Nick & Lou’s Skatium Diner: A Slap Shot For Havertown

Restaurant: Nick & Lou's Skatium Diner
Address: 1002 Darby Road, Havertown, PA 19083
Rating: (4 out of 5 stars): ★★★★
Style: Diner
Food: Good pizzas, sandwiches, hamburgers and steaks
Atmosphere: Neighborhood diner
Parking: Moderate
Service: Relaxed and friendly
Price Range: Inexpensive
Unique Features: Free WiFi, classic diner food and a great inside view of the skating rink. 
Menu: Check out the menu in the photo gallery or click here for larger images.

The diner, the great American hangout place for youths and adults to grab a quick bite to eat.

And now Havertown has one more diner to serve up classic foods, but you might want to grab a coat before you go in.

Nick & Lou’s Skatium Diner opened the first week in January of this year in, where else, but the , where ice skaters and hockey players and fans go to glide on ice and slap pucks around. No strangers to the diner business, both Nick Piscitelli and Lou Farese also own the Nick & Lou’s Pines Diner in Aldan too.

But the one in the Skatium offers up a wide variety of food, including classic meatloaf dinners, hamburgers, salmon and even breakfast at anytime of the day.

So one Friday afternoon around lunchtime, I decided to unchain myself from the desk and grab a bit of lunch at the new Skatium Diner that a few readers have asked me about.

Walking in the front door of the diner, which is located on the side of the Skatium facing Darby Road, the place is decked out in classic 1950’s colors: red and black chairs and tables, with posters of other diners on the wall and a big-screen HDTV set to ESPEN.

But what really sets this diner a part from others is that it has three large windows that overlook the Skatium’s ice skating rink.

After looking at the extensive large overhead menu at the counter, I finally ordered the grilled chicken wrap with French fries and my assistant ordered the waffles.

Surprisingly, my food was not soaking with grease, which is sadly one of the hallmarks of a few diners I’ve come to discover. Nor was my meal made earlier that day and slapped under a heating lamp like a few popular fast food chains.

The grilled chicken was moist and delicious and packed with a lot of flavor, with the lettuce being fresh. The French fries were nice and crispy and they also smacked with a lot of taste.

My assistant really enjoyed her waffles, which could have been served with ice cream but she declined. But she did say that it could have been topped with some whipped butter or cream.

While enjoying our meal off the Styrofoam plates, we noticed how clean the diner was and since our booth was at one of the large windows that looked out to the Skatium, we happily watched the ice skaters going by.

Now here is a little known fact: I’m a diner coffee junkie. So I had to try the coffee, which I found to be great but my assistant thought it should have a bit more bang to it, as she enjoys strong coffee.

One of the best features of this diner is that it also offers free Wifi service, so busy parents (or an editor of a popular news website that covers Haverford Township) can grab a quick bite to eat and get some work done.

And that’s an important note to Havertown restaurant owners: In this day of digital technology and people always on the go and carrying their laptops, it’s almost a business faux pas not to have free Wifi for your customers. Sadly while selecting restaurants for business meetings, I had to skip some great places in Havertown because they did not offer Wifi. Some food for thought for you restaurant owners, if you pardon the pun.

But getting back to Nick & Lou’s Skatium Diner, I can see this being the place that will (hopefully) be with Havertown for a long time to come, while bringing customers of all ages together.