December 29, 2025 - Jackson, CA This diner was a great stop for breakfast while traveling through Jackson on our way to Yosemite. It's a classic diner, so the atmosphere is exactly what you'd expect, but the service was excellent and my meal was good. I appreciated the "Seniors 59 and Older" section on the menu--perfect for those of us who don't eat as much as we used to. I ordered the Breakfast Sandwich ($8.49), which came with bacon, egg, and cheese on an English muffin. It was a perfect portion and very tasty. Would definitely stop here again. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - December 29, 2025 - Breakfast Sandwich ($8.49) from the Senior (59+) Section. - American Near Me - Jackson, California

After living in Jackson for a year and a half we decided to give Mel's a shot. We ordered the special of the day, pot roast. Tasted and looked like it could have been yesterday's meat recycled for tonight. Lousy! Maybe an off night as the parking lot looks full most of the time. My neighbor likes it. The fish and chips were acceptable. read more

Always happy with the food and customer service each and every time. This was our first time coming in for breakfast! We ordered the waffles and the corned beef hash. The restaurant was busy and the inside was pretty packed. We sat outdoors where they had really warm patio heaters. It was nice and comfortable. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Corned beef hash - American Near Me - Jackson, California

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A Mom and Pop version of a Mel's or black bear diner. Where those lack a sense of true unique individualism, this diner has a wonderful atmosphere and the decor feels very organic and natural. The food is all fresh and never frozen and made to order fresh. We waited less than 10 minutes for a booth. The server was professional and courteous. Everything came out hot and was delicious. read more

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Updating my review. Apparently it's been over 7 years since my last review. I've been dining here plenty of times since then. Not sure what's the story on why Faye's name is no longer on the building's signage. But the food and service is the same. Yummy American diner fare served up by a welcoming well synched wait team in Jackson, CA. The dining room gets loud and crowded at peak time. And it's not particularly large. There are booths along the walls and the rest are tables in the center. The neighboring tables were in arms reach of each other. Hubs and I sat at a table at the end, so wait staff and customers buzzed to the right and left of us. Distracting for sure. Hubs hated that. I didn't mind it as much as him, but that's only because I was focused on my meal. Zoning out the world as I ate. So we vowed not to dine there being peak times and avoid that table. My favorite menu items are the fried chicken, hamburgers, Chef salad, and the prime rib. The fried chicken plate is 4 pieces of fried chicken with cole slaw, fries, and Texas toast $17.50. The chicken is fried to a crisp crunch exterior, moist interior. Delicious. The Texas toast is buttery divine. They have a pretty large burger selection. Classic diner burgers and fries done right. You can substitute other sides for the fries. The coleslaw and potato salad do not particularly wow me though. Now let's talk about the prime rib. $36.95. It's only served on Friday and Saturday after 4 pm. It's not the best ever prime rib but way better than several of the steakhouses in El Dorado Hills. It's served with a salad, baked potato, vegetables, and a roll. The salad was served chilled cold, the bowl and contents. Great on a hot day. The roll I got on my last recent visit was a pretzel roll. Mmm. The prime rib was a nice substantial size. They seasoned the sides giving it a crust. Flavorful. The meat was tender. But unlikely to be a prime cut so probably a choice or select. Nothing wrong with that especially if it's cooked right which they do. It was served with au jus, horseradish and sour cream. The au jus was flavorful. The side of veggies reminded me of the frozen medley mix, not fresh. But did I mention it's a diner. Another tidbit was that they have Tesla chargers in the parking lot. //// In the rural foothills town of Jackson, CA, is a local family owned restaurant... Mel & Faye's Diner. It is right on Highway 88. They have been a mainstay of the community for quite a long time. But lets be real, So overup front is a walk up ice cream counter window with an outdoor seating area. Inside is the main restaurant dining room. So this place does serve an eclectic bunch of patrons. read more

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Mel & Faye's Diner is a tradition in our house to stop for a few on the way back to the East Bay after large family functions out that way. I always love seeing the regulars, travelers, and visitors line the booths of this historic spot. Typically I always grab a burger because I feel that's what they're known for, but Sunday morning I did the breakfast special (Eggs Benedict) and a mimosa. This was our first time bringing the kiddo and also for our friends accompanying to bring their kiddo, so as one can imagine, it was quite the lively table. The staff is really so excellent when it comes to making the meal experience what you would expect from a diner pit-stop and then some. We were given a booth with ample room for the littles and kid's menus/crayons for entertainment. It seems that Mel & Faye's is now conjoined with BJ's Lounge Bar if you're looking for a little something to take the edge off..aka a sip in your hand to wash it all down nicely. Fair pricing, solid food, and a lively atmosphere that I'm sure stays hoppin'. If you're looking for a spot with a little something for everyone to enjoy of all ages, Mel & Faye's is where it's at. From breakfast to dinner (after 4p), chicken tendies, burgers, and a super yummy Turkey sandwich to name a few items, there's lots on the menu to dive into... Next time I'm for sure grabbing a slice of pie or shake to round out the diner feels! read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Eggs Benedict Special - American Near Me - Jackson, California

Another fine lunch here in this great spot. Sit in the restaurant or grace the wonderful bar and watch big screen television while you drink and dine. Remarkable service at the bar makes this a great experience. I like the bar and the local conversation. Service is fast and friendly. Today I had the Miners special hamburgers with great chili over them. So much I had some for dinner later. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Miners special plate. Yum yum - American Near Me - Jackson, California

Everything about Mel and Faye's diner is wonderful. The staff, the food, the extensive menu and drinks. It's a warm hug.

I'm giving this place 5 stars for the vibe, the staff and the staffs hustle. I had a chili dog and fries... what it amazing? It was a chili dog and fries!! It's what I wanted and it filled the craving. I sat at the counter and what stood out to me was the wait staff who were quick to assist you and friendly. What also stood out to me was that the entire staff was hustling. Looking into the kitchen the cooks were quickly addressing orders coming in and the servers were buzzing around covering their duties. From my perspective this group all were working hard and together. It impressed me. Would I go back? Absolutely. There's a Tesla Supercharger behind the restaurant but if I needed some good diner food with a cold beer I'm coming here. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Chili Dog and Fries - American Near Me - Jackson, California

They have a great Taco Tuesday!! I've been there several times with parties of 6+ and always have been completely satisfied. People are great and food is delicious.. read more

We went to Mel's diner yesterday for lunch, but we didn't go in the main restaurant so we went into BJ's the bar. The waitress was fantastic very bubbly, very energetic very positive. Great welcoming. On Tuesday, they have taco Tuesdays for $1.50 for your tacos and we decided to order those and lemonade. The tacos were fantastic the lemonade with sensational ice cold, quench your thirst. I highly recommend this place. I believe we met the owner yesterday. He was a wonderful gentleman very polite very nice very welcoming. Thank you so much from us. It was very nice to meet you. We love your restaurant. read more

This was my third time eating here over the years and always found it to have good food, good service, and the ambiance you would expect of any place calling itself "Mel's." Just what we needed after a parade in Sutter Creek and some gaming by my wife. It was great to watch the crew work as a well-oiled team preparing the orders. We recommend this place, sit at the left counter and enjoy the show. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Loved the burger, though the sweet potato fries might have done with another min in the oil. - American Near Me - Jackson, California

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Monday meatloaf special was delicious, what a Winner! Bar vibe is great, bartender and servers super friendly and the beer is ice cold. Love this spot! read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Monday Meatloaf special... for special K himself. - American Near Me - Jackson, California

We stopped by here on the way home from the mountains a couple of months ago. Atmosphere was really cool and the food was good and the staff was nice. read more

We were here with the rest of the entire county for Christmas delights last week lol -- we beat the rush by about 35 seconds and got seated right away. Booth was TIGHT, and I'm a very average height in shape person, so keep that in mind if you are not. Service was fast, food was fast--two things that are essential when dining out with a toddler and a baby--but just average tasting. I remember it being better as a teen, but to be fair it was a super crazy busy night. The milkshakes are always a hit though, make sure you save room! read more

Since moving into the area 4 months ago I've been to Mel and Faye's at least 15 times. The food and the people who work there are always welcoming. You can't beat the price for food and drinks. Daily specials make this a spot I keep coming back to. BG's bar is another spot connected to Mel's that has a pool table and pinball machines. Great spot to watch football and enjoy the Sunday specials like loaded fries and bottomless mimosas. 10/10 recommend for the people, food, and vibes. read more

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As a regular visitor for 5 or so years, the last three visits here have not been impressive. The care taken over the food seems to have gone down hill. The chicken was very tough and dry and frankly hard to eat. The child's meal was a sad affair plopped onto a plate with little effort. The bread used was very low quality. Just all felt rushed, cheap and careless. We don't expect Michelin stars but I think paying customers should expect more from their local diner than what we have recently been experiencing. Staff were great and very friendly, that's always the case here but we'll sadly be giving this a miss from now on. read more

Used to come here like 20 years ago. Often!! Up near Jackson and cutting down Christmas trees. Now? Don't waste your money or your time. There are alot better places around. Burger was horrible. Could have gotten better in a Big Mac. Potato salad awfull. Weird taste. We will not be coming back. End of an era. Maybe another case original owners passed and kids don't have the heart or fire. That spark that used to be there is gone. SAD! Even the "Pepsi" didn't taste like Pepsi. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Same as a Big Mac - American Near Me - Jackson, California

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This restaurant has a family/hometown feel. The menu is large and everything we ordered was fresh and large portions. The service was amazing! As soon as we sat down there was a server to our table getting our drink order. Each server was attentive and made sure we were taken care of. Especially our server Robert. Our waters were always filled. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Western BBQ chicken sandwich - American Near Me - Jackson, California

We decided to take a drive through Jackson today and stop at our favorite place to get a chocolate malt to go. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed. The chocolate malt we ordered first had too much malt in it, which caused the milkshake to be gummy. We decided to take it back and they made us a new one with only one scoop of malt instead the excessive amount used in the first one. Then we couldn't taste any malt in the second one. Have they started using soft serve instead of real ice cream? I'm not sure I didn't ask them at the time. It just wasn't the same as what we've gotten before. The girls who served us were very friendly and happy to accommodate . read more

Way too noisy. Unable to enjoy meal or speak to friends at my table. Food was good, but ears rang for hours after leaving.

Mel & Fay's Diner has been a staple institution in Jackson for decades. Great place to go for a shake with the family after a game or meet some old friends for lunch. Absolute small town diner 10/10. read more

Came here on a Saturday morning. Pretty busy but not busy enough to wait to be seated. We sat down fairly quick. The hostess to the waitress were very welcoming and kept checking on us which is exceptional. The ambience and the decor fits the restaurant. Gives you country diner feel. The food was decent. I ordered corned beef hash and eggs and personally I liked it! I would definitely come back. read more

This place is amazing!!! Way better than most diners in this area. I highly recommend it. The staff was amazing and so was the food. Overall service 10/10. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Breakfast - American Near Me - Jackson, California

The burger I ordered was nothing special it wasn't amazing and it wasn't bad. Right the down the middle of the road.

Classic old diner adjacent to Tesla Supercharger, historic downtown Jackson, and CA-49 and CA-88. Country fried steak, eggs, and hash browns were pretty tender and cooked well. Fast service and atmosphere has antique decorations. Staff and manager were helpful and other things were accommodating. Highly advise anyone to dine here while traveling. read more

I have been coming to Mel's & Faye's for years, and I've always had a great meal and great service. The interior is comfortable and efficient, and it is one of the few places in town that you can get an affordable sit-down meal and a good cocktail. I've had many of the things on the menu, but I always come back to the corned beef hash - breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is the corned beef hash that a measure all other hashes by. It cooked nice and crispy, a served with two eggs - I usually get poached or sunny-side up. The coffee is also consistently good. I recently stopped by here to take photos of the hash for my book about Corned Beef Hash. The photos of the hash are featured in the book. Mel's did not disappoint, the dish was served exactly as I expected and I was able to capture some excellent photos of the corned beef hash for the book. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Corned Beef Hash and sunny-side up eggs, with hash browns and coffee. - American Near Me - Jackson, California

My burger was super good and reasonably priced for how big it was. I got a double patty and I was starving but could barely finish it.. The employees were definitely on it and super friendly. I've been wanting to check this place out for a while and I'm glad I did. This is definitely a great spot read more

We have been long time faithful patrons of Mel's and BGs. Tonight was the second time we were utterly disappointed in our service and in the atmosphere. BGs had become a "frat house". The music is blaring so everyone had to yell to hear their dining companions. The patrons are going behind the bar to change TV channels. The patrons are air dropping local sports on the TVs and then because the music is so loud they turn the TV volume up so those sitting under the TVs are run out. We won't be back for a while. Hourly the service can improve. Sad to see things go down hill so fast. We've loved this place until recently!! Please fix this! read more

What a GEM! We stopped to charge while going to our camping spot. Thought we would stop in for a bite. I was blown away by the service. We had one waitress, but had three or four others coming and checking on us. It was fantastic! So different than a lot of places nowadays. The food was good! Everything tasted fresh and was hot! The price is right and I really had no complaints, so my son and I came back! We enjoyed it so much, we came for brunch...and it was just as good! New people, same experience! This is how you run a restaurant! read more

Plenty of parking - zero entry access Expect a crowd Fun diner experience Breakfast anytime I've never been disappointed (3 visits) Respectful young employees Most importantly; good food with decent prices read more

Food came out quickly after ordering and it was cooked perfectly. Steak was tender and flavor was good. Biscuit was soft and moist with the gravy! Great staff & not too busy when we went. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Ribeye Dinner & country breakfast - American Near Me - Jackson, California

Thanks to all 3 restaurants having the wrong time on the internet I ended up here for dinner tonight. I chose to sit at the counter since I was by myself and what a treat that was. It was refreshing to see the staff getting along so well and laughing and helping each other all while getting orders out hot and quickly. The young lady who served me was new and did very well. She was friendly and helpful. I also noticed what seemed to be the kitchen or even restaurant manager giving feedback to a chef. I ordered the 4 piece fried chicken dinner with French fries and onion rings and toast. To drink I had a modelo tomato beer. It all came out hot but the fries and onion rings did cool a bit waiting on chicken(small timing error). The bill was $24.60 with an 18% tip. Very reasonable considering I brought home lunch for tomorrow. Old school diner with a family feel. I will be back. read more

Food was great and the taco Tuesday was perfect. What i was impressed with was the 4 line cooks at lunch. We sat at the counter and watched as they worked together like a well oiled machine. I was a GM in the restaurant business for 40 years. This effort for your cooks was outstanding. Kudos to those men. Dave Cupps read more

Busy old-fashioned type of retro American diner, service efficient if not effusive, food came quickly but was thoroughly average, come here for the experience if not the eats. read more

Came here with a big group--great vibes overall! Some of the servers seemed a little confused, but they were still nice. Got the Oreo milkshake and it was delicious. The hamburger was good, nothing crazy--just a solid classic burger. Onion rings were decent too. Bonus: Tesla chargers are conveniently in the parking lot, so it was an easy dinner stop while charging. read more

Mel & Faye's Diner - Moo Burger Milkshakes - American Near Me - Jackson, California

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Great breakfast spot. Had a delicious ham and cheese omelet. Great vibe lots of smiles. Not to mention the .50 cookies.

Was up camping near Jackson and decided to stop here on the way home. It was pretty busy but we were sat immediately. They have a restaurant area and bar area. They have TVs in the restaurant area as well. The service was amazing. It seemed like the whole staff asked us how we were doing throughout which was pretty nice. I ordered A BBQ Beef sandwich w/fries and coleslaw and a Caramel Shake. Everything was delicious! The sandwich was full of meat and sauce. The coleslaw tasted fresh and the fries were perfect. The star of the show was the shake. It was nice and thick. Not watery like most places. So good! My girl got the Western Salad. It was big and equally as good. Overall great experience! read more

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We were knocking around town and didn't know where to stop for breakfast. I looked this up and even with the mixed reviews on Yelp, we decided to pop in. Glad we did. Cute, eclectic, diner vibe. Nice and clean even if it's older looking. You can tell this is where the locals go. We ordered the chicken fried steak with hash browns, two eggs over medium, English muffin and a chocolate shake to share - I mean, why not?! The shake came out first with two spoons. It was delicious! Nice and thick and chocolaty! The meal then came out. Everything was cooked perfect except for the hash browns which were slightly burnt. It was all delicious and we enjoyed the gravy with some extra pepper. The server was very friendly and as attentive as she could be with the amount of tables she had. We will definitely be back to try the burgers. I watched those go past the tables a few times and they were generous looking! read more

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Good food and drinks. Friendly local staff and atmosphere. Check it out if you're in town. read more