. The mac and cheese wasn't amazing, but it was fine. I think next time I'll try some of the green beans instead. My friend got a turkey dinner. The turkey was GREAT! I also really liked the dressing and gravy that came with it. The thyme (or is it rosemary) that permeates the dressing is awesome and it goes very well with each bite of turkey. The only disappointing thing about our meal (and probably the reason why I didn't give this place 5 stars) was the banana pudding. I LOVE banana pudding, and they just didn't make it well. The vanilla wafers were very stale and lacked the necessary crunch to counteract the mushiness of the pudding and create that contrasting textural wonderfulness in your mouth. Overall awesome food! If you want some soul food come here! Everything looks so good! I'll definitely be coming here in the near future! read more

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Great food around Been coming here for years great food Baked Turkey Wings o my Beef Rib Plate off the chain

Black owned establishment with no center A/C but fans are available to keep it cool and air flowing. I didn't eat there only had the pineapple banana pudding. Very good and large portion for the small size. Good and friendly customer service, private parking lot and street parking is available. My friends who I was visiting and dining in there was raving over the food, also looking good to me as well. Next time I'm in STL I will have to try this out again. read more

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This place is great, best place for a stick to your ribs type meal. They change up everyday so you have a lot to choose from, occasionally I have stopped there and they ran out of my favorites, but I can always eat one of their other specials. Running out like that tells me the stuff is fresh as they only prepare enough for that day! read more

Excellent service and delicious food! Very pleased and full. Large portions and full of favor. Sweetie Pies has nothing on them period went there yesterday and was disappointed hands down this place is better Back a year later and the food is still awesome. I only come here when I'm in town. I love the staff and the food. They are so nice and friendly. I love them. read more

I caught these people in the best day of the week (ox tail day). I was satisfied with the Mac n cheese as a side, and I got cabbage as my second. This place is close to my house and has been open since 1950 or something like that. This is the best soul food in St.Louis read more

Tried this place on a Tuesday evening. It's pretty typical of a small soul food joint. The menu items seem to change depending on day of the week. I don't usually eat meat so I tried veggies and I can't complain. the buffet line was about five minutes long but once you select items and pay you're off to the dining area. The staff were friendly and although they don't have servers some staff came to our table to make sure we didn't have additional needs.. read more

Absolutely loved this place!! Yum Yum..can't wait until I return. Hot water cornbread made me drooling.

Called Diners Delight for a day-of request for dressing. They were able to make me a 9x13 pan and it was hot and so so good. My first time trying them and I was not disappointed. Thank you Mr. Teddy! read more

After reading Tracey's rave review for this place, I had to stop by last night to give it a try. It's been on my to-go list for a while now and last night I was feeling kinda "blah" so I decided soul food might be the answer to my problems....food therapy, mmmm the best kind of therapy (cheaper than paying a shrink too, if you're eating at Diner's Delight.) It was about 7:30pm or so by the time we got there and some of the food was already sold out. Thankfully they still had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and mac n cheese. Those were the three things I really, really wanted to try. Oh yeah, and gravy/cornbread as well! They have a menu that changes every day but the one common item on the menu for every day is fried chicken, and thank god for that. I love their fried chicken. More specifically, the fried chicken had a really crispy breading which was seasoned with some type of spice blend. I have no idea what was in it, but it was magical. Sweet, salty, and a hint of something else....? The chicken inside (I had white meat breast with the wing... the dark meat with the leg is slightly cheaper, FYI) was really juicy and not dried out at all. It had a great flavor. Because we ended up stopping by another place on our way home, my food wasn't really hot or even warm anymore by the time I ate it...but like Tracey W. mentioned, it didn't matter! I could have taken the time to heat it up but I was so starved that I didn't care. And it didn't even matter. STILL GOOD even cold! The mac n cheese was kind of a disappointment for me but maybe that's because I prefer my noodles a bit more...firm? It tasted "OK" but wasn't earth-shatteringly good but it somehow still "went" with the rest of the food I got if that makes any sense at all.... As in, it wasn't too rich and it wasn't too heavy/sickening to eat (like the Shaved Duck's...still good though) but that was probably a good thing because the mashed potatoes were very heavy. Not sure if I would get the mac n cheese again right off the bat simply because there are still other side I want to try like the mashed yams/sweet potatoes. The potatoes had a nice creaminess about them without screaming "we were made with only heavy cream and lots of butter!" (But maybe they were?! Gasp!) They were smooth and had some other flavor to them which I cannot describe....as if they were cooked in the same vessel which cooked meat or a vegetable. Or maybe it was just seasoning? Who knows. Either way these were some of the best mashed potatoes I've ever eaten in my life and I liked that I didn't feel ultra ill after eating them. I could only finish about 1/2 of the serving they gave me though, btw. SO FILLING! The gravy was SO freaking amazing. It had a rich, savory, hearty,....meatyyyy flavor to it. It went perfectly with the mashed potatoes and chicken. There was a chunk of meat in the gravy so I suspect it came from the porkchops that were also available that night. (Sooo on my list of what to try next from D.D.) The corn bread was like a little pancake! Such an unusual way of making cornbread but I really liked it! Makes it easier to eat in the car on the ride home, that's for sure. It was a tiny bit dry but not sure if that's standard or if it had been dry from sitting out all day. Service was great too, btw. The guy helping me out was younger and really nice. He accidentally under-charged me for the white meat I got and I told him I'd pay the correct amount but he said no worries since he already punched it in the register. He handed both Sean and I pens, business cards, and menus and told us to not be strangers. My entire meal was less than $8 which was an incredible price considering I could have only eaten that whole thing for my only meal in one day and not been hungry at all for anything else because it was so filling! Oh man, Diner's Delight.....y u so good?! I am already plotting (yes, plotting) my next trip to this place because I can't stop thinking about it. That's how good it was. I am scared to imagine how many calories I ate last night but now I know that one meal from this place is so filling (and cheap!) that I could eat here once a day and not have to ever eat again for the entire rest of the day. It's like a one-stop calorie intake/feeling of fullness for me, lol! Oh yeeeah! read more

Diners Delight - Pork chop + fried corn + mashed potatoes and gravy!! - Soul Food Near Me - Saint Louis, Missouri

I went back a second time in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately the food was completely unseasoned and bland. I bought two dinners with two different meats and five sides and NOTHING was seasoned. Really very disappointed! It's a good chance I won't be back. read more