New Location for Red Arrow Diner in Londonderry

Years ago when my father worked for the railroad, he was a regular at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester. His hours were not the best and overnights a constant. He would fondly recall the wonderful way the staff treated him when he went in for breakfast. When they saw his car in the parking lot they knew his order and made sure it would be ready when he would sit down at the counter. Eggs sunny side up, burned toast, bacon and a nice cup of hot coffee. My father has long since left this world but the Red Arrow Diner has always held a special place in my heart.

Now if you would all please move forward-time machine-style to today and like so many things these days change is a constant and so it is with the Red Arrow Diner. The original restaurant remains in Manchester and they had also opened another location in Milford and more recently in Londonderry. Although I sometimes wish they had just kept the original I see advantages for customers. When we learned that the newest location had opened we decided to visit on a weekend to find out if the old charm and service would still be there.

No surprise that we arrived to an extremely busy restaurant and had to wait 15 minutes before being seated. The dining area is long and narrow with plenty of counter spots and booths. The hostess seated us near the front and we settled in for what we hoped would be a great experience.

The menu is many pages and it was now time to make some decisions on breakfast and we studied the options intently. I really enjoy trying a new restaurant especially for breakfast so I can find something that is different from the old and familiar. One of their specials, bacon and cheeseburger scramble caught my eye. I quickly put in an order.

Smothered in a cheese sauce and served with hash browns this was delicious. Huge chunks of hamburger and bacon peaked out at me as I started eating and I knew that this would become one of my new breakfast favorites. That said, my only complaint was that it should have been a little hotter but the temperature certainly didn’t change the taste of the dish.

My wife ordered an omelet with home fries and toast. Everything tasted good and it all appeared to be fine until she went to eat a piece of the toast. It was so cold that the butter didn’t melt so she asked for a replacement which was brought to her with an apology.

The Red Arrow Diner is open 24 hours for those night owls like my father. You can get breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack anytime you want it. Overall we liked what we saw with their new location in Londonderry. Yes, there is room for improvement but in our opinion they are moving in the right direction.