Whatever happened to the good old fashioned diner? You know, the one where every waitress was a gum snapping, smart mouth, no nonsense woman like Flo in the sit-com "Alice"? You know, the one where each table had a small jukebox that you put a quarter in and got five songs. You know, the ones that were open 24/7 and everything looked like and tasted like grease? You know, the ones that didn't look like they were on a Hollywood set, all chrome and spit and polish?

The Victoria Park Diner is a few blocks from The Gateway Movie Theatre, and though convenient, it is not my first choice of a place to eat. In reality it isn't even a diner. It formally was a combination Miami Subs, Baskin Robins and Arthur Treaches restaurant that went bust. I guess because diners are more or less the 'in' place now they decided to call it a diner. Very little was changed inside and I don't know what makes it a diner. It isn't open 24/7 and it does not look like a separate railroad dining car that diners look like.

We have many diners in Fort Lauderdale, and the surrounding area, and they all are owned by Greeks, have a predominately Greek menu and pre-frozen mediocre food. The one exception, at least as far as Greek and mediocre food is concerned, is a new one called Diner 24.

Not really much separates the Victoria Park diners from all the other diners. They have about 4-5 different menus with specials for breakfast, lunch and dinner plus their main menu which has way too many items for any to be particularly good. While the service is good and the plates presentable this is more of a last minute place to eat.

Next time I would rather go to the IHOP, which is a couple of blocks away, and specializes in omelets and pancakes and does that well.

I miss the wise cracking waitresses of yesteryear in diners all over the States!!!