Nick’s Diner Burger & Pancakes, North Ryde

Nick’s Diner is now closed

“What do you want to eat?” I ask my friend of whom I tend to have half-yearly catch ups with.
“Not Asian please,” she responds.
I guess we eat Asian food a lot and since she was craving burgers, we decide to visit a burger joint.

Nick’s Diner Burger & Pancakes is located at Macquarie Shopping Centre, on the cinema level right next to the bus stops entrance. It is an open style diner and given the word ‘burgers’ in their name, we assumed burgers were one of their specialities! The restaurant is quite nicely decorated with cushiony chairs and booth-style lounges. There is an option of both outdoor and indoor seating. One strange thing we noticed was that they played the radio, so if you don’t like listening to radio advertising this may not be your ideal venue.

Damo’s Favourite – 200g beef patty char grilled on a toasted sesame bun topped with crispy bacon, fried egg, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, beetroot and fries – $15.90

After being seated, we perused their menu which is full of different types of burgers, pancakes and an assortment of other foods. My friend opts for a burger whilst I choose one of the chef’s specials, a pasta. The burger is very tall so naturally there will be some mess when eating this. At first bite there seems to be something wrong. The beef is quite tough and not at all tender – I thought it was old meat whereas my friend suggested that it might be overcooked. Nevertheless, the pattie was not at all succulent or that flavoursome unlike…every other burger. Another unfortunate thing was the bacon. It was way too salty and overwhelming that all you could taste was the bacon. The vegetables were a nice touch but could not save the poor quality of both meats. The highlight of the dish was the chips – crisp and juicy!


Linguine pasta with prawns, red pepper, walnuts, basil, olive oil pesto – $24.90

However, my linguine was the opposite of the burger; instead of being overwhelmed by flavours there was an obvious lacking punch of flavours. The prawns were nice and soft and the dish was scattered with these and cherry tomatoes. However, the sauce was bland and my added cracked pepper and parmesan did nothing to rectify this. The walnuts added a nice crunch to the linguine but otherwise, the dish lacked the promised pepper, basil and pesto flavours and tasted just like olive oil and a bit of tomatoes.

Overall, the dining experience at Nick’s Diner was pretty appalling. They either overpowered or underflavoured their foods, which is such a shame. In addition to this, the prices paid for some pretty plain dishes at lunch time were quite pricey and it is very easy to find the same dishes at half the price elsewhere (which also taste better). Although I have only tried the burgers and pasta component, I guess I will not be coming back for the pancakes  for if they managed to screw up a simple burger and linguine, I wonder what horrors they could make of pancakes.

Nick’s Diner Burger & Pancakes
Shop 404, Macquarie Centre
Cinema Level 4
Herring Road, North Ryde 2113
Ph: (02) 9889 8801

Nick's Diner on Urbanspoon

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