Says Becca: For a 24-hour diner, Best Diner is a pretty snazzy place.

As a regular at Jan’s House, another diner in Greensboro, the first thing I noticed at Best was how professional and clean the place looks.

However clean Best looks, though, its sanitation rating is actually slightly lower than Jan’s.

I skimmed through the menu to compare prices and was slightly disappointed. Six dollars for a sandwich? I was used to getting a sandwich and a piece of pie for that price at Jan’s!

I went ahead and ordered the turkey and cheese sub. After what seemed like forever, it finally arrived. The service at Jan’s is certainly much better.

First-year Xan Lovatt, who has visited both diners puts it, “Jan’s is really homey. Best is really industrial and sketchy.”

When you walk into Jan’s House, the staff smiles and asks how you are. The waiters and waitresses there remember you, joke around with you, and make you feel at home.

At Best, though, where there is actually a wall between the cook staff and the customers, it’s easy to feel like just another annoying college student who wants food at 3 a.m.

I must admit, though, the food at Best is delicious. My turkey sub was actually worth the six dollars I paid for it. Not only was it tasty, but it was a large portion. While the sandwiches at Jan’s are normal sandwich size, the subs at Best are big enough to fill you up before even touching the fries.

I have been back several times since my initial visit, and every time, the food is great. The food quality is very consistent compared to Jan’s, where sometimes eggs taste a little like cigarette smoke, or you get a bad nut in your pecan waffles.

I had to check out the bathrooms at Best before I could make my final judgment. They are nice and roomy, but there was water on the floor.

I washed my hands and reached for a paper towel. Here, Jan’s wins again. At Jan’s, the paper towel dispenser is low, so water doesn’t drip down your arms when you grab the paper towel. At Best, my arms definitely got wet.

Another mark against Best was they were having trouble with their credit card machine, and had to scan our cards numerous times, causing a double charge to my account. It worked out fine, but it was still annoying.

Bottom line: Go to Jan’s for the atmosphere and the service. Go to Best for the food.

Says Kyle:

Although Jan’s House feels like a jambalaya made with a sardine can and a diner, it’s a great place to get some sweet tea.

As a regular of Best Diner, I came to Jan’s expecting the worst. Here at Guilford, people get really defensive about their favorite diner. So naturally, slander is thrown, and malice toward the other diners is slowly cooked over hot coals.

Jan’s however, disproved both the slander and hype.

First off, on entering, everything feels really open. The very large windows that face the front let in a lot of light, especially in the daytime.

The first problem came when we tried to find a seat big enough for five people. Here is where Best scores a big point. At Best, if you’ve got a big crowd, you can easily pull up a table to a booth and have almost five extra seats. No such luck at Jan’s.

Finding the bar empty, we were able to get five seats there. As good as the seating at Best is, the counter there is not only small, but inconvenient. You get the feeling only the hardcore regulars are allowed to sit there. Jan’s counter is much better, on about every point: not only spacious, but welcoming.

Prompt, friendly service is the soup of the day at Jan’s, and it shows. We waited for exactly two minutes for service. Best averages ten minutes just to order drinks. Not to mention the joviality of our server, which you wouldn’t see too much at Best.

The food, which came much faster than at Best, was delicious. I ordered what was quite possibly the very best patty melt I’ve ever tasted. The onion rings, while tasting slightly funny at first, grew on me.

Major bonus for Jan’s: the sweet tea. Never have I had such a great, refreshing sweet tea. Usually at Best, it’s not sweet enough, and it’s necessary to use a straw. Jan’s rocks out their sweet tea with crushed ice, not only allowing the rejection of a straw, but also allowing the ice to be tasty.

The only thing wrong with the menu at Jan’s is that while everything is cheaply priced, you can’t get a massive cheeseburger and your choice of hash browns or fries for only $5.45 like at Best. Usually at Best, I go for the Grilled Chicken Sub, minus the tomato, and fries. So far, nothing I’ve had has compared to it – until the patty melt at Jan’s.

Another plus for Jan’s was the quick payment. Like Becca said, paying at Best can be spotty sometimes, and has caused many a frustration when we go to pay.

Bottom line: I’m agreeing with Becca. Go to Best for good food, especially when you’ve got more than four people. Go to Jan’s if you’re poor and hungry and want a great conversation along with great sweet tea.