Lining up outside the Sunset on the weekend is almost a Beaches tradition, which holds that causal, low-cost, cheery, plenty and friendly is what works -- probably why there are three diners in the main part of the strip, and only one or at most two fine dining spots.
The toast is always thick and I really enjoy the dark rye. The fruit bowl is always good. My dad would never eat pork and beans because he ate so much during the Depression, but beans are a popular side dish here, altho they are a bit sweet and have not much of a distinctive taste.
I like diners most when a yearning for an old fashioned Happy Days breakfast to get over a hangover won't go away; at other times I get disappointed. That must be me today because I'm wishing there was something more distinctive about the beans or the eggs -- something like local and sustainable or something far away from a can of pork and beans from the 1950s.
The other thing I enjoy in diners is the look of people getting a start on life. The waitresses are always good-humored and efficient in a friendly way, and will be going somewhere when they've saved a bit of money; and the short order cooks are immigrants who are making their way in an industry that isn't too expensive to get into and relies mainly on hard and steady work.
As I argue in my book Food for City Building, providing a start in life is one major function of a restaurant strip, and you can see that here.