Uptown Diner

01/21/2026

That fried chicken was going to be so good! Had it soaking in some buttermilk and seasonings and had been practicing southern fried chicken from scratch and had it DOWN!! 🍗

04/25/2025

New beginnings, friends💜🌱 Thank you all for the outpouring love and support for the past 2.5 years!

03/28/2025

Hi, friends and happy Friday! We wanted to introduce our new business page, please like, follow and share! Updates moving forward will be on the cafe’s page!

Thank you 🫶🏼🌷🪻🌸

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BXRFVb7tg/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Serving up delicous sandwiches, salads, cheeseboards and more overlooking a beautiful pituresque vineyard and Cayuga lake.

03/20/2025

Good morning, friends! We wanted to share some exciting news with you! While it's not the diner, and we're unsure of the diner's future at this time, this summer we are cozying up with our friends at on Cayuga Lake Wine Trail to serve up some delicious lunches on the covered deck.

The menu will include panini's, sandwiches/wraps, salads, soups, desserts and more! All the deets, including hours, full menu and page coming soon and we are so excited to see you all at the beautiful winery with a breathtaking view (and really good wine). Kendra and mama Kim will be the mother-daughter duo for this special cafe and are looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Stay tuned, and as always, thank you all for the outpouring of love, support, prayer and words of encouragement.

03/18/2025

This weekend, friends!! Come show these guys love and support as they’ve been working their tails off!
🌈🦁🐶💃👠

03/11/2025

*siigggh*
The new million dollar question…cleanup? People are asking why the village hasn’t started cleanup. Some have referred to it as an “eyesore”. We get it and we agree. And we want to be transparent and let folks know we aren’t being neglectful. We (all business owners) are hard at work to try and get the ball rolling. It is each individual business/property owners responsibility to pay for cleanup. We have very generous companies like Sessler and Seneca Meadows willing to do things at cost as to not make a profit, but it’s still extremely costly.

To be clear, hundreds of thousands of dollars. We need to receive the insurance money before we can do anything. The village, county, state simply can’t help as there are no funds for that. Understandable.

On top of that we found out today that some environmental testing of some sort needs to take place daily during cleanup and the cost is $600 per day and we have to hire this company apart from the cleanup companies.

I hope this clears up some questions for our community and any rumors or misinformation that may be out there!

With lots of love and some frustration,
The Reece family

03/07/2025

Taking a trip down memory lane tonight ❤️‍🩹

02/17/2025

Hi, friends! It’s been nearly 4 weeks since our lives changed forever. Daily we are asked the million dollar question “are you going to rebuild?” We’re still wrapping our heads around it all and we’ve been very busy taking care of logistics and settling into an apartmentent with our girls. But here’s what we can share to answer that question for now:

Most know, we made our beautiful home above the diner. My husband worked so hard and endlessly the whole summer of 2023 while we stayed in a camper and I was very pregnant. We loved our home and had memories of REBUILDING it from nothing. So much history in that building, not just from our family but many. He was in every crack and crevice of that old building making sure it was in tip-top shape and safety was his first priority for our family and guests. From plumbing to electrical. All redone. Our days were long and there were blood, sweat and tears poured into that building. We had spent the last 2.5 years REBUILDING. Not just us, but also our staff and friends and family that helped with all of our projects and busted their butts on the floor and in that kitchen. We were super busy and we thanked God daily for that because this business is very, very hard. Especially for two people coming from totally different lines of work😂. It was a leap of faith and we knew God placed us there.

Now, we are left to pick up the pieces. Literally. It’s going to be costly for all of us to clean that space up. It’s going to be very difficult emotionally. We also need to find a home. We brought our baby girl home there in October 2023. Lots of sweet memories. She’s been struggling to settle in. It’s more than a business we lost. Our home. Our extended family of staff and customers we miss dearly. Family business and a future for our kids.

So to answer the question, since there’s no simple answer. We just don’t know what God has planned for us next. We’re standing at the foot of the mountain looking up. We are hopeful and we are grateful for all the love and help we have received. Grateful to have our lives. Excited for the future. But we’re also grieving and working on logistics. Paperwork, insurance, more paperwork, more phone calls. All we have right now are question marks ❓ It all takes a lot of time. The kids are our top priority as they are going through loss too.

Thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts for the words of encouragement, so many letters and cards in the mail sharing memories of our diner! It’s been SUCH a blessing. We smile and we cry at each one. God bless you all ❤️

We will be sure to keep our friends and family here informed if there is any exciting news to share in the future. We wish we had answers now, but time will tell. We love you all.

Kendra, Eric, Julia and Amelia

📷: Julia and Amelia at Julia’s 13th birthday held at the diner!

02/01/2025

Our girls, mama Kim and Becky helping out at the Ovid Fire Relief benefit in their Uptown gear! They’ve been keeping busy helping out wherever they can. Lorena, our cook, entered the Uptown Diner chili in the chili cook-off! We’ve been so blessed with our crew and we hope to be back together daily some day. For now this is how we stay connected and what a blessing it’s been. ❤️

Many, many thanks,
Uptown family

01/31/2025

So much generosity from our fellow businesses ❤️❤️

As many of you already know, our neighboring village of Ovid was ravaged by a multiple-structure fire on January 21st. Our local grocery store, diner, Italian restaurant, and laundromat were reduced to rubble and eleven families who lived in upstairs apartments were left homeless. Additionally, more than sixty employees of these businesses have lost their source of income. In a tiny community of only 500 residents, the impact of this fire on the local citizens has been devastating.

To support relief efforts, local wineries will gather together at a fundraising event on February 16th from 1:00 - 4:00 hosted at Knapp Winery. More than a dozen wineries will be present to pour wine samples, with music provided by Ovid native Ed Iseley and delectable morsels from Creekside Cafe and Van Noble Farm.

While there's no hard-and-fast admission price, there's a suggested donation of $20 per person. Additional funds will be raised by wine raffles. 100% of funds raised will go directly to the people affected, with no overhead or administrative costs.

Reservation link is in comments.

Can’t make it, but still want to donate? Check out the direct link for donations in the comments.



Hosmer Winery Damiani Wine Cellars Silver Thread Vineyard Knapp Winery Thirsty Owl Wine Company Montezuma Winery Sheldrake Point Winery Osmote Airy Acres Vineyard Six Eighty Cellars Glenora Wine Cellars Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars Lucas Vineyards Billsboro Winery Hillick & Hobbs Estate Ed Iseley Music