One Central New York diner is close to 30 years old, and still going strong.

Charlie’s Place of Clinton is a women owned and operated business run by Karen Knauth since it opened September of 1997. The name comes from Karen working with her Mother:

“My mother’s name is Charlotte and we used to work together for a long time. The boss started calling me Charlie – and it stuck.”

Karen has been in the diner business for over 35 years. She worked for other places before coming to own her own place.

“I like the people. I like making people happy. We have older people, a lot of younger kids, college kids. We have a lot of regulars. Almost everybody’s a regular here. We’re fast, efficient and friendly here. We know people are on their way to work or starting up their busy days, or on their lunch hour, so we’re respectful of their time.”

On Yelp, Charlie's Place currently has around 40 reviews with 4 stars. It seems that fans love their eggs, pancakes, bacon, and one user mentioned how they are very allergy accommodating. If you're looking for a diner, choose a Central New York classic in Charlie's Place.

Michelle Borgia wrote us to highlight Karen and honor her business:

"Karen began her business 27 years ago with her Mom. Diners are becoming a thing in the past, but Karen worked hard and managed to keep going even with Covid around. The diner is a place like home our costumers are family and Karen is the mother of it all. Karen treats her staff like family helping us when ever she can and listening to our complaints trying to fix them. For a diner to stay in business for 27 years, and we always have a full house, she must be doing something right."

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