Very cool place! Old fashion diner with excellent food!!!!! It's where American Graffiti as filmed. We had breakfast. Good prices and food aplenty!!!! Great egg burrito and potatoes!!!! Very clean place. Friendly waitress '. We were in and out - but not rushed! Good service. We will be back when we come through again. read more

We had our order to go. The Wolfman Jack is so good, I can't think of a better breakfast. The bacon is thick and cooked to perfection...just a little crunch...the ham was amazing too. There's something extra special with those pancakes...a lovely sweet buttery taste. The potatoes are really good, and their scrambled eggs are delicious. If you're going skiing or some other high energy event, or if you want some good comfort food for breakfast...try the Wolfman Jack and bring your appetite... read more

Visited again today and I was so impressed with how everyone treated my aged father. On top of that, the service was great, lots of smiles and refills. I had the Monte Cristo, which was served with a slice of pineapple in with the meat! I had fruit instead of fries; the fruit was artfully presented and ripe. The ambiance is fun, but the noise level was a bit much today. read more

I had one of the best prime ribs, of all places, in a dining bar! And at a price way less than what I'm accustomed to paying for this type of meal. All in all, my experience in this store was pleasant. read more

These guys can even fk up bacon and eggs. And rude waitresses to boot. I got a real sense of how much they hated their lives just by ordering from two of them. One to take (and ruin) my order... the second to deliver it and pretend it was correct. Or maybe it was the foreign cooks fault? Great job! read more

Decent quality fast food diner and good customer service. Waitress was attentive and upbeat. My husband and I ordered the Reuben and chorizo skillet. Food came out quick. The Reuben was a bit too salty for us but the chorizo platter was good. I don't recommend the biscuit gravy that came with the skillet though. read more

Came here on the 4th of July with the fam! Love how they serve breakfast all day. Our server was very attentive and checked on us frequently. Food was great and large portions! I ate my leftovers for lunch the next day read more

My husband and I always have a delicious meal at Placerville's Mel's Diner. One outstanding server is Zander! Always willing and able to make sure the customers are taken care of! Thanks to the staff at Mel's and a shout out to Zander! i read more

Pretty much as expected for a diner type restaurant, but with absolutely fantastic service. I was here for a child's birthday dinner and our sweet waitress went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect and our party was taken care of. The food was good and there are a ton of options- so many that it was hard to choose! I recommend the Cookie Monster shake- it's perfect for sharing with someone! read more

I made the mistake of stopping at this Mel's for breakfast. The food was greasy and sub par. It seemed like it was hours old and had just been under a warmer. When I went to leave I found a note on my car that said the parking lot is for Mel's customers only. The note also stated they had taken a picture of my license plate and next time I was parked in Mel's parking lot it would be towed. I guess paying customers aren't allowed to park in their parking lot? I definitely won't ever be going back here and would recommend going to one of the much better breakfast restaurants near by that won't tow your vehicle. read more

The Original Mels - American Near Me - Placerville, California

Used to come here for great food and good music but the management has gone down hill. Waitresses are treated like expendable garbage and the cooks get away with anything. Can't support a business like that read more

What could have turned out to be a good quick meal on a fantastic day in Placerville was turned into an unpleasant experience by a waitress with an attitude. After receiving our meal my wife asked for fresh onion to replace what looked like day old onion with some black specks of something on it, an instant attitude appeared then some sarcastic remarks exchanged between Miss personality and the cook. With no chance of recovery a. Ew waitress took over, much more professional, than manager asked that we give Placerville Mel's another opportunity. Sorry but don't think I'll spend my money on attitude again. Train your employees right the first time and they won't chase away your customers. Oh never got the fresh onion! read more

This place is such a joke. I convinced my friend to grab a quick lunch here on our way back from Tahoe. Since I have been to several other Mel's in the Bay Area, I completely trusted the brand and thought it would be the same experience - NOT! I don't know why I consistently don't learn my lesson and look up Yelp before just heafubf into a place -- well, lesson learned, AGAIN! Our order took about an hour to get, my friend's salad came with bacon which she had requested not to have since she's vegetarian, my order was also wrong.... I mean the whole experience was a bust. Oh well, last time going to any Mel's! The food was good though, so 3 stars it is... read more

My family gets together once a year to have what we call "Death by Ice Cream for dinner" and we always go to Mels Diner. Well this year was such a disappointment!!! I always order the Black and Tan sundae as I love carmel. These people did not know what they were doing! It was a disaster! I had no layers of carmel! The only carmel I got was running down the outside of the glass....like some was dumped on top as an after thought. I am writing this review to let you know you ruined "Death by Ice Cream" this year for all of us! You suck! read more

The hostesses was friendly. Our waitress, Mallory favored her customers. We weren't one of those customers. We ordered our drinks, coke and raspberry ice tea. She quickly went to get our drinks and I had a feeling she didn't get the tea order. She came back with a coke. I let her know we ordered a tea too. She rolled her eyes and went to get it. Please note, it wasn't busy at all. She was mainly chatting with her regular customer. Lastly, we ordered a shake to go. We've been at Mel's before and they always give us the extra in a tin. She hands us the to go cup and keeps the extra shake in the tin. She quickly goes to the counter and walks the way to her regular customers. She puts our extra shake on their table and gives them a wink. We didn't say anything to her, but you know we were not happy when we don't give a tip. We are great tippers! She missed out! Besides the terrible customer service, the food was ok. I got the classic Mel's burger with avocado. My mom got rib eye steak. The 2 stars are for the food. Zero stars for the customer service. Also, the floors were sticky around our table. read more

Tasty food and the staff is great. Feels like an old school classic diner! Great Placerville spot, go check it out!!

My fries were cold. I asked for wheat bread I got white. And they grill there bread with butter to make there belts. Was not worth the $16 + tip read more

We have discovered a family tradition. When we go to Tahoe, we both think of stopping in Placerville for a meal at Mel's. Placerville is an old western town with plenty of living history on the streets. Mel's is dependable American grill food, old-fashioned style, with staff that talks and shares their lives with us. Who needs In-n-Out or Burger King? What we order is less important that the general dining experience. It has all the 1940s - 1950s neon and the movie/TV posters that you would expect at any Mel's. They claim to be the ORIGINAL Mel's, and their listing of many locations throughout California omits the ones in San Francisco. Kinda like an OFFICIAL thread on Yelp talk. My Lady ordered something like a crispy chicken salad and iced tea, and I ordered a club sandwich and a diet Coke. I asked for a salad instead of french fries, with oil & vinegar dressing. The waitress brought the salad with ranch, but caught her own mistake. $24.58 + tip for the two of us. So ... it was something like 100 degrees outside (103 degrees between Vacaville and Concord), but it was cool and friendly inside. read more

We came here for a late lunch/ early dinner. It was a Thursday afternoon about 3, so the place was fairly empty. The two kids with us ordered off the kids menu and got the Fish & Chips. (drink & small pkg of oreos included) Comes in a fun classic car shaped box. The adults got the french dip sandwich & a turkey/ bacon club. All of the food was delicious. Fries were lightly seasoned and fried to a nice crisp. Because the place was fairly empty, we were seated promptly and our service was stellar. Friendly young woman who came back to check up on us a couple of times. read more

What a great place! I've been to other Mel's and had good service and food but the employees on the night shift were awesome and really like their jobs. The food was really good but what stood out was my waitress, Jackie. She brought all the condiments she thought I would need even if I didn't. My drink was refilled before I even finished it. I highly recommend this restaurant and ask for Jackie. She'll take amazing care of you! read more

Good food, good service, good for people watching! Also, their hot chocolate was really tasty!

Mel's is your typical american food...the hamburgers, hotdogs, salad, and all-day breakfast place. We discoverd this place on our way to Tahoe. There was 10 of us....and we just walked in and sat right down on a friday night - we figured the food must be better than the food they have in tahoe right? Plus we need a break from the drive from the city. We all ordered a bunch of different things...however, none of the items seemed "fresh" at all. The graffti burger ($7.95) was pretty good...its a hamburger patty, on a grilled sour dough, grilled onions and swiss cheese. One of my friends ordered a dinner entree, which came with a bowl of soup in which she choose clam chower. The clam chower came looking very lumpy and old. As if it has been sitting in the warmer for too long. It was not a smooth consistency at all, so that was pretty gross. Everyone was basically happy with the food.....cept the majority of us experienced major gassy-ness afterwards...which sucked because we' were all staying in the same cabin! Service here was pretty friendly. Overall, not a bad place to come by to eat.....but pretty comparable to fast food.....I much rather stick to fast food tho..at least you know what to expect. read more

My mom loved the chicken fried steak breakfast and my daughter couldn't stop talking about the French toast. Pamela was very friendly and helpful with ordering. She also checked on us just the right amount. Food came quickly and was hot. read more

Last night on our marathon trip home from Tahoe we stopped here to grab a bite... It was actually busy in there pretty much every table was full, lots of teenagers but not causing any sort of problems. There seemed to be only one waiter running around but doing a good job and staying on top of things... We ordered the chicken strips for an appetizer which were actually really good... he brought out ranch even though the menu said BBQ but it was good anyway... they were on top of a bunch of fries which are really yummy seasoned "melfries" I got the "melburger" with cheese which is just a cheeseburger and fries... very good, I couldn't finish the whole burger... I also got a cup of chicken noodle soup that was really yummy! My friend got the fajita chicken what looked like an omelette with home fries... with biscuits and gravy... the omelette looked really yummy a fluffy mound of egg over white meat chicken stips with sliced peppers and onions... over half the plate was heaped with home fries... he said the biscuits were "the best I've ever had... I don't know what they do to them... it's like smokey" so those got a good rating as well... The waiter also kept the re-fills coming on my drink so that's always a plus! =) read more

Okay, the food was okay. I had the Philly chicken sandwich, there was no cheese on the sandwich, but it wasn't bad... The problem I had was with the flys.. Yes, the flies.. They need to spend some money on bug zappers and an air jet at the front door.. Food was high but comparable... read more

Pit stop back to the bay, but by far the best Mel's I've been to! Clean, food was cooked right, staff was very professional and attentive. I thought I was at a steakhouse. Will be stopping by every time we head to Lake Tahoe. read more

Best of the bad choices we could find in the local area. It took forever for us to be seated, for the waiter to come over and take our order, for the food to arrive, and then my food had to be sent back twice for various reasons (my no gravy request was very messily ignored, and then the rest of the food came back cold and looking like it was scrapped from the bottom of the pan). The waiter comped us our meal, without us asking, which was good. It'd been nicer if he'd paid more attention to us than being annoyed at the couple behind us who were on a date. Love triangle, maybe? Whatever it was, it made already bad service even worse. read more

If you are the type to like old hard bacon, then this is your place. Honestly, for the the amount they charge for food, you'd hope for something a tad better. Maybe I had high hopes, maybe I didn't. But good lord, is it that hard to give someone FRESH BACON??? Tonight was the first time in my life I wasn't happy after eating bacon. Bacon didn't make everything better. Sigh. read more

I can't possibly think of one thing that went wrong with my experience at Mel's today. The restaurant was clean. I was seated immediately. Waited upon immediately. Ordered and my food arrived within five minutes of ordering. I ordered the corned beef hash with the potatoes and everything was so fresh and flavorful. Cannot wait to come back and try something else on the menu. read more

Stopped in for burgers and fries. Both were outstanding. Service was also great. The place was fairly busy and our burgers came very quickly. Our waitress also kept our ice teas full - always a big plus in my book. Thanks Heather. read more

I hate chain restaurants, but Mel's is off the hook when it comes to breakfast. I just demolished the chorizo and eggs skillet. Beans super on hit, potatoes ridiculousness, chorizo off the chain... This will continue to be my breakfast spot on the way to the mountains! And by the way the service is top notch here!!!!! read more

A greasy 50's-style diner with exactly the kind of food I expected. Food was fine, service was very good. Fries were tasty. Hot pastrami sandwich was a little on the salty side but decent. My friend said his meat loaf was OK. I was neither impressed nor disappointed with the food, but the service was great. Very friendly guys. read more

Good, affordable, convenient, and consistent. My go-to breakfast spot in Placerville. The staff is friendly, beverage refills are timely, and I've never had to wait to be seated Breakfast served all day, as is (most of) the lunch menu, I believe. Killer weekday breakfast deals read more

The best dinner! Usually we have Jackie as or server and she's wonderful but lately Jessica C has worked her tail off taking care of our large party of picky eaters! The food here is good but these ladies have shown us amazing customer service! Hot food, cold drinks, and fast friendly service! Love this place! read more

Great food, prompt service and served in a car for the kids. I'll be back. My burger and salad were delicious!

Took a place up here and decided to stop at Mel's been here twice already for breakfast and the food here is great had excellent service and got our food quick! The place has a old diner feeling and warm atmosphere. Good for groups and families. There hash browns are probably my favorite thing to eat just how they cook it I guess. They have a good selection of breakfast to choose from. I definitely will be coming back for breakfast when I come back up here. If you want a great breakfast come here! read more

The Original Mels - American Near Me - Placerville, California

Bummer. Burnt potatoes. Raw egg whites. Eggshells in the poached eggs. Cold ham. Blah. Definitely not coming back to this location. Hello Buttercup Pantry!! read more

Visited here with the boyfriend on the way out of town. I picked it because I wanted to go a few steps up from his normal pick of Denny's. Also, I'm a genius and this was a great idea because it was really good! I have been to this location before and as always, it is nice and clean. I was surprised at how slow it was at 9am on a Saturday morning! This helped us though, as service was great and our food came quick! I ordered the Cobb Salad (which is a great salad for breakfast, btw) and my boyfriend got an omelet. We both noted and thought it was nice that the omelet was normal sized, as in not big enough to practically eat him instead. The portion was enough and we left full and satisfied within about 30 minutes, which is a win for me regarding sit down service! I'm hoping this will become a regular stop rather than the Denny's that's a few exits before Placerville. read more

We visited The Original Mel's today on Placerville Store number 3026 and truly enjoyed the whole experience. Pamela R was our waitress, very attentive and courteous. She made us smile and laugh. I had the chili and cornbread and OMG delicious. My husband had the patty melt and said it was literally the best patty melt he'd ever had!! We will definitely be back!! THANK YOU PAMELA read more

Went there to get some food to go waitress asked me if I could wait while she delivered two coffees and a water and then she proceeded to take a two top order and then a four top order at this point I could See they didn't want my business six people in the whole restaurant oh well at least another business in town got my business 4/12/21 read more