It's hard to find the truly wonderful diners left in Connecticut. We love searching them out. In my book the Olympia is close to perfect, and certainly the best diner in the whole state. The structure itself is unique to New England. Most classic diners in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut were manufactured by the Worcester Dining Car Company. The Olympia was made by the Jerry O'Mahony company, whose diners are much more commonly found these days in New Jersey and Maryland. This work of art is longer and wider than some of the other diners Jack has been to. It also has the added feature of an incredibly bright glowing sign on its roof, which can be seen for almost a half a mile. It also has a wheel-chair ramp, which is a rarity in such a classic.

The first impression of this diner is that it's incredibly inviting. It's brightly lit, everyone is smiling, and it's immaculate both inside and out. We were there at 8:30pm on a Friday night, and it could not have been cleaner. Speaking to the manager, we learned that it has been owned by the same family for over three generations, and that they take great pride in keeping it looking like the day it rolled out of the factory. It shows. Every surface sparkles. There are so many great little touches at the Olympia. There are still jukeboxes on every table, and while you can still play your favorites from the 50's you can also enjoy contemporary hits. We enjoyed tunes by the Inkspots, Guns N Roses, Elvis, and Dion and the Belmonts. The family next to us listened to Kelly Clarkson. Jack enjoyed being able to dance in his high chair. They had a high chair ready for Jack, which we don't always find. Even the tile design in the floor is creative and pretty.

The waitresses we met were all from Eastern Europe or Central America. It was a slow night, so our waitress from Mexico sat with us and played with Jack. She was very sweet, and he really took to her. The only sad note was when the hostess, who was from Warsaw, didn't respond when we tried to speak in her Polish.

The food was particularly good. Jack had the usual, and mostly ate his french fries. As you can see from the photo below he really liked drinking from my glass, as it made him feel like a big boy. I had a large chef salad that was brimming with fresh cuts of meats and veggies. Deena had baked ziti, which she adored. Regretfully, we cannot give this diner a perfect rating, as two important qualities were lacking: 1) they did not have any black & white cookies (the king of diner cookies) on hand when we were there; 2) because it isn't located in New Jersey they didn't offer Taylor Ham (the king of processed pork products). Otherwise, this place was absolutely wonderful, and we will continue to stop there are we travel down to see Gail and Steve in the future.

Cheers to the Olympia Diner.

The Olympia Diner
3413 Berlin Tpke
Newington, CT