[2] The Food Network has said The Original offers "creative riffs on the classics" and a "modern take on '50s and '60s diners by way of amped-up American favorites featuring local and seasonal ingredients".

[6] Korfhage said the diner's menu has "such innovations as a donut slider appetizer, a chicken-and-waffle sandwich, a croissant Monte Cristo with marionberry jam, six different $10 boozy milkshakes including a bourbon salted caramel, and a hamburger whose patty is 50% bacon".

[3] The beef slider patty with cheese is served between glazed doughnut halves made in-house, and the jalapeño and cheddar buttermilk waffles come with chicken confit and maple syrup.

[1] The Dinercade serves snacks including caramel corn and trail mix, cocktails with names alluding to video games, beers by the can, and wine.

The Princess Peach is an iced tea with bourbon whiskey and Frane described the Hadouken as a "floral and slightly sweet gin cocktail with the hue of Ryu's blue fireball".

According to Eater Portland's Mattie John Bamman, Fieri's visit was prompted by the chef who had "earned a reputation for over-the-top diner classics, like a grilled cheese involving shoestring fries".

Participants who successfully consume 5 pounds (2,300 g) of poutine (French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy) in 30 minutes or less earn the meal for free.

[21] For Thanksgiving in 2017, a prix-fixe menu included turkey, glazed ham or confit portobello mushroom and squash, a green or Caesar salad, and chess, bourbon-pecan or pumpkin pie for dessert.

[6] Shana Lynch of Delish.com included The Salty Jim on her 2016 list of the "13 most insane freakshakes" in the United States, calling the drink "one that you won't want to miss".

"[23] The newspaper's Olivia Dimmer wrote in her 2017 overview of Portland's ice cream options, "If Yelp reviews are an indication of a good boozy milkshake, The Original is the spot to be for a grown-up version of the summertime treat.

[26] In his 2019 review of The Dinercade, Willamette Week's Pete Cottell said the "half-cooked imitation of Ground Kontrol" offers "casual fun for small groups who just want something to do with their hands in between sips of one of the Original's trademark boozy milkshakes".

He considered the pinball variety limited, writing, "you'll mostly find bad sequels to shooters ... in place of their popular originals, which made us wonder whether the cabinets were consciously hand-selected by someone who didn't know better or simply part of a package deal when a like-minded operation failed to sniff any success when offered their availability".

The occasional Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives tourist may be too stoked about entering Flavortown to care that the gun on the bar's first-person shooter is buggy and won't kill any zombies or raptors.

The guide said:A menu to suit any palate lures a Downtown crowd to this nouveau diner slinging affordable classics inspired by seasonal, local ingredients plus a few oddities that'll make you smile (e.g. Fruit Loops pancakes); the super-cool, modern bi-level space is outfitted with booths, counter seating and a bar dispensing housemade sodas plus cocktails, beer and wine.