Diners are a staple part of America's food culture and the best of them are gloriously retro – all neon signs and bright bar stools, with comfort food in ample portions. Here we round up the best classic diners in America. Due to COVID-19, be sure to check local travel restrictions, including state travel advisories, and individual websites for dine-in, takeout and delivery options before you visit.

A roadside diner that looks like a train yard? A counter that looks like a school bus? Derailed Diner is a little off the main freeway but those who have visited reckon it’s worth the short detour. Located at Oasis Travel Center, the themed diner is a full-size train car with tailgates for tables and it’s chock-full of transport paraphernalia and wall art, from skis to bobsleds. Customers rave about generous sandwiches like the Train Wreck, with buffalo chicken and bacon, and excellent Southern classics like chicken fried steak.

Family-run spot Sami’s City Diner has all the fixtures and fittings of a 1950s diner with a relaxed atmosphere and super-friendly staff. People love the generous portions of comfort food like breakfast sliders, short rib hash and chocolate chip pancakes. Alaskan specialities like reindeer sausages add a sense of place too.

We love a theme and this diner's is simple: the color purple. The venues are fashioned on the classic 1950s model, with a retro soda fountain and plenty of neon, and there are now five locations (three in Little Rock, one in Hot Springs and one in Conway). They all serve diner food, including popular burgers, hot dogs and toasted sandwiches, plus signature purple shakes and desserts.

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Opened in 1958, this famed Inglewood diner is known for its preserved Googie architecture, with an irregular-shaped roof, distinctive neon sign and retro interior. Typical diner favorites are in plentiful supply, including chicken wings, pancakes, French toast, hash browns and eggs. But it’s the house speciality of fried chicken and waffles that has people talking.

Located a few miles south of Hartford, this roadside diner started life in Massachusetts before moving to its Connecticut home in 1954. Touted as the longest stainless-steel diner in the US, Olympia Diner has table jukeboxes and simple, old-school charm that customers adore. The food is solid, no-frills cooking with all-day breakfast dishes sharing the menu with American-Italian specialities. But it’s the homely, retro vibe and nostalgic feel that people really love.

"Cooked in sight…must be right" is this diner’s motto and has been since 1950. Fortunately even after being restored, the décor, like its tagline, stayed true to its retro roots. The menu features traditional diner fare, with a few contemporary upgrades – think goats' cheese omelets, fresh juices and acai bowls. The crab cakes on a toasted English muffin with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce feature frequently in rave reviews.

Just northwest of Atlanta is Marietta Diner, a neon palace that people may have spotted on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Not only does it look fabulous inside and out, it’s open 24 hours. The menu is broad and varied, with timeless breakfast favorites, sandwiches, burgers and a variety of Greek meals, reflecting the owner’s heritage. Sweet-toothed customers can’t resist the eye-catching cake display – the baklava cheesecake is particularly divine.

This retro joint in the Aloha State not only pays homage to the 1950s diner, it pays homage to the whole era. The walls are adorned with memorabilia (there’s also a shop) and dishes are named after iconic celebrities, characters, movies, TV shows and songs, from Elvis Presley to Mickey Mouse. All-beef Hound Dogs (hot dogs), “Bopper” beef burgers, beer and milkshakes fill the menu.

It’s hard not to fall for Dixie’s charm, with its checkered floors, neon signage, gray and red booths and table jukeboxes. Service is fast and friendly and food is top notch. Choose from build-your-own omelets, a range of fresh soups, skillets and burgers. The just-made malt milkshakes will make your mouth water too.

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Little Goat Diner is more than a little different. It’s run by a James Beard Award-winning chef Stephanie Izard, so the food is a cut above standard roadside fare for a start. But it stays true to diner traditions, with booths, spinning chrome bar stools and blue-rimmed plates adding oodles of retro charm. The all-day menu is full of crowd-pleasers like pancakes and corned beef hash, alongside less typical fare like okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory pancake, with pork belly and poached egg.

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This fun and funky diner just west of Indianapolis is great if you love vintage things. The stainless-steel dining car dates back to the 1950s and has a collection of old-school lunchboxes including Pac Man, Barbie and Mickey Mouse designs. Visitors love The Oasis Burger with two beef patties, pulled pork, bacon, barbecue sauce, coleslaw, pickles and Cheddar.

This comfy all-day venue has a vintage look, a warm atmosphere and a commendable relationship with local food producers. The Huevos Epsteinos (smoked pork and green chili on Parmesan polenta and fried eggs) is worth the trip alone and the sweet offerings – we’re talking cinnamon roll French toast and buttermilk pancakes – are well loved too.

The attitude at this small Cajun-style diner is “if it goes on the wall, it never comes down” and that definitely shows in the mixture of license plates and Mardi Gras beads adorning pretty much every inch of the place. The exterior of the 1943 building is unusual too, with white porcelain tiles used due to the wartime rationing of steel. Rick's famous crawfish pie is a breakfast favorite, while the owner and friendly servers are a huge part of the diner’s charm.

Teeny-tiny Palace Diner has an equally small menu. The 15-seat spot, inside a trolley car, serves just a handful of dishes for breakfast and offers only four sandwiches at lunch. Not that anyone minds, because creations such as the tuna melt are life-changing – and in fact, everything is sublime. The fire engine-red trolley was built by the Pollard Company in 1927 and is one of two surviving Pollard diners in the country.

The Pine Tree State isn't short of retro dining cars, but A1 Diner, built in 1946, is up there with the most charming. With its pastel yellow exterior, blue vinyl booths and bar stools, neon clock and floral print tablecloths, it’s cheery and nostalgic. The food is suitably eclectic too, with fish tacos and a scallop BLT (scallop, bacon, lettuce and tomato between two pieces of toast) being the top choices.

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A Greek-American diner just off I-95 between Washington DC and Philadelphia, Broadway Diner became famous after featuring on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives back in 2009. There's something for everyone on the huge menu, including moussaka and souvlaki, but Guy Fieri’s favorites are the Hungarian Goulash, Shrimp Creole and Potato Crusted Salmon. We wouldn’t say no to a homemade dessert either...

Believed to be one of America’s oldest diners still in operation, Casey’s 10-stool dining car has been serving customers since 1922, although it began life as a four-stool horse-drawn wagon 32 years before that. It has a long wooden bar, classic diner stools, retro floor tiles and an 130-year-old bun steamer. People come to experience a slice of history and to try Casey’s famous steamed hot dogs – get yours “all around”, with relish, onions and mustard.

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This friendly diner in the center of Las Vegas will take you straight back to the 1970s. It has purple booths, the walls are adorned with funky ornaments, flowers and doilies, and there are business cards stuck on the tables. But the real winner is the food. Everything is praised, from the breakfast dishes like pork chop with eggs and chocolate waffles with ice cream, to the fries and homemade jellies. It also hosts classic car shows.

Another 24-hour diner, the Red Arrow has been around since 1922 and has three more outposts, but the Manchester location is the original. It has kept its vintage look, with red-brick walls, red paint and a tall neon red sign. The inside is much the same too – expect booths, red bar stools and walls cluttered with red neon and vintage memorabilia. The speciality here is pork pie with gravy and you can't go wrong with the cookie sandwich either.

Like magpies to shiny objects, customers flock to this steel-fronted diner, which must be one of the most recognizable in New Jersey (and the state has no shortage of great diners). The mammoth menu provides customary diner food, including a rocking meatloaf and tasty chicken and waffles. It also has a large selection of excellent fresh seafood dishes, such as buttery crab-stuffed shrimp and grilled scallops.

There are countless diners in the Big Apple, many of which are beloved. However, Square Diner is refreshingly unpretentious. The Tribeca landmark is a classic train car diner with wood paneling, believed to date back to the 1940s, and run by the same family for the last 40 years. Spanish omelets, breakfast steak, pancakes and coffee are the highlights.

The aptly-named Midnight Diner is open 24/7, with its neon lights reflecting off the silver dining car throughout the night. It’s the place to go if you yearn for soul food made from scratch: dishes such as shrimp and grits, fried chicken wings, mac 'n' cheese, and collard greens are all endorsed by happy diners.

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With the vintage vibes of a classic American diner and a menu of traditional, comforting German dishes, Kroll’s Diner is one of a kind – and that’s why people adore it. Since 1972, menu items like the Reuben sandwich and German burger – loaded with toppings including sauerkraut – have delighted customers. The standout favorite, though, is the knoephla soup, thick with chicken, potato and little dumplings. There are also locations in Bismarck, Mandan and Minot.

This bold blue dining cart in East Greenwich dates back to the 1950s, when it was built by The Worcester Dining Car Company. Although it has been restored, it retains the original clock, green bar stools, woodwork and floor tiles. Meanwhile, the stainless-steel hood, wooden booths and photographs were brought in to fit the retro décor. Head here for brunch – customers rave about the banana bread French toast.

This vintage diner, with its old-school interior, part-brick, part-stainless steel exterior, and outdoor seating, is the top choice in South Dakota. It’s a proper community spot, known and loved for its poutine, beef stroganoff (braised beef and mushrooms in a creamy sherry sauce with pasta) and jambalaya (made with spicy pork and andouille sausage or blackened chicken, and cream sauce).

Speros Zepatos, a Greek immigrant from Cephalonia, founded Memphis’ oldest restaurant in 1919. Updated by his son Harry in the 1950s, it remains appealingly old-school and is now a local landmark and popular location for movie shoots (it featured in The Firm and Walk the Line to name a couple). The French toast, biscuits and gravy, and sweet potato pancakes are divine.

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Built in 1954 as a drive-in, this venue has changed hands and names over the years, but has been the Original Market Diner since 1989. Changes or not, service is fast and friendly and it continues to dish out home-cooked food in hearty Texan-sized portions, with bottomless coffee. The Denver omelet, biscuits and gravy, banana bread French toast and homemade pie all get a thumbs up.

Ruth's Diner originally opened in downtown Salt Lake City in 1930, but moved to its current, leafier location on Emigration Canyon in 1949, where it still sits in one of the city's old trolley cars. The eponymous Ruth was quite a character by all accounts – she started out as a cabaret singer before turning her hand to the diner – and the food still enjoys an excellent reputation. Come for the breakfasts in particular, which can be enjoyed outside on the patio in warmer months.

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This 1940s railcar is charming on the outside and even cuter on the inside, where a row of booths runs parallel to counter seating, with the signature sky-blue and white color scheme throughout. The Blue Benn is classic diner territory and wins over customers with its retro feel. It’s been serving pancakes, Philly cheesesteaks and omelets to hungry drivers and passersby since 1948 – and its table jukeboxes keep customers just as happy as the food does.

This lunch dining car (which, thankfully, also serves breakfast) has been open since 1926 and was in the same family until 2001. The current owners have remained faithful to the character of this much-loved establishment, which many will recognize from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It serves a mean Garbage Plate, a cooked breakfast of eggs, hash browns, meats, cheese and vegetables.

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