Post #508917 by Heath on Thu, Feb 4, 2010 10:23 AM

According to Dictionary.com:

• diner - din-er
  Show Spelled Pronunciation [dahy-ner]
  –noun

1. a person who dines.
2. a railroad dining car.
3. a restaurant built like such a car.
4. a small, informal, and usually inexpensive restaurant.
   Origin:
   1800–10; dine + -er
   or
   din·er
   n.
   1.One that dines: midnight diners enjoying the meal after the theater.
   2.See dining car.
   3.A small, usually inexpensive restaurant with a long counter and booths and housed in a building designed to resemble a dining car.

• coffee-shop - coffee shop
  –noun
  a small, usually inexpensive, restaurant where refreshments and light meals are served.

Origin:
1830–40, Americanism

So I would say it could be both, however, a look at their website shows what Denny's considers itself to be.

On 2010-02-03 11:11, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
I think it even started earlier with the I-HOPization of American Coffee Shops.

To be a true Coffee Shop, it must have 2 elements:

1. Sugar in pour-it-yourself glass container.
2. Cream in a stainless steel, pour-it-yourself creamer.

Denny's and I-HOP fail on both counts. They use sugar packets and small individual-serving plastic creamers. Thus, NOT A COFFEE SHOP. This should be pretty simple and self-evident.

Personally, I prefer the sugar packets because you can use them to level wobbly tables, I used to use matchbooks but since smoking has been banned indoors...
As far as the creamer goes, as a kid I remember putting things in the pourer when my parents weren't looking( salt, sugar, crumbs, etc.) so I learned to drink my coffee like the this traveler.

Merely my opinion on the matter.