The Tiny Diner with Humongous Charm

While Clearwater has seen some restaurants come and go faster than you can spell breakfast, it still has a few greasy spoon diners that really go the extra mile in terms of charm, nostalgia, and just good food at fair prices. Tin Can is one of them. It's the smallest diner that I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying, yet for being so tiny it delivers a humongous amount of joy and satisfaction to me and other fans of this establishment.

Sometimes you can't get a table. There aren't that many and enough people know about this jewel so it gets difficult on Saturday and Sunday mornings, unless you don't mind waiting for a group to finish their time there. It's worth the wait if you're into greasy spoons and nostalgia. Tin Can isn't just about tasty eggs over easy with bacon and grits. It's about charm. If you want heaping amounts of charm with your morning coffee, the team at Tin Can will provide. For that reason alone, a little waiting like about 20 minutes at most, is no big deal. People will wait an hour or more to get a dinner table at some restaurants that don't hold a candle in charm to this little place.

It's so quaint. Tucked almost secretly away on Myrtle Avenue near Downtown Clearwater is the last diner in the area where breakfast mongers can go grab a bite to eat without spending a fortune. Sit in a comfy booth or at the bar before the old soda fountain machine, and you'll get excellent service either way. The team there doesn't have the large crowd to distract them from providing you 100% great service.

The menu is your basic greasy spoon menu, so don't go there expecting to find an assortment of bagels like at Einsteins or lox to go with that. If you like grits and sausage and pancakes, you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for some gourmet ooh la la chef, then move on. Gourmet is not what Tin Can is about. It's about good food, great service, a quaint, nostalgic ambiance, and charm.

Some people might complain about the tiny size of this diner, but I think that's part of it's genius. It's like a teacher who can reach her students better in the small classroom over the classroom where some students can't hear her all the way in the back. The servers are not distracted by too much hustle and bustle. They know exactly where everyone is and exactly what everyone wants because it's small and manageable.

Besides the delicious dunky eggs and grits that I usually devour there, I find the decor to be just perfect. I love the old fashioned salt and pepper shakers on the table, the old red ketchup bottle, the old soda fountain machine, and the great assortment of collectible tin cans and lunch boxes adorning the shelves. Sitting there, I pour some sugar from the old fashioned glass sugar shaker into my grits and I just feel transported back to my childhood in the 70s. What a great time. What a great place. Charmed, I am simply charmed by this place.

I highly recommend you give it a visit for breakfast if you haven't already done so. Don't let it disappear like Angies that was right around the corner down the street and is now gone forever. Don't let is fail like Egg Beaters on Gulf to Bay boulevard, that only lasted for two months. Tin Can has been part of the Downtown's culture for a long time and it still has what it takes to remain. Please go enjoy it as I do and keep this charming tiny diner thriving. Put your money where your mouth is, and you'll love every minute of it, I promise.