Bob’s Diner – Watervliet, NY

(Do not be alarmed; featured image captured from the internet; the person responsible for the image must have taken it during the winter. It is no longer the winter.)

Bob’s Diner, located at 929 19th Street in Watervliet, NY, is a perfect example of a place that everybody needs to experience while they are in the Capital Region of NY, an institution, if you will.

The place isn’t fancy. It resides in the heart of Watervliet adjacent to train tracks and across the street from a Stewarts which doubles as a window replacement agency. When you walk inside of Bob’s, you are greeted with an (over)abundance of wood. Wood paneling on the walls, tables and chairs made out of wood, wood on the counters, hell, there’s even wood on the garbage pail. It’s a place you can tell has been there for ages. Saying it shows is loosely an understatement, but you’d understand what I mean if you walked in.

I used to frequent Bob’s for breakfast and late night munchies, as it is a 1 minute drive from my apartment complex; however, it has been a very long time (over 1 year) that I have not been back, and my recent corned beef hash obsession has been begging me to return to Bob’s.

Their menu is your standard diner menu, but you can order from any section of the menu at any time during the 24 hours of the day that they are open. Being that I was going for breakfast, I was able to snap a quick shot of the one page of breakfasts on the menu that matter to me.

Nothing on the menu should require explanation to anyone who has been out to eat, so I’m not going to insult your intelligence and do that. Except…there are two gems on the menu that pop out as what I think are the best value in the area.

• Hash Hound
• Hamburger Hound

With both of these meals, you get 8 oz of meat (either corned beef hash or a hamburger patty), 2 sizable pancakes, 3 eggs (any way you like them), homefries or deepfries (which are the same potatoes but deep fried), and toast.

For someone who can eat a lot, I even think it’s a lot of food. And it’s just a measly 9 bucks.

Don’t believe me?

I actually ordered the Hash Hound on my most recent visit.

Just about everything served is pretty standard, including the corned beef hash, which I suspect is purchased already prepared. The pancakes, on the other hand, are something that stand out among other pancakes I’ve had in the area. Good pancakes are difficult to find. These pancakes surpass good and even surpass great. They have the fluffiness, slight sweetness, and barely present crust that good pancakes have. Ohh, and you get two of them. In my opinion, they don’t even need syrup; they’re that good.

Going late at night, we’re talking past 11pm, is a whole ‘nother beast entirely and deserves it’s own treatment…

…one day.