If you're making the drive between Santa Fe and Roswell, this is realistically the only stop--and honestly, it's a pretty solid one. Penny's has that classic roadside diner charm, complete with the shiny silver exterior and that satisfying old-school diner door. It leans into nostalgia in the best way, like you accidentally pulled into a time capsule somewhere along a desert highway. Inside was clean and well-kept, and the staff were attentive and friendly without being over the top--exactly what you want when you're road-weary and hungry. Food-wise, the burger hit the spot and the tots were crispy (always a win). Simple, classic diner food done right. A couple of knocks: the bathroom was just okay, nothing terrible but not great either. And the soda... not good. It had a strange flavor, almost like the lines hadn't been changed in a while--definitely stick with water or something bottled. Overall, it's not a destination restaurant, but for where it's at, it absolutely delivers. A reliable, nostalgic pit stop that does the job well. Worth the stop? Yes. Just skip the soda. read more

Penny's Diner - Bacon Burger and Tots - American Near Me - Vaughn, New Mexico

Finding Penny's is like striking gold (note: this review applies to their Yampa, Colorado, location too). Either stretch of road is remote and food options are few and far between. When you see the lights are on, it's a relief. From what I understand, they're able to stay open 24 hours because of a contract with Big Rail, which keeps train crews fed and honestly, the rest of us travelers benefit too. I love that the choo-choos take care of their people while providing a service to anyone passing through. It's a cozy, welcoming stop when you need it most. The kind of place that makes a long drive feel less lonely. In the instance I'm in those parts of New Mexico or Colorado, Penny's is my go-to. Five stars! read more

OK, let's face it, you did not drive to Vaughn just to eat. But, if you are traveling between Roswell and Clines Corners (yes, it is plural twice), this is THE place to stop and refuel. You can't miss Penny's Diner - bright and shiny on the outside and full of interesting tchotchkes appropriate ambiance for an old-fashioned diner. What you really want to do is eat here. The food has always been great and I have been passing through Vaughn for twenty years. Always stop. Today I had the best homemade meatloaf ever. Better than my mother made it. Service? Well, Vaughn is a very small town population 275. They do the best they can. Our very friendly and very nice waitress today muffed the order, apologized profusely, and comped our meals. She really was very nice about it and we were not in a hurry. Try the homemade meatloaf - it is GREAT. Recommended. read more

Penny's Diner - Best homemade meatloaf I have ever had. - American Near Me - Vaughn, New Mexico

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We were traveling and wanted a "late breakfast" (~ 1pm) & this diner delivered! We had a nice server Seabri take care of us; we had eggs, pancakes, bacon, etc. The coffee was good and she made one for us "to go". We will be back if we happen to be in the area again. read more

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-Food was bland and not good at all (Tried the chicken fried chicken and burgers) -Took an hour for food to be prepared -Lady Chef appeared very upset and stressed -server kept coming back at least three times to ask questions about our order. Appeared to have forgotten - Place smells bad - Bathrooms dirty Recommend passing on this place and eating at the convenience store /truck stop across the highway read more

Penny's Diner - Checking out - American Near Me - Vaughn, New Mexico

Ok, not gonna lie, wanted my diner badge so I picked a diner to eat at...This place is a keeper! The food I GREAT great! Fresh and tasteful. The pancakes has that crispy edge like mama makes at home. The coffee keeps coming and they are not skimpy with the creamer! Nothing was left on any plate. Servers were friendly and cook was amazing! How can I explain how family friendly and comfortable this place was? It was great. I wish I had space left for dessert! I will have to come back. Breakfast burrito is shareable so you have room for a banana split or dolled up brownie! Come once come often, it's G O O D! Wish I had another star to give. read more

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I was stationed at vaughn for work , gave penny's diner a try the last night I was in town. Good food and decent pricing. Staff was nice.

The service was great. Very nice young man. Food was good had the Chicken Fried Steak. I like the diner style.

We found this place as we were traveling through the area. Great burger and service! Will stop again

No story, here's the short version. The burgers were dry like hockey pucks. Never bit into a hockey puck, but it would probably taste like this. Drive a little further and I'm sure you'll find better food. The staff was very nice. read more

Good food, nice chill jazz music playing. Everyone working was super helpful and chill. i had a french dip and onion rings. food was really good. read more

Penny's Diner - french dip - roast beef, swiss cheese, onions, mushrooms with au jus with onion rings - American Near Me - Vaughn, New Mexico

My husband and I stopped in at Penny's Diner. It's such a cute restaurant. We were greeted by Rae. She was very sweet and attentive. We are the Philly Sandwich with Tator Tots. So delicious. Also, had a Vanilla Malt and a Chocolate Sundae. Both were delicious! read more

Really great service the woman working was very nice and breakfast the breakfast was good! Cute little diner

This place is open for dine-in now. They were only open for take-out during Covid. I stopped here with my son on Saturday, December 10, 2022. The inside and outside of this diner look like they just stepped out of the 1950s. I really like all the nostalgic decorations inside and it is really well lit. My son and I sat at the counter. The waitress told us there are two other Penny's diners in New Mexico (Belen and Santa Teresa) and more in Montana, California, Nebraska and Virginia. She said they are going to open a brand new one in Oklahoma. All of these diners are open twenty-four, seven. She said a lot of the staff at these diners are from other states. The one in Vaughn is tied to the nearby hotel and both cater almost exclusively to railroad workers. I ordered the chicken fried chicken with a side of tater tots and salad ($11.85). The tater tots were very good; crispy outside and soft and warm inside. However, the gravy on the chicken fried chicken was lukewarm and lumpy. In addition, my iceberg lettuce salad tasted stale and looked visually unappetizing. The service was fast and friendly and the inside of this diner is magnificent. I've had a burger here before and it was average, but better than the chicken fried chicken. Visit the place for the nostalgia and stick with the lunch menu and stay away from the salad! read more

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A classically old school roadside diner with friendly staff. We stopped here on our way to Roswell for a quick Friday lunch and were happy with the results. The staff spent much time talking about the surrounding area and warned us away from Roswell due to the prior week flooding. Without their advice, we might have ended up in a mess. read more

Penny's Diner - Grilled chicken sandwich and crunchy fries. - American Near Me - Vaughn, New Mexico

Classic 24 hr diner. Safe place and welcoming to all even in the middle of no where. Classic diner menu, so special diet requests limited, but great considering the location. Breakfast all day! read more

Penny's Diner - Classic 50's diner style with an open and welcoming environment. - American Near Me - Vaughn, New Mexico

The food was good. We ate there on Thanksgiving day. Had traditional turkey and dressing with mashed potatoes and corn, Only downside was they were out of their pumpkin pie, but they substituted a brownie and made it as best they could in the situation. The people were nice. The service was extremely fast and the turkey was real turkey not a pressed patty of some sort. If only we lived closer, we'd be here more often but it's a fir piece from Oklahoma City. read more

So me and my wife broke down pulling a loaded gooseneck and had to stay at the truck stop across the road from the dinner the first night we ate there was ok maybe because I was stressed out because we are 12 hrs away from not knowing what to do we ending up sleeping in the truck colddddddd but got up next morning and that place was awesome the lady with the glasses was so nice and the lady from Louisiana who was cooking made the best food the place was so clean and for someone broke down in the middle of nowhere they were so nice GIVE THIS PLACE A TRY IF YOUR STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE if by chance we are ever down there and I hope not to soon I will stop by and eat again read more

Great service! Friendly staff and excellent burgers and patty melt. Old time Dinner feel and atmosphere. read more

Fantastic food and service! Friendly and courteous staff, burger and French dip were great- onion rings and tots were awesome. Great coffee too! Classic old diner feel made for a wonderful experience! read more

Quaint little diner with great burgers! Our family ordered 7 different burgers/sandwiches and enjoyed every bite.

Had the chicken fried chicken and it was perfect. Same with the apple pie ala mode. Friendly staff, good service . Really glad I stopped in here! read more

Was going through and saw that Penny's dinner had good rating so we stopped. Only people there are 1230 on a Sunday, should have went with that and kept on driving. But we didn't. Waitress/motel front desk person was nice. Food was just food nothing great. Bread was stale and fries were not crispy. Will stop at Allsups and get something next time. read more

We stopped here because it's basically the only place we saw along our route. Our food was not that great. The server made us shout our order over to where she stood at a kiosk across the aisle. Maybe she could have gotten that order right if she had bothered to come to the table. Our meal wasn't served complete, we were halfway through when finally served the toast & pancake. Cleanliness/appearance barely average. read more

Great little diner in the middle of nowhere- it wasn't a great day for staff super short handed- but all smiles and kindness! Well done!! Food was great diner food- eggs, pancakes- all was what was expected! read more

Cute little place. A variety of the regular suspects found on a diner menu. Needs a good cleaning! Also the waitress wasn't very enthusiastic but the lady cook, Joyce was working hard and on par with her orders and was absolutely wonderful! Our food was prepared properly and looked great, taste wise was just mediocre. This has the makings for a precious gem treasure find in Vaughan, New Mexico, but sadly was only a gum ball machine prize. read more

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If you are looking for a blast from the past, this is the place to go. Our waiter was great, good since of humor and extremely helpful. We will definitely stop every time we pass through, food tasted just as expected. Had a patty melt and the onions were very tender. One of the best I have had. Thanks, Penny's for the wonderful experience. read more

We had just returned from those gosh darn Carlsbad Caverns and WOW was this place great. Good food, spic and span, honestly would come back just to hang in the area! read more

The diner itself is cool and clean...But the rest was rather underwhelming...the server seemed to be overworked handling too much...My scrambled eggs were not all that scrambled and kind of lumpy....they used some kind of shredded cheesy that turned into a gross rubbery texture when melted....I was going to ask her if the pie was homemade but she was too busy...Lastly the classic breakfast was very small...Maybe one of the smallest I've ever gotten...I only got one slice of toast, and the amount of hashbrowns was like a kiddie portion...I basically left hungry still...Good thing I had a granola bar and some chocolate out in my truck. read more

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waited 15 minutes with no service, not even a drink order. later discovered an app to order off of, would have been nice for a server to tell us they had changed to app ordering at the table. they then brought out 2 of 4 meals, and "forgot" we had 4 people. brought out 1 more meal 20 minutes later, and the last meal 20 more minutes later. the food was completely tasteless. this used to be our favorite stopping spot but never again! read more

Delicious and plenty! 3 of us had dinner here after a day of antelope hunting. The food is delicious and massive! One person had the chili burger and enjoyed it. It came with a mess of fries. He said the chili was perfectly spiced and that the burger was super juicy! Another person had the chicken fried steak. He said it had a nice and crunchy exterior with a juicy and flavorful interior. He liked the gravy that was on it as well. I had the club sandwich on toasted wheat. It was delicious! The bacon was freshly cooked which was a definite plus! We also ordered some onion rings for the table. These were crunchy with a nice sweet onion taste. Definitely recommend this place when you are in Vaughn New Mexico. read more

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We have been at Penny's Diner a couple of times while passing through Vaughn. The food is very good and also the service. It is a good option for us read more

Good diner food. Friendly staff. Right now they're just offering to go orders. They have a few shaded picnic tables where you can enjoy your meal. Driving from TX to AZ, we saw many small town restaurants and businesses closed down due to Covid. If you're in the area, stop by and enjoy a meal at Penny's Diner. read more

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We had a very nice meal here. It saw some negative reviews but our food was served hot and tasty! I enjoyed my fries. I agree that they are clearly short-staffed but they got the food out quickly and kept the place lovely and clean. I have to give it to the people working there. read more

We were driving from Ohio to Arizon and thought we'd stop for a late breakfast. The waitress was pleasant and gave us water and a menu. When she came back in a couple minutes we hadn't decided on what to order. So we asked for a couple more minutes. She said sure and went to talk to someone else who worked there. We decided and waited on her. She kept her back to us, then checked out the people behind us. Then ignored us. I started to get up and go over to get her attention, but the cook told her the order was ready. She made three trips delivering three plates of food. I smiled at her and motioned that we were ready. She looked away and started clearing dishes from the counter. We had been there 25 minutes. So we left. There was a bell to ring on the counter to get a smile it said so I wrang it on our way out the door. I guess we weren't Hispanic so we didn't rate. read more

My review is just for service because unfortunately, we didn't get to try the food. On our road trip to Carlsbad Caverns, we stopped in around 430am for some coffee and food. The diner was so nice to see after hours on the road with rarely a gas station in sight (and none open!). When we got in, there was a nice woman who explained they're technically open but preparing for the 6am breakfast rush (1.5hrs later) and so the food would take a long time coming out and would be whatever they're preparing first. She mentioned this to every potential patron, so everyone became discouraged and left, including us. She let us use the bathroom before we left though, which was nice, and they were clean. So, it's here if you're looking for hot, non-gas station food and if you're willing to wait. Otherwise, I didn't see any other choices. It's small town service, what can you do? read more

For a little Diner in the middle of nowhere I had a very good chicken fried steak mashed potatoes great onion rings The sweet tea was way too sweet but my wife's BLT was very good on rye read more

We stopped in after many miles of driving through NM on our way to Washington state. You will not be disappointed by the food here at Penny's, a classic 50s diner with barstools and booths. Clean establishment, good service. My only critique is the tickets are made one at a time rather than a few burgers for multiple tickets (if that makes sense) so the wait time was a bit long. Otherwise, if I'm ever out in the middle of New Mexico again, I will surly stop in. read more

Stopped for lunch on our road trip back home. We ordered two burger specials, and a grilled chicken sandwich with mixed vegetables. A tea and coffee and a Dr. Pepper were our drinks. Our waitress was prompt to provide our drinks and take our order. It didn't take long for our food to arrive either! My daughter and wife had fries, I had the vegetables which were well seasoned. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a Penny's Diner in Vaughn, I have often stopped at the Penny's Diner in Hearne, Texas. The decor is great, and atmosphere very pleasantly "retro". read more

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Jacqueline and Benjamin are absolutely amazing!! Food was wonderful and the portions were great!! Definitely recommend this place!