Jackson Heights Life

I personally like both, City for breakfast and Rickys for lunch/dinner. I think that Rickys has more "exotic dishes" if you will. City, although they have some decent Mexican dishes, tends to be on the mundane side. Rickys mixes it up more.

Thanks for the responses.  I tend to do breakfast more often than other meals at both of these places, but on a few occasions I have ordered the burger at City.  It's huge and the fries taste fresh, not from frozen.  I have noticed that during the evening hours, City seems to attract a few of the people from the classic character list mentioned in another post.

I like Mark Twain as well. Seems it's been around forever. I think though it's more standard diner fare than Rickys or CC.

I stopped by the Mark Twain Diner about 2 weeks ago...this after a long hiatus for no specific reason.  This place has changed so much over the years.  Maybe it's just that I hadn't been there in so long, but everything looked so dirty.  Even the pattern on the carpeting was barely discernible under all the layers of dirt.   It's time for a clean-up.  Excluding us, there were only 2 or 3 other couples dining.

Meli, I agree with you in that I would not consider ordering beans and such in either Ricky's or City.  Breakfast and the occasional burger suits me just fine.  I don't know if you're into burgers, but the basic cheeseburger at City knocks the socks off of Mark Twain's!   

I have not been to Jackson House in ages, probably 2 or 3 years ago. Usually breakfast for me. I am absolutely in love with cafe 89, which has nice breakfast wraps. I think I will try JH just to see how it is these days.

Ricky's doesn't take cards, though they do have an excellent pork sandwich.  They have a more limited menu.  Also, though I love the people at City, I have never gotten out of there without them making a major, major mistake.

I haven't been to any of the coffee shops in this area for ages.  But I do manage to go the Mark Twain at least once a month.  When I first moved here, I frequented the Jackson House but hated the canned veggies.  Next it was Jahn's.  I though they were a little better.  I went to Ricky's just once.  Long time ago.  Had one mediocre meal and never went back.  Those three experiences soured me on trying City or any others like that.  But it's been such a long time maybe they've gotten better.  I normally go to one of the bagel shops when I want breakfast and get egg/bacon sandwiches on the run.  I have an old fashioned definition for what I call a diner... it's a building standing by itself with a parking lot.  Maybe cuz I grew up in Jersey. So Ricky's and City and Jahn's are not diners to my mind.  Although they do have diner food.  So now what is diner food?  Breakfast, burgers, other food, salads, sandwiches???  I think I need John Prester's help.   The Georgia diner is pretty famous as far as diners go and fits my definition of stand alone building and parking lot.