6 Worst Breakfast Items You Should Avoid Ordering At Denny's

Whether you're looking for a casual sit-down restaurant for breakfast or a late-night spot that will allow you to indulge your breakfast cravings regardless of the late hour, Denny's (which is currently headed for private ownership) is always a solid option. The diner-style restaurant represents a step up from fast food restaurants but is still casual (and cheap) enough to justify the occasional unplanned meal there. While Denny's is known for its wide selection of breakfast options, not everything on the chain's breakfast menu is particularly worth ordering. In fact, some of the breakfast menu items are arguably bad, which is why you may want to avoid ordering them.

We've tasted our way through many a Denny's breakfast and consulted online reviews to get a better sense of which Denny's breakfast menu items should be skipped if you want to get the best possible meal at the chain. Of course, you may not agree on every point, but by having a better sense of what other Denny's diners don't particularly like, you might just have a better chance of ordering something you actually do enjoy from the chain's breakfast menu. These are the breakfast items you probably shouldn't be getting the next time you go to Denny's.

If you're looking for an especially hearty breakfast at Denny's, you may find yourself attracted to the "slam" portion of the menu. This features several large breakfast plates that come with a smattering of American breakfast classics, ranging from eggs to toast to basically any kind of breakfast meat you could ever dream of. The Lumberjack Slam is the largest and most over-the-top of all of these offerings, which is why we consider it one of the worst items on the menu.

The Lumberjack Slam comes with pancakes, eggs, hash browns, and toast. But then come the meats: You get sausage, ham, and bacon, all on one plate. It's downright excessive, and all that meat doesn't even taste good after a few bites. One Reddit user took to the platform to discuss the Lumberjack Slam's bad value, questioning why anyone would pay more for a breakfast with a "slice of crusty a** ham." You're better off getting either the All-American Slam or the Original Grand Slam, which are much more reasonably portioned and will still have you feeling more than full and satisfied.

There's nothing like a good old-fashioned food mashup, and that's exactly what Denny's Philly cheesesteak omelet is. It takes the light, fluffy breakfast dish that's usually packed with an assortment of fresh veggies and bastardizes it with a heap of grilled beef. The additions of onions, peppers, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese sound like they would be good, but really, they're just overpowering what should be an egg-focused dish.

One reviewer took to YouTube to complain about the dish, stating that it just wasn't very flavorful despite its long list of ingredients. Plus, the combo of cheesesteak and eggs just feels forced and doesn't make much sense beyond the appeal of novelty. That's why it's still one of the Denny's menu items we think you should avoid. But don't worry — there are plenty of other egg-forward breakfast options to choose from at the chain, like the country fried steak and eggs and the Ultimate Omelet. And if you're craving that signature Philly cheesesteak flavor, learn how to make the original dish at home.

When you go to a diner to get breakfast, you probably expect to order eggs if you're going more of the savory route instead of opting for a sweet breakfast. But a steak? It's not always going to be a success at a place like Denny's. You need someone who really knows what they're doing at the grill to yield a decent steak, so it can be a hit-or-miss experience. And at Denny's, it seems like it's more often a miss than it is a hit when it comes to the chain's T-Bone steak and eggs.

One Redditor posted about their deeply overcooked T-bone from Denny's, complaining that they had ordered a medium-rare steak and instead received one that appeared to be totally cooked through. But commenters on the post didn't have a lot of sympathy, telling the original poster that ordering a steak from Denny's simply wasn't a good idea. And considering that, according to a Mashed poll, almost a quarter of respondents say that Denny's has the worst eggs of any chain restaurant, it's safe to say that the T-Bone steak and eggs probably isn't the best thing to order off the chain's breakfast menu.

When you go out to a chain restaurant like Denny's, you shouldn't expect that everything is going to be made from scratch. After all, at companies as big as many chain restaurants, turning a profit (while not making the very best food) is the name of the game. But you may not expect that a dish as simple as hash browns isn't fresh. According to a Quora user who claims to be a former general manager at Denny's, the chain's hash browns are actually dehydrated and come in large cartons. To prepare them, they have to rehydrate them for several hours before they're actually cooked and served.

Denny's hash browns aren't actually that bad on the flavor front, if you ask us. But if you care about your food being fresh — or you just want to make sure you're getting good value for your money when you go out to eat — then the hash browns may be best avoided when ordering breakfast at Denny's.

Have you ever made a veggie omelet before? If you have, then you probably know that these often retain a lot of moisture, which can lead to an unfortunately soupy omelet. That's why we don't think you should order the loaded veggie omelet from Denny's. This omelet comes packed with a variety of vegetables, including spinach, onions, tomatoes, and roasted bell peppers. It's also adorned with a generous amount of Swiss cheese. Although it's a dish that sounds good in theory (since it's lighter than most of Denny's other breakfast offerings), in practice, it just doesn't taste very good. The watery texture is a turnoff, according to online reviews, and its bland texture makes it doubly unappealing.

When a restaurant that's known for its relatively rich food tries to venture into the realm of healthier options, it often misses the mark. Unfortunately, that's what's happening with this omelet at Denny's. You won't regret passing it up in favor of something a bit more typical of what the chain offers for breakfast.

Who doesn't like a breakfast sandwich first thing in the morning? There are always the biscuit or croissant-adorned options available at your favorite fast food place, but when you visit a sit-down restaurant like Denny's, you're probably expecting something more. Enter the chain's Moons Over My Hammy sandwich. This isn't your average breakfast sandwich — it's served on crisped pieces of sourdough bread, and it's stacked high with fillings, including scrambled eggs, Swiss and American cheese, and (as the name suggests) thick slices of ham. It also comes with a side of hash browns.

We don't always mind a heavy breakfast, but this dish may be a bit too heavy for our taste. It's not just the presence of the eggs, two types of cheese, and a generous serving of ham — it's the fact that there's nothing to break up all that richness. One food blogger complained of just how salty the dish is, along with the quality of the ham, claiming that they would have preferred standard bacon or sausage in lieu of the low-quality deli meat they found on the sandwich. Although it might be a Denny's classic, it's a breakfast dish from the chain that you can comfortably skip. Instead, try making your own breakfast sandwich at home.

We chose these Denny's breakfast selections based partially on personal experience and also on online reviews from Reddit, Quora, and personal blogs. We focused on flavor, first and foremost, for the judging criteria, but we also considered value and freshness. 

There were a number of other factors we considered. Menu items that were lacking in flavor or texture, weren't cooked well, didn't offer good bang for your buck, and those that lacked freshness found their way onto this list.