Stern-faced, rude workers who swear at you and terrible service is what you’ll find at one restaurant - but that’s the whole point. We visited Karen’s Diner - and despite service that both puts you on edge and makes you laugh, the food had community reporter Keimae Blake stuffed, as she reports…
I had been watching TikTok videos of people taking their parents and grandparents to Karen’s Diner without telling them the staff were acting rude on purpose. Some videos had thousands of views and were hilarious as people stood there, stunned by such atrocious customer service.
I have to go, I thought. With a friend in tow, I went to Karen’s Diner on Suffolk Road in Sheffield - and at one point, I was too scared to ask for a knife and fork! Karen’s Diner, an Australian chain with seven outlets in the UK, will leave you in stitches as staff go out of their way to make your stay a misery.
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I’ve worked in plenty of jobs that require excellent customer service skills - KFC, Wetherspoons, Primark - and there are times where you want to snap at customers and scream but, of course, how unprofessional would that be. Imagine it being your job!
For those of you who may not know, a 'Karen' is the type of people who demands to “speak to the manager”. They’re mardy, miserable and extraordinarily difficult.
The Sheffield restaurant is smaller than what I thought but inside it looks like those American diners you see in the movies. If you’ve ever watched A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff, it reminded me of the restaurant in that.
The restaurant had bright bold colours - pinks, blues and reds - and luckily, my friend and I were the first people in there, but not for long as the diner gets busy. “What?” a member of staff sitting in a chair asked while chewing gum once we arrived. She added: “Great, it’s already started.”
Sitting down, another member of staff slammed down the menus, asked if we had any allergies, then stormed off. Looking at the menu, there are a range of burgers: The Basic Karen, Karen’s In-Between, Royale Karen and the Sweet Karen.
I went for ‘I Want To See The Manager’ for £16.50. The burger had two steak patties, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, burger sauce and tomato relish.
I also ordered a side of cheesy garlic dough balls for £7. One member of staff was convinced I was from Birmingham. After explaining that I wasn’t, she shouted: “If I say you’re from Birmingham, you’re from Birmingham.”
So for my stay at Karen’s Diner, I was in fact from Birmingham. As more people came in, one member of staff called a group of ladies "bingo bashers" - and as swear words flew around, the staff looked like they wanted to be anywhere but work. They deserve an Oscar.
Promptly, my food arrived and it looked impressive. Just by looking at it, I knew it was going to be good.
I did have one problem, though - as I tried to pick up my burger and eat it, it was falling apart all over the place. I needed a knife and fork but as the staff walked past, glaring and giving dirty looks, I made do without.
The burger had many different tastes going on but the meat was well-cooked and the burger sauce was creamy with just the right amount of tang to it. The diner wasn’t stingy with the fries (but for £16.50 I wasn’t expecting them to be). There wasn’t one thing I disliked about the rather large, filling burger.
With a coke to wash it down, I managed to eat all of it - along with the cheesy garlic dough balls my friend helped me finish. These were sickly and a little bit greasy but delicious all the time.
There was a group there for a birthday. I’m so glad my friend and I had a small table to ourselves not drawing any attention - because the bigger the group, the more you were terrorised, it seemed.
“Can I have the bill?” I asked a member of staff. He mimicked me pulling a face, putting on a squeaky voice and then walked off.
Great.
Now of course, the restaurants I usually visit on a daily basis have exceptional customer service. Usually, I’d give them a 10/10. But for customer service, Karen’s Diner gets a 2/10 - although the food was superb.
“Don’t come back,” a member of staff shouted as we left. If you want to laugh, get sworn at and eat your burger without a knife and fork, Karen’s Diner is definitely worth a visit.
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