After 2 a.m., there isn't much to do in this town. The bars are closed, the streets are empty and the police are cruising.

Which makes 2 a.m., or any of the other 23 hours in a day, a good time to enjoy a late dinner, an early breakfast or some simple lunchtime sandwiches at Ye Olde College Diner, 126 W. College Ave.

I showed up a little closer to 3 in the morning, still in time for the late-night rush.

The place was packed, either with students taking study breaks or with the slightly intoxicated groups that were drowning out OutKast's version of "Hey Ya" with their own.

My friend and I got a booth and, since there was only one waiter for the entire crowd, we took our time deciding on food, which wasn't easy with the menu's many options.

First, there was the problem of deciding which type of meal we wanted.

We could have gone with one of the Diner's omelet selections and thrown in some English muffins and fruit.

But we opted out of breakfast and thought about something more along the lines of dinner, like the ribs, a cheesesteak or an original creation from the featured "Build Your Own Macaroni and Cheese."

By the time the waiter took our orders, we had settled on grilled chicken sandwiches covered in bacon, with sides of french fries and mozzarella sticks -- a perfect meal for right before bedtime.

The waiter grabbed us some coffees and we sat back in our booths to wait and enjoy the atmosphere.

The inside was cozy and relaxed, with everyone talking, laughing, smoking and eating.

Because of the 24-hour service and the laid-back attitude, we were impressed to notice that the front door doesn't even have a lock.

A couple of times it was almost annoyingly relaxed, like when the girl across the restaurant was screaming the details of her sex life, but in general, everyone was having a good time.

Although we didn't go to study, we noticed the groups that were taking advantage of the Diner's "study hall," which, for a small fee, offers unlimited coffee and soda.

Beverages are self-served and anything from the menu is available by simply flagging down a member of the wait staff. It begins at 8 p.m. every day and goes all night long.

The restaurant was understaffed for the night's crowd, so we were starving and ready to eat by the time the meals finally came up.

Our waiter left us with a massive amount of food, and the conversation stopped completely because everything was so good. Twenty minutes into gorging ourselves, we had to slow down to save room for dessert.

We weren't even remotely hungry by this point, but, after rationalizing, we determined that it would be wrong to leave the Diner without getting a grilled sticky.

We ordered the smaller one, which still seemed huge when it arrived smothered in vanilla ice cream. Halfway into it, we gave up and got the bill, which was incredibly inexpensive for the amount of food we had eaten.

It was 4:30 in the morning when we finally dragged ourselves out of the booth.

As we left, the streets were still empty, except for the group of people that was walking into the Diner as we were walking out.