Why you shouldn’t trust reviews from Google Maps
Yesterday, we found ourselves near UC Merced during lunch and thus used Google Maps to look for a place to eat that wouldn’t take us too far out of our way as we made our way back home. I will say that I’ve used this method before, with mixed results. This time, it was a failure.
Scott Diner gets 4.8 stars on Google Maps and pretty much all of the reviews were great. Most mentioned the service and made general comments about the food, but everyone said they enjoyed it. The reviews sounded honest and maybe they were, but our lunch at Scott Diner was one of the most disappointing meals I’ve had in a long time – which is saying quite a bit as we’ve had several less than stellar restaurant experiences lately. I have to guess that inflation is pushing restaurants to using lower quality ingredients and maybe even hire less experienced cooks.
Scott Diner is your basic American diner/coffeeshop. The building is a bit run down and it looks like it’s been there for ages and ages. It has booths and tables, it’s pretty dark inside, and it’d be the type of place where you can go with younger children and they wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. Indeed, my husband pointed out there was a screaming child at one point, but as my super power is being able to completely ignore kids, I hadn’t noticed.
The diner is decorated with military memorabilia, though it’s not particularly intrusive. One review specified that they don’t offer a military discount.
The menu is pretty basic, breakfast items (apparently served all day, but the menu didn’t specify), salads, sandwiches and burgers, and a list of specials you need to go to the front and have good eyesight to see (but I’m providing you with a photo so you don’t have to). Prices are reasonable for this day and age – or would be, if the food was up to par.
I had the tri-tip sandwich ($17), which comes with a choice of fries, garlic fries, crinkle fries, sweet potato fries or onion rings – I chose the latter. The beef in the sandwich might have technically been tri-tip – it was very thinly cut, so it’s hard to tell – but the sandwich would be better described as a French dip. The beef felt and tasted like roast beef and it came accompanied by the little bowl of absolutely tasteless broth. It’s quite amazing how they managed to have a broth with no flavor at all. They do have a kitchen, and the sandwich was warm, but I can’t imagine they make the “tri-tip” in house.
The onion rings were fine, they were made in oil that was in the cusp of needing to be changed and cooked a minute too much, but they were sweet and tasty. They were screaming for some ranch sauce, but that’s on me because I forgot to ask the rushed waiter (who doubled as the cashier and host) for some.
Mike had the double western bacon cheeseburger ($17), and the massive sandwich looked impressive – as long as you didn’t look too closely. The patties had a very strange, smooth consistency and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were frozen and precooked and then just heated up in the kitchen. Not only did they look uniformly gray, but the consistency was very weird, it had no grit but some unexpected chew. Flavor wise, it wasn’t too bad, barely better than a McDonald’s burger.
Mike opted for the garlic fries, and these weren’t bad. They were a tad overcooked as well but they had a pleasant flavor.
Service was a bit rushed – no fault of the waiters, who had too much to do -, but friendly.
Scott Diner
2015 E Childs Ave
Merced, CA
(209) 658-1819
M-Su 7 am - 7 pm
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