I just left after being sat for 5 minutes of waiting. Something in the restaurant smelled like a rotten smell/ dead rat. The odor was very foul. Made us sick to our stomach. We walked out as the servers didn't tend to us. read more

I've come here a few times during this COVID pandemic and the blonde lady that always works in the morning is super rude to me and everyone that comes in about the mask situation but yet none of the cooks in the back are ever wearing masks!! EVER!! And there was a Hispanic lady at the register that wears a mask but it doesn't cover her face. I said something to the blonde lady twice about it and the first time she didn't say anything to them but the second time she did! It really makes you think what's going on back in the kitchen when nobody is watching or speaking up about it. She really needs to be careful how she's approaching/arguing with people about the mask situation. She's gonna say the wrong thing to the wrong person and have an ADA issue!! I ordered a waffle online and it said that it would be ready to pick up @7:18am. It is now 7:45 and I'm just getting my waffle. I was literally the ONLY person waiting to pick up food! I don't know how one simple waffle (no sides) takes 45 minutes!! Then she set my waffle in my car on top of a bunch of stuff in the passenger seat and said "here" and walked off!! If I didn't catch my food from falling it would have landed on my floor board! Mel's, get friendlier staff please! And, cooks that wear masks during this COVID pandemic. How can you require customers to wear them when the people handling our food doesn't! I don't know what they exposed to the come to work and handle our food!! read more

The Original Mels - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

We r military and never have had a problem at Mel's. We have always got a military discount for our entire check but NOW THEY WANT EVERYONES MILITARY ID to discount the entire check. WHICH IS BULLSH -- but the so called manager shouldn't be in management. She is not a waiter she didn't refill our cups or check on her people at all. WE WILL NEVER GO BACK AT ALL!!!!! read more

My kids love Mel's. It's their favorite restaurant in Vacaville. Great service, they have the best milkshakes and a wonderful team!!! Thank you !! A +++ read more

The Original Mels - Kid's Restaurant Review - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

Great spot for all American grub. 50's and 60's decor takes me back (no, not to my teen years, it takes me back to the diners my dad took me to and loved). Great service! The Mel's potato's are best when asked for them to be crispy. Have a great time! read more

Omg I'm soooooo coming back, my taste buds are screaming rn at how good the big bopper is, and why dose this burger have a gyaaaaaaaaaat

This diner is significantly better than the ones you would normally recall from off the top of your head (Denny's, IHOP, etc.) Not a "hidden gem" type of restaurant but it could be over time. To break it all down: QUALITY: 8/10 - It's standard-issue diner food that's put together very nicely. From trying out the pancakes, I could tell they use real buttermilk, instead of watering down the batter. The sandwiches and burgers look like they have been assembled in the old-fashioned, by-the-book, no-BS fashion. ACCESSIBILITY: 8/10 - To give them the benefit of the doubt, this restaurant looks like it gets a lot of customers during peak hours and it might be tough to secure some seats without a wait time, depending on the time of day. But after-hours seems like the time to go, because all of the good points about this diner (as with most other diners, in my opinion) becomes a lot more apparent. SERVICE: 9/10 - Food came out a lot faster than I thought -- probably because I went in a bit late (7:30PM-8:30PM hangout with roommates.) The waiters were accommodating and friendly. I was originally expecting it to be a slow, laid-back type of diner wait but when it comes to serving the food, it seems like these folks do not play around. Mad respect. ATMOSPHERE: 9/10 - Does a good job of replicating, emulating, and reviving the 60s-Americana type of vibe, from the seating, to the floor patterns, to the wall decor and lighting. Jukeboxes are also available, albeit more modernized. If this is what you're looking for in a diner, you definitely get it here. PRICE: 6/10 - A bit on the expensive side. I understand that COVID is still a looming issue, but I don't understand how a side of one egg costs only $1.99 but a full plate of two eggs (with hash browns/taters) costs $9.99. There are some discrepancies I would have with some of the stuff on the menu but from the looks of it, some of the burgers look like they are very much worth the price. TOTAL: 40/50 (cannot give it that fifth star for this reason.) Do I think this diner has potential for improvement? Most definitely. I think every restaurant in Vacaville could stand to benefit from changing up how they operate from time to time. Consistency is a must, but it cannot hold up without innovation. read more

I always have a good experience when I visit Mel's. It's become the meeting place for my family, a place to catch up when we haven't seen each other in a while and eat some good food. While staff is often busy waiting tables, they are always friendly and check in on us regularly. I haven't had a mistake in any orders. We get refills on drinks. People are pleasant and enjoying themselves. It's a great place to bring your family, or to simply listen to some old tunes and enjoy the blast-to-the-past. read more

Food was great but the service was too slow. I know our party was large (eight in the same table), but even the drinks were taking forever and the place was not full. read more

Went to get some last minute shakes before they closed. Walked in. The placed smelled really bad by the register. like raw sewage. Cashier was pretty rude. Seemed like they wanted us to rush and order our shakes. Got our shakes, get home opened the chocolate one and it was vanilla with chocolate in the middle, not mixed. Seems like it was rushed. I think for the price paid for these milkshakes they should atleast be prepared properly. Very dissatisfied. read more

The Original Mels - Supposedly a chocolate shake - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

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The toast was not butter wasn't melted, the omelette wasn't correctly made. Service was normal blah , couldn't find a clock that told the right time where I was seated. The best one of the Mel's I've been to is in Fairfield CA read more

May not have the same history as the Mel's Diner on Lombardi St. in San Francisco but it's nice eating breakfast knowing that someone is not breaking into your car like SF. The service was excellent and the breakfast was great. read more

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The food was delicious, and we had great service. Clean and fun place to have breakfast lunch or dinner in. I'll definitely be back when I'm in town Oh and the jukebox on the tables was such an awesome touch. read more

The Original Mels - This was called the San Francisco Mel burger her but we renamed it to the DodgerBlue Mel burger. lol Was delicious - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

Wow this place has gone down hill. Such a disappointment as it used to be a favorite... I ordered the corn beef and hash no eggs extra toast... I got half cooked corn beef with eggs over medium and one order of toast. They took it back scraped the eggs off and brought it back, still no extra toast. The corn beef was disgusting, I literally covered it up with a napkin because it looked like it had been chewed up and spit back onto the plate. It was raw! The waitress asked if she could take it back to have them cook it longer... but I'm not sending it back a 2nd time I have zero trust that they wouldn't do something to it. This was just plain gross. They took the corn beef off and charged me for the toast and the potatoes. Seriously?! I had one half of a slice of toast because that even tasted bad. The ice tea was old overall it was a terrible experience. I'm out! Nope won't be going to this one again. read more

Why is this restaurant so dam cold all the time. It's hard to enjoy your food when it's so cold inside! Have to step outside to warm up a little. read more

When you order pie, deliver it ! I shouldn't have to call you and tell you that you didn't deliver it to my house to go. You should have seen that when you didn't put it in the bag. read more

Breakfast was amazing !!!! Great service!!! Clean Bathrooms!! Great music !! Just had Ice water but enjoyed the plastic straw read more

My first time here! I had the weekday special, steak and eggs. It was insanely delicious! Our wonderful waitress brought everything exactly as ordered ! No mistakes! Steak, rare! Eggs, over hard! Even the coffee was delicious, fresh and cups full and hot! I wish I had gotten our waitress' name. She was terrific! We never had to ask for anything! She was perfect! The hashbrowns were nice and crispy! I was pleasantly surprised that the interior of the restaurant was so interesting,and so perfectly clean! Wonderful 50's tunes on the table top jukebox. Our utensils came in a cute paper envelope and were exquisitely clean. Prices were excellent! I will be back in 2 days! Please try it! You won't be disappointed! read more

I've been here a few times now and I have to say, it's one of my favorite places for breakfast in Vacaville! *I haven't been to the Mel's in Fairfield* My husband and I brought my out-of-town parents in and they absolutely loved it. Every time we visit, I feel as if the food is better and the service is better. The servings of food are pretty big, so keep that in mind! I love the decorations around the restaurant. 50's is one of my favorite designs. Another bonus is that they're open 24 hours! Highly recommend! read more

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The food was delicious! We went for a late breakfast/lunch. I had the three egg, 4 slices of bacon breakfast. I cannot process starches, and am gluten/sugar free. So no home fries, toast, or French fries for me. They offered tomato slices, fresh fruit. The tomatoes were very fresh and flavorful. Eggs were perfect and everyone loved their meals. One had a French dip with a side salad, and one had a hamburger with fries. Lastly they had pie-mixed berry, they also offered pumpkin or lemon meringue. I highly recommend this place, good service and good food read more

Had the waffles they were fluffy and the strawberries were fresh and the whipped cream was delicious. Hash browns were good as well. Between our server (I think) James and the nice lady Karen we were very attended to and had a pleasant experience, will definitely be back. read more

The Original Mel's experience is an overall 4 out of 5 stars. My experience was long wait at the door and then long wait once seated to order. However once the food arrived it was yummy. I had the country scrambler with gravy and biscuit, Yummy! Ms. Cindy was our waitress and she was such a sweet lady and really funny. At the time of our service she was super busy and did her very best to meet the demands of her customers. We really enjoyed Ms. Cindy and the service she provided. Ms. Cindy gets a 5 out of 5. I will make sure to get Ms. Cindy as a waitress each time I come to Original Mel's. read more

I've never left a yelp review but I absolutely had to make sure Fernando at Mel's diner got his recognition. I couldn't find what I wanted to order for my daughter's birthday breakfast on the door dash app So I called them directly. I could hear how busy he was in the background and he still took the time to walk me through each step to find what I needed. I explained it was for my daughter's birthday and he added balloons and a sundae for her. what stood out the most to me was the fact that he helped me with my doordash order and I still messed it up and even put the wrong name.He called me and said "this order looks similar to yours but it had a different name so I just wanted to check with you". He fixed the mistakes I made on the order and double checked with me. He truly went above and beyond and I am appreciative to him for helping to make my daughters birthday special! thank you Fernando read more

Cute place, great food, friendly service, convenient location; definitely worth a visit!

This is my absolute favorite place for breakfast. So many prefer other smaller places however the blueberry pancakes or the waffles or the egg and ham or all the other items are ALWAYS AMAZING. I love this place food is amazing, service is amazing everything is super clean and up to date read more

Went for breakfast. Visit started off good but went down hill very quickly. The first server was very quick, polite and knowledgeable. Food arrived in a timely manner and was good. The server then informed us she was going on break and who would be covering for her. That's when everything fell apart. The server covering did not come back to see if we needed anything until after we were out of coffee, after we had finished eating, and after I had to go to the counter to ask for a take-out container. Next when we went to pay, when prompted to add a tip, we entered a round dollar amount but the chip reader read the entry as cents (.08) not in dollars so we entered two more zeros to have a whole dollar tip. The chip reader then showed correctly (8.00) but then "caught up" and charged us an $80 tip. We asked for the transaction to be canceled. The cashier "voided" the transaction and wrote on our original receipt "voided". The cashier said that this issue had been happening a lot with their chip reader. We then paid in cash but were told that we could not get a receipt because of paying in cash. After going outside to discuss how many ways this could go wrong I went back inside and asked for a copy of the voided receipt and a cash receipt again. The hostess directed us to the cashier station. The person there stated that they cannot print voided receipts or cash receipts. I commented then that they must not know how to use a credit card system as I have never encountered this issue anywhere else. I've ALWAYS been given a voided receipt or a cash receipt for any purchases I've made. The cashier stated at one point, "I'm only a server, I'm not a manager". I responded with, "Well then, let me speak to a manager". The manager came out and did not even let me state my issue. He immediately raised his voice and verbally attacked me and blamed us for entering a wrong tip amount. Whenever I tried to speak he would interrupt me and repeatedly state that the issue was our problem not his (theirs). This person should never have been put in a manager role with so little customer service skills. He didn't even greet me with a, "Good morning, how can I assist you?" Why would any business not have a process in place to give customers a receipt? Except for the first server and the hostess the entire staff needs customer service training. We were wondering why, on a Saturday morning, there were so few people inside the diner. Now I know why! read more

What can I say... it's Mel's! Not the best food but also not the worst. Always love the interior of their diners! It has that fun old school Happy Days feel with music constantly playing in the background. Staff are nice and friendly. Never an issue getting seated as they always have ample seating. 9 out of 10 times when I come here I usually order breakfast no matter what time of the day it is. This last time, I ordered the wolfman jack breakfast. Suffice to say, you will never be disappointed with the portion size at Mel's. It had pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, ham, and hash browns. Straight up food coma! Definitely comfort food for me. Obviously they also serve lunch and dinner foods, but like I said, I always order breakfast. Of course I'll be back to Mel's at some point, cause who doesn't like diner foods! read more

The Original Mels - Wolfman Jack breakfast. - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

Now serving rotten food... So I ordered from Mels through Uber Eats. I ordered the Chicken in the buff sandwich. What I got was an unedible pile of !*%? The sandwich tasted terrible!! I couldn't believe it. So I opened it up and what I saw was rotten food! Seriously. The veggies were rotten. The meat tasted NOT normal. So I decided I wasnt going to test it. I was however going to take a pic of the rotten food and share it with all of you who are considering eating here. Do yourself a big favor. DONT. I should send this review to the local health department to investigate it. GROSS! read more

The Original Mels - Rotten veggies from my Chicken in the buff sandwich...GROSS!! - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

We waited an hour for pancakes an a few sides That never came .our waitress inform us that they were slammed with DoorDash orders ???who's managing this place read more

Phenomenal Customer Service. Our waitress seated us immediately and took our order just as fast. She was friendly, funny, and just overall had great energy. The food came out extremely fast and was delicious as expected. We didn't feel ignored or neglected at any point. I must say our waitress earned her tip. Ps. Great place to cool down if visiting the Vacaville Outlets. read more

Ordered burger with extra side of mayonnaise and received burger with NO Mayo and No extra side of mayonnaise. Come on guys. It says it right there in the order. read more

The Original Mels - Order - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

I had never been to this location and the parking lot was rather crowded so I assumed the line at the door was people waiting to be seated. Nope, they were all waiting to pay and obscured the host/hostess table. The two stations are too close together. The menu has a lot of breakfast and burger choices. I went with a lunch specials sandwich combo of pastrami and coleslaw. It was OK, nothing special. The fries were slightly soggy and very salty. I won't be a regular here but if my friend wants to eat here again I'll agree as I found it slightly better than The Black Oak, our usual lunch meeting spot. read more

The Original Mels - Pastrami lunch special combo sandwich. - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

The food is good. The wait staff are friendly and hospitable. The place is clean and cozy. It's our Sunday after church place to go. Kudos to all staff. read more

Today....we've been waiting 30 minutes for 2 sandwiches...and there hardly anyone here.....ridiculous.

My boyfriend and I got burgers and our waitress Cindy.. man, CINDY was AMAZING. She was honestly the perfect waitress, very kind and not too overbearing. 10/10 food & experience. THANK YOU CINDY read more

This was our first time eating at Mel's. Typical diner style food. I thought the prices were reflective of the quality & quantity of food you receive. I ordered the San Fran burger and substituted reg fries for gourmet fries. The portion of fries is ginormous. The burger was cooked well, nicely seasoned, and juicy. They didn't skimp on the avocado either. Our waitress was wonderful, super helpful and attentive, in a non-annoying way. For a quick meal that's budget friendly, we will be back. read more

The Original Mels - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

It's really cheesy, I had no idea of the connection between American Graffiti and the diner. I got a BLTA which was perfect - just the right amount of mayo on a perfectly toasted bread, with a hearty portion of bacon, crisp lettuce, ripe avocado, and tangy tomato. The service was professional, courteous, and attentive. read more

Unfortunately, the Original Mels just didn't make the cut for me. Service was underwhelming, as was the food when I went in for breakfast at this location and ordered an omelette. The restaurant also felt a little grubby and not too clean. For the price you're paying, it really isn't worth it and certainly isn't anything special. read more

CAMELOT & BUDDY HOLLY! [A LATE LATE NIGHT GEM TO FIND ALONG THE INTER-STATE WASTELANDS...] First, let me say right off, that this is not a review of Mel's LUNCHTIME environment, nor is it a review of Mel's EVENING AMBIANCE, because, to be perfectly honest, there's NO WAY IN HELL I'd want to be wasting my too few precious quality lunch and evening experiences in VACAVILLE. HOWEVER, should any of you LATE NIGHT (EARLY MORNING) ROAD WARRIORS find yourself soldiering along Interstate 80 after a full night of laying waste (in a GOOD way) to the Cities of Oakland and San Francisco, and now find yourselves making a tactical retreat back to our fair Hamlet of Sacramento, then you have come upon the "CAMELOT of SOLANO COUNTY." Throw in the Classic tunes of Buddy Holly and other 50s and 60s hit artists, you're gonna be soon seeing KING ARTHUR with ELVIS HAIR! (At least I imagined I did, though that might have been the sleep deprivation talking...) THE SIT-REP (Situation-Report) We had just finished seeing a concert show at the FOX THEATRE in Oakland, followed by the DJ-dance event at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. And when you start out trekking from Sacramento right after work at about 6pm to head down to all-points in the Bay Area, you often forget to make time to catch dinner someplace, and if you haven't eaten lunch since NOON that day, 15 hours later at 3am, the car is not the only thing moving on fumes. THE FARE Conveniently located in the Nut Tree neighborhood of Vacaville right off the I-80 freeway, Mel's has a wide array of Burgers, Sandwiches, Zesty Fries and an ABUNDANCE of CONDIMENTS, more than you could ask for. But most of all, the breakfast fare is what sparked the interest of me and my compatriots, JEFE and LUIS. Huge 3-Egg Omelettes! Luis ordered the Vegetarian omelette with lots of avocado. Jefe got the Chili omelette which was heaped with thick spicy chili and cheese. I grabbed the Louisiana link omelette that was filled with spicy link sections and melted Muenster cheese. They were all AWESOME, each for around $8. There were also other pancake, breakfast, sandwich and combo specials for as low as $5. QUIRKY AND FUN A late night crowd, even in Vacaville, brings out some interesting characters. Both Jefe and Luis (not me) are extremely stylish fashion DIVAs (for guys) and there was a gaggle of adorable teenage girls who were going all gang-busters over Luis's DISCO PANTS and Jefe's COMBAT BOOTS and their metal-embedded belts and other ACCESSORIES. Can't guarantee a crowd like THIS every time, but it certainly made for a fun time and probably explains why we didn't get out of there until almost two hours later....NOT the best result for guys having to be at work at 8am. ["Note to self: 2 HR sleep nights NOT recommended for 2 or more ROCK STAR nights in a row."] THE LOW DOWN For late night travelers who autobahn along the Capitol corridor and eschew the greasy impersonalization of the fast food drive thrus, but don't want to break the bank, or even pull out the credit card, Mel's will replenish and nurture your late night soul (and tummy) with delicious goodness and rockin juke box tunes. read more

The Original Mels - Jefe & Luis @ Mel's! - Diners Near Me - Vacaville, California

If ever I need to make a midnight midlife crisis out to my best friend in Vacaville, this is typically the spot to meet up. One night I was unusually craving their tuna sandwich but was dissatisfied with it. I took one bite and was like... nope! It tasted as though it had been sitting in the pregiater since a month ago. Thankfully the waitress took the sandwich off my bill. Their shakes on the other hand are worth a late summer night drive. I can't remember when I've visited without ordering one. I'm in love with this era, the 50's vibe I'm so jelly I wish I could of experience a taste of that lifestyle. Sometimes, if you're lucky, on Sunday mornings a group of car enthusiasts visit this place to show off their hot wheels. Makes a great morning! read more