Ian Waller enjoys lunch in the fast lane at a family friendly Wiltshire diner
Dreams are made of a visit to Five Zeros Diner. This wonderful American style eatery just happens to share its space with a collection of classic cars that will make your eyes pop out, from classic Lamborghinis, Porsche and Mercedes, to a certain Aston Martin DB4 that I’m hoping might make its way to my driveway next Father’s Day.
Five Zeros is situated on the road between Bradford on Avon and Melksham, and it is just ideal for a family meal out. The diner is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 9am-4pm, offering an impressive selection of breakfasts, American pancakes, burgers, lite bites, cakes and milkshakes, so plenty for all tastes.
Pull up outside and the somewhat plain main building may get you wondering if you’ve got the wrong place. Walk around the side to the entrance, however, and everything instantly becomes clear. Inside sits an incredible collection of cars, all carefully in storage for their owners, some of whom own several samples and swap over the cars on display for whichever they’re not using that week.
During our most recent visit, it was a matter of which one do you want to take home. OK, yes, the Lamborghini Aventador stands out, looking like something Darth Vadar would cruise around the streets of Tatooine in. Then there’s the McLaren P1 GTR and the 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster, all just enticing and meaning the SUV you turned up in will never seem the same again.
For when you can pull your children away from the cars, the diner is a real treat, kitted out in 1950s style booths with teal and white striped seats. During our visit the service was excellent, friendly and professional, with the staff happy to deal with the requests of young diners for none of that and a little more of this, please.
And best of all, the food was superb – generous portions, quality ingredients and very tasty. I can certainly speak very highly of the Lamborghini Large – a cooked breakfast with all of the trimmings (if you want to go REALLY big, there’s also the Bugatti Big Boy!) – while the American Pancakes also looked very tempting indeed.
The team explained that Five Zeros regularly hosts Saturday car club get-togethers – with AC Cobras due in the day after our visit – while corporate events are also welcome and kids parties bookable, making use of the handy mezzanine level of the diner. There’s even an occasional casino – you’ll need to book the babysitters for that.
There’s also a handy membership scheme for regular visitors which offers discounts on all of the food and drink, plus the chance to enter the monthly draws, as well as an annual one with the prize of a Porsche!
We hugely enjoyed our visit to the Five Zero Diner – a great place to eat out with plenty of extra horsepower. Apparently plans are already in place to extend the whole place, adding a bigger kitchen and more car storage space. I wonder if that DB4 will still be there…
www.fivezeros.co.uk