Growing up I had been to the occasional diner, but it wasn’t until I was out on my own in my twenties that I found a diner that spoke to me and touched my breakfast soul in a way that has stayed with me to this day. That place was the Majestic Diner on Atlanta’s eternally gritty Ponce De Leon Ave. Open 24 hours a day, and tucked between Virginia Highlands, Little Five Points, and center city Atlanta, the Majestic Diner was, and remains, uniquely situated to attend to city denizens, night crawlers, yuppies out for a night on the skids, and locals. Back in “my day” (the early 1990s) the waitresses carried themselves with a brand of grizzled motherly affection that entitled them to call anyone on the planet, “hon” and get away with it. The biscuits were high, light, and heavenly, and the coffee hot, freely given, and never-ending. And the counter seats and back tables were populated by regulars who looked like their seat had come with their birth certificate.
On a recent trip back to Atlanta I was determined to see if it was still the same Majestic. Oh, was I disappointed. The staff are now mostly hipster blow-ins working a job, and not born to it. The biscuits are fine enough, but not the stuff of bread perfection that they once were. The coffee was hot, and refills yours for the asking. But you had to ask for it, even when they were slow. And, even at nine on a Tuesday morning when the place was mostly empty, the manager was surly and refused to talk about his Atlanta landmark.
Now I know that at the best of times restaurants are hard to run, and margins are painfully slim. But, I will counter that budding restaurateurs should not wander into diner ownership as an investment.
Surly Management – No photos Inside
Diners are a commitment to the community. When you buy and manage a diner you are the keeper of a public trust. You don’t skimp on the coffee. You don’t skimp on the biscuits. And you damn sure don’t skimp on the service.
Granted, I have changed and so have the times. But there’s a tradition and a principle here. Diners hold a certain station in the life of the community. They are constants, trustworthy, sentinels in the darkness. If everything else falls down and you need to eat, the diner is there with tasty, and fortifying, if not always healthy, food. And they are always welcoming. The best of them don’t put on airs. Diners are basic but dependable.
Being reasonable, I’ll freely admit that my tastes have evolved quite a bit since the 1990s. So it’s entirely possible that the Majestic of my mind is a late night fantasy tempered by alcohol and other substances. But I don’t think so. I’ve met Atlantans the world over, who, whether they lived there for a year or 50, remember the charm, and food (particularly the breakfast eats) that issued forth from the Majestic’s modest station at the center of this patchwork community.
It breaks my heart to know that the Majestic Diner is not what it once was. But having had a formative diner experience shape my love of breakfast, I’m thrilled to know that others remember the Majestic fondly. I hope this means that classic diners still have a place amidst the gastropubs, and food palaces (claiming to be markets) in today’s food scene. And I hope you’ll find a diner that speaks to you. When you do, support it and hang on to it for as long as you can.
Cop Cachet: Back in my day it was very high. Now it’s pretty low. It’s mostly hipsters and a scattering of locals.
Mug Meter: Low. Good looking white diner mugs, but grudging refills
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text and photos by Glenn D. Kaufmann
Details:
Majestic Diner
1031 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
Website
Sources:
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