Editor's note: This version corrects breakfast hours at the diner. While the in-house menu states breakfast is served from 6 to 11 a.m., a representative from the restaurant says breakfast is served all day.

It is always a bright day for me when a new diner opens up in my home-to-work radius. There’s something gratifying about the ready availability of never-ending coffee, omelets and club sandwiches in my world. A recent rare sunny day brought me with happy heart to the Flanders Diner in East Lyme.

Flanders Diner occupies what was once the Common Loon restaurant, and the general set-up and decor vibe remain in this new iteration: bar area off to the left, main dining area to the right — booths and tables available — cute bric-a-brac on the walls.

Settled in a booth, we ordered that all-important diner coffee ($1.95 a cup) and perused the lengthy menu. Thankfully, the coffee was more than decent; so decent, I would’ve probably had another cup of it had our waitress offered a refill at any point during my meal. We were luckier on water refills, with my camel-like husband at least scoring one refill before his glass was entirely abandoned. (I never finish my water, so I kept him hydrated with mine.) Not a major disaster, but these things should be taught in Diner Service 101.

From a menu loaded with options (sandwiches, wraps, dinners, breakfast!), we choose some classics and a few outliers. To start, a plate of potato skins ($7.95), which turned out to be a hearty portion of baked potatoes topped with loads of cheddar cheese and chopped bacon — it’s always nice to have your potato balanced well by the toppings. The skins were so plentiful, we had to knife-and-fork them. One minor fault: we suspect the skins spent a little too much time under the broiler.

As for the outliers, we ordered the Tonino Panini ($9.95) and a steak quesadilla for shared main courses. The Tonino Panini intrigued me immediately, and our waitress’s recommendation sealed the deal. Served with very good French fries, the sandwich consists of grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, mozzarella cheese and pesto sauce on very tasty naan-like bread. The sandwich mix is well-conceived and stood up to the taste test as well. While it was a tad unwieldy — large hunks of chicken breast and peppers did not make for a very good Lincoln-Log effect — we enjoyed the overall flavor experience, thanks to a very nice pesto punch and lots of mozzarella.

We had high hopes for the steak quesadilla ($8.95), which comes served with peppers and onions and cheddar cheese, but in the end we found the dish anticlimactic. The steak wasn’t terribly flavorful and brought that old freezer standby Steamk’ums to mind; the goodly dose of cheddar helped save the quesadilla from being a total bore. On the plus side, the portion is quite large and comes with salsa and sour cream.

For another meal, we sampled the Meatball Parm grinder ($8.95 for the regular; get it with fries for $10.95), and the meatballs presented the same nondescript flavor profile as the steak. While the large sandwich, topped with loads of mozzarella cheese, looked delicious, it was rather fair. The good roll in which the meatballs nested added some welcome texture and flavor, but we cite not enough red sauce and garlic as the main deficiencies in the grinder we tasted.

But if there’s a cure for any dull dish, it’s a great dessert, and Flanders Diner delivered with its cookies and cream pie ($4.95, not house-made). Three layers of creamy, cookie-dotted confection merged so beautifully we finished the slice in record time. We also appreciated the festive presentation of the pie with confectioner’s sugar and dollops of whipped cream.

On a return trip to Flanders Diner, I stopped by for breakfast (served all day), as breakfast is my absolutely favorite meal to enjoy at diners. My meal of a short stack of blueberry pancakes ($5.25) and a side of home fries ($3.25) proved rather middling. The large, thick and chewy pancakes were a little short on the blueberries and not terribly flavorful, and the home fries were nearly equal parts onion and potato — with each part sliced and diced to small pieces, it was tough to discern where the onions ended and the potatoes began. Some people might enjoy such a ratio, but I order home fries mostly for the “fries” aspect. They were certainly flavorful, albeit an onion-y sort of flavorful. On the plus side, I was in no danger of a coffee shortage thanks to an attentive waitress.

Bottom line: if you’re looking for a no-frills quick bite that improves on your basic fast-food fare, you will be satisfied with a meal at Flanders Diner. This is a new-ish business, and its vibrant Facebook page suggests its owners are open to feedback and, therefore, improvement. That’s a good sign and I look forward to the diner’s continued evolution.

Flanders Diner

135 Boston Post Road

East Lyme

(860) 451-8020

Online: Find the diner on Facebook

Cuisine: Class diner fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner; also BYOB

Atmosphere: Casual, cheerful, spacious

Service: Friendly but with a few missteps

Prices: Priciest items are entrees such as Shrimp scampi at $18.95 and the Neptune (seafood) Platter at $19.95; omelets range from $5.25 to $9.25; a deluxe sandwich (with fries) averages around $8

Hours: Daily from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Credit cards: All majors

Handicapped access: No steps leading in; entryway and interior spacious