Visited May 27, 2010
Written by Drew
With my school year winding down, I was able to get out of school a little bit earlier in the day, so Tyler and I decided to cross off yet another restaurant on our list. The restaurant of choice was the Lighthouse Diner in Spencerport.
About three months earlier, my family and I went out to this diner – on the corner of routes 259 and 31 – and I walked away swearing I would never be back again. I gave it a second chance, and the revisit actually changed my mind slightly.
It is very deceiving from the parking lot how large this diner actually is. Walking into the restaurant, you are greeted abruptly by an old-school bar counter. There are a few booths across from the barstools, and two moderately sized dining rooms on either end of the restaurant.
Tyler and I sat in a booth, which could fit eight people comfortably. Before opening the menu, we both agreed on the cleanliness of the restaurant; it was as if the building was brand new and just opened for the first time. My first trip their a few months ago, I had an awful experience. It was a long day, for whatever reason, my family was arguing where to go out to eat, and we’d been to two or three different places before ending up at the Lighthouse Diner.
I ordered a cheeseburger, and it wasn’t anything too special. It tasted like any other ordinary diner cheeseburger. I did however enjoy the French fries; they served the typical dinner French fries that are slightly seasoned and extra crispy. I’m a big fan of those.
When Tyler mentioned that we should go to the Lighthouse for lunch so we could write it up for the blog, I thought it was a bad idea because of my previous experience. All in all, I was glad we made a return visit because my second experience was much better.
On the second visit I ordered the self-proclaimed “Rochester’s Favorite Messy Plate;” a cheeseburger plate with double French fries and meat hot sauce on top. I thought it was a decent plate; I have had better, but also I have had much worse. As far as the price goes for the messy plate, very average: $7.69 for a cheeseburger plate, $6.99 for a hotdog plate. 
Tyler ordered a simple one-egg and toast breakfast with a side of home fries. He said the home fries were decent, with a nice outer crispiness, but were a little soft otherwise. The eggs were pretty typical, but the toast was above average.When it comes to diners and restaurants, there is one thing that really makes me tick: the lack of free refills. It seems like, more times than not now, places don’t advertise refills. Typically when my family goes out to grab a bite, we usually enjoy a drink or two before the meal comes. My dad always proclaims three drinks during a meal is always the perfect amount. Honestly, sometimes I think he bases his tip on how many refills he was offered. So when we go to places like this where there are no refills, it is very hard to still have a drink come meal time.
Will we ever return to the Lighthouse Diner? Perhaps, though we wouldn’t go out of our way to do so. Spencerport has several appealing restaurants in it. If we had to travel out there for a meal we would either try a new place, or re-visit a restaurant that we gave a good grade to.
Ratings:
Service/Atmosphere: Decent service, very clean, and felt like the stereotypical diner atmosphere that we like.
Food: Average diner food. Nothing we had stood out too much from all the rest, but there were several interesting choices (namely the pancake and waffle meals) that might warrant a return.
Value: The prices were very reasonable, as were the portion sizes. Good bang for the buck.
Overall: Very large, clean place. Open to a return, but not if it’s out of our way.
Grade: B-
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