Three and a half stars. My sister and I go to Planet Fitness down the way so we saw this place and decided to try it. We're not from Lakeside so we didn't know it had outdoor seating. Checked online to make sure it's dog friendly, it is. Always points in my book. Breakfast is good, the usual breakfast fare. Biscuits are HUGE. Service is slow but friendly. Place is clean, including bathrooms, shade is hit or miss on the porch. read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - Brutus the Pugmeister liked his breakfast at Lakeside Cafe. - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

Meh. We stopped in for a quick meal before meeting with our tax person, and were underwhelmed. They give you a lot of food, but for the prices, you'd kind of expect it. We had breakfast items (omelet, biscuits and gravy), and it was okay. They have a ton of restaurants around town. We won't be coming back to this one because it's out of the way, but I don't think we'll ever go to one in a different area, either, because the food just isn't worth it. read more

I went in today and had the Prime Rib french dip sandwich and it was amazing. So darn good and with french fries. The sandwich was fantastic!!! read more

Great place to spend time with Family!! Great customer service, they began serving with fresh warm bread and butter. Cinnamon Roll was out of this world!! Im very picky with my Mac and cheese but this one was delicious, nice and cheesy! read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - Cheese Burger With onion rings - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

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I waited a month to write this review because I wanted a clear head. So here's the story: I moved into this neighbor a little over two years ago. The Lakeside Café immediately caught my eye because I believe in doing business locally, keeping money in the community. I stopped in (it's very close to my house) multiple times over the next few months. It's definitely an 'old-school' place that the locals tend to flock to. "My kinda place!" I thought to myself. I sampled breakfast, lunch and dinner. The portions were large (I always took home leftovers), the selection was good, there's plenty of parking and street access is good, their hours are nice, but the best thing was the quality of the food: excellent. I truly thought I had food a great local place and told myself I would frequent this place, several times a month. And a plus for me was if I used my credit card, I got frequent flyer miles. A 'win-win' situation, or so I thought. Immediately the thing that got my attention was the service. It was slow, sloppy, and unpredictable. And it just got worse. As I watched over my multiple visits, I noticed the servers would disappear into the back for 10-15 minutes at a time, leaving their tables unattended. If any other server walked by my table, I would have almost trip them to get their attention. That's just bad customer service. My last visit was just before Christmas. It wasn't really crowded so that was not an excuse. I spent almost an extra hour (55 minutes) sitting at my table, not counting the meal preparation time and eating time. We didn't get silverware until after the meal arrived. Then we didn't get the table cleared and the bill for almost 30 minutes after we were ready to leave. Then it took another 15 minutes to pay the bill. The front counter had to find my server because only she could accept cash for the bill. The front counter can accept credit card payments but the card reader doesn't work most of the time. I am a good tipper but this was the first time in my adult life (I'm 61) that I never left a tip and just walked out; I was that disappointed. I'm not sure if it's just plain old bad business, a lack of caring on the server's part, or the fact I'm not an established 'local' yet, but I just got tired of it. Thankfully, there are other places close enough to patronize. Another noteworthy thing is the owner doesn't seem to read these reviews or at least respond to them. That tells me they don't really care. I would consider coming back but it will be a while before I do unless I see an 'Under New Management' sign out front. So unless you've got extra time to kill and you don't mind having your time wasted, I recommend you avoid this place. read more

Table for 2 on a Sunday around 11 AM. I normally go off of Yelp reviews so I'm glad I didn't look beforehand. We found this restaurant after deciding that our first choice was too packed. This place wasn't busy at the time so we went for it. We were seated at a booth immediately. Service was great. Food came out quickly and I enjoyed every bite of it! We had the Florentine Benedict with home fries. Large portions here (: read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - Florentine Benedicts and coffee (: - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

The people were really kind when we went in. We didn't even order food, so I cant speak for the taste. The prices are a little high but fair. The servings are huge from what I saw. The ice however was a solid 6.5/10. It was soft enough to crunch but a too soft to let melt. It has a slight mineral taste but overall not bad. Decent ice. They had great straws too. read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - Top notch straws - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

So disappointed in my Mother's Day breakfast from Lakeside Cafe. Ordered a special meal, it was a 45 minute wait for pick up. I got there at 45 minute mark and had to wait ANOTHER 45 minutes along with everyone else who ordered. When my order was finally ready, I got the food and could tell it was cold even before I left the restaurant. Upon getting home, multiple items were missing, the food WAS cold, there were none of the condiments I asked for AND they charged for the to boxes. Are you kidding me??? We can't eat at the restaurant because of COVID and you charge us for the containers but don't disclose that when ordering!?!?! I spent almost $100 on cold disgusting food. Also, we're vegetarians. And there were multiple pieces of bacon in our food. Ruined my Mother's Day morning. And I will not be going back. I do not recommend anyone going there, ever. read more

It was delicious, early bird. Homade warm yeast rolls and butter yummy.Dinner salad tasty. Fried chicken was crispy and delicious. The chicken fried steak was tender,cut with a fork. Veggies nice and aldente. Real mashed potatoes. Polite and friendly wait staff. Would do it again! read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

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My wife and I went to breakfast here at 10 a.m., and after being seated and served our drinks, we then waited for over 20 minutes and not one person came to take our order even though the restaurant was half empty, with not a lot of hustle and bustle. The servers only helped people they knew, based on the conversations we were hearing. I have a lot of respect for the food service industry, and that was a disrespect to their trade. I will never come here again. Update. My wife and I went to The Omelette Factory in Santee instead, and after a 10-minute wait to get a table, we still had our order taken faster than the entire time we were actually at Lakeside Cafe. That's how poor the lack of service was at this Cafe. read more

Claudia you rocked that veg,soup. And tuna melt on rye,,,,is to die 4... Homemade pie cherry and peach amazing girl , how am I keeping my figure ,,,lol read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

I WISH I could give this place no stars. So rude, terrible food, TERRIBLE customer service. I ordered 2 French toasts, an orange juice, and a cranberry juice to go. The woman wouldn't let me pay over the phone, fine. But when my boyfriend went to pick the food up she charged us for TWO LARGE DRINKS in SMALL CUPS!!!! When he questioned them, they said (and get this) they don't even do large drinks to go!!! So why charge us for it? The strawberries she gave me were FROZEN! HAH. The French toast was rubbery and not warm either. Wouldn't be surprised if we got sick from this save your money and don't go there. This terrible experience was 30+ dollars. read more

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Hi again, just coming on to refresh my review....this place is still fantastic, in fact I think it may have gotten better. My family comes here at least twice a week and we always enjoy it. The Staff is always friendly and always have smiles and the food is always great!!!!! read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - Yyaaaaasssssss!!! This 0lace is amazing...and yes, that is CHAMPAGNE! - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

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Love this place! We used to come pretty frequently after church. It's not necessarily in the neighborhood of our church but the food is good, the menu is large (something for everyone), and the service is comfortable and competent. Natalie was our server and her personality is so warm and welcoming. You can see that she's always hopping... but she takes the time to make sure your order is right. She makes sure your tea is filled and you have the condiments you've asked for. This isn't a fancy place but good home-style food. There are several special things on the menu... the Baja omelette is very good. Love it. Hits me in all the right places. But that's the thing that is great about this place, the menu has so many flavor choices that everyone in your party will be happy. read more

I normally love this place, good food, and friendly employees but yesterday was very different. We arrived around 6pm & the place was pretty empty. We stood at reception & waited while waitress finished up with diners, she saw us but made zero attempt to greet us. We continued to wait another 5 mins, last straw was her dirty look toward us & walking in kitchen again without saying one word. We finally just left, I feel really bad for whomever owns this restaurant that they are losing business because of their employee. read more

Great great great. Foods good. Huge portions. Always leave with a full Belly and a today container. No way you can finish. And the service is good. And they always have country music playing softly. read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - The omelette safe huge. And the biscuits are home made and the gravy is awesome. - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

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I used to come the this restaurant at least once a week. I happen to stop by after a hike with the puppy. We sat ourselves outside on the patio. Half of the tables we littered with leftovers. I sat as one waitress came and went. Everyone was complaining how long it took to get someone to wait on us. I walked in to wash my hand, and found the waitresses gathered together chatting by the coffee machines. I went back out to sit for another 15 minutes before going in and asking to get water and a menu. read more

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The melting pot omelette is to die for! If you like hickory smoked bacon, smoked ham, sausage, tomato and onion (I added cheddar cheese) with an amazing garlic salsa on the side which I poured onto the omelette because it's delicious! Then come to Lakeside Cafe! Service is also amazing! read more

Wow. The food is so good. The homemade chili might be one of the best I've ever had. Easy parking. Big, visible sign in front. Comfortable dining space. Great customer service. Will definitely be visiting again. read more

Good breakfast.. 1st place I've been to on lakeside that hasn't been appriciate of business and just friendly. Server was on her phone entire time. Waited and waited for our bill,went to the counter to pay it and older server blond ish hair seemed so annoyed she had to take our $yet had her hand out before she presented or even gave me a total for the bill. Food was delicious!!! However won't go back because of the service . Hostess was great and friendly!!! read more

Our Grandma loves this place! She goes here almost every Sunday after chruch! One reason she likes it there is because they have very reasonably priced mimosas that she really likes! They also usually have very good chicken fried steak that our moms loves and gets a-lot of the time. Although when we went there today something was off about it. The gravy was different and her veggies and meat were very cold, so we had to send it back. When it came back though, it still wasn't as hot as it could have been. Though besides that, we've never had a bad experience there. They also have very good pretzel buns that they serve you for free! We love getting them and bringing them home to eat later with some butter! Today we tried the kids meal that came with one egg, toast, bacon, and hash browns. It was really good and they cooked the bacon just as we ordered it, extra crispy! Overall this is a very nice restaurant to bring your family to and enjoy a nice meal! read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - 1 Egg Kids Meal With Toast, Hash Browns, and Bacon - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

1st time, it was okay I'll try a different breakfast spot next time around. the waitress was very friendly though. If you have a dog feel free to bring the dog as there are tables outside in front of the restaurant and they will provide your dog a bowl of water while you dine. read more

Love this small hometown place. We go for the fish and chips and usually call it in for pick up.

This Cafe has the best meals. Huge portions, friendly owners. If you get here between 7-10am Monday-Friday they have an EARLY BIRD special $7.99 You will not be disappointed. I love their So-Cal Chicken dinner meal. So very flavorful. I have not eaten a bad meal here. When you're in Lakeside Ca. Stop by you will be satisfied. read more

This place has the best and largest omlet I've had - "Baja". Plenty of avocado, meat, with salsa, and biscuit to top it off. Knowledgeable staff, nice music in the background, plenty of parking space. Will be back to try one of Mila's Lakeside Cafe specials too! Dejan read more

Lakeside Cafe & Bakery - "Baja" omlet rocks! - Cafes Near Me - Lakeside, California

We were visiting family from out of town and they picked this place to bring us for lunch. The atmosphere is a small town family style cafe. The menu is very extensive and has a lot of choices. The service was excellent and the waitresses were very attentive and knowledgeable. The home made dinner rolls were unbelievably fresh and delicious. They are great with butter or jelly. My husband loved his cinnamon roll waffles and his scramble with peppers and onions. The portions are very large as well. My aunt's Cobb salad Looked so fresh (sadly she could only eat half!) I enjoyed my roasted turkey on sourdough and it was so nice to have fruit on the side that was NOT just cantaloupe and melon. We had a great first experience and I know when we visit next time we will stop by again. If you like decent to large portions of fresh food and great service then this is the local spot for you! read more

Have to say, I don't understand why they don't have a five star rating! I have been coming here for years, and absolutely love the service and food!! I have always received hot fresh food (homemade salad dressings and dinner rolls, yum) in much less time than it would for me to make it, I don't expect any different. I am not at a fast food restaurant where I am getting pre-made, heated and microwaved food! Thank you Lakeside Cafe staff, and a shout out to the cooks (or should I say chefs?) food is delicious! read more

Burnt fried chicken, chewy bad tasting fish, veggies were decent service waS decent, won't be back anytime soon

Great little local spot with plenty of choices! Great costumer service and to go was ready when scheduled.

Bad service! Waited for more than 20 mins without being offered water or anything!! People who got before us were attended right away!! So we left!! read more

Just ordered 2 fried chicken meals to go and they were delicious. Real home style fried chicken perfectly cooked, crispy and the chicken was still juicy. The roasted zucchini mix on the side was pretty dang good too! So glad to have found a place for some good home style food finally! Yum! read more

The food here is just gross. Every single time. I've given it several tries and every single time the food has been aweful. It's low quality caferiteria food. Frankly, cafateria food would be an improvement for these guys. My order has almost always been wrong as well. Do yourself a favor and dine elsewhere. Yuck. read more

Their BISCUITS AND GRAVY would be my last meal if I was ever on death row. Their signature cinnamon rolls are as big as my face and orgasmic to the taste buds with their homemade frosting made out of cream cheese. Their homemade ranch is also the best I've ever had, I wish I could buy a gallon of it along with a gallon of gravy!! read more

This places sucks!! It was Sunday again and my Best Friend, her BF and I decided to try out Lakeside Cafe. I'd seen the German lady on TV talking about come try our Homecooking, so we thought okay lets try it out. There's a wait, okay that's a good thing, people like the place. But wait there's 4 tables empty outside can we sit there? NO you have to wait to be seated okay, we'd like to sit outside. Okay. ....we get called this way please. WAIT we want to sit outside, oh well that's another 15 min wait. REALLY? WTHECK? okay fine. Here let's squeeze between this table and that one...with what 3 inches between the tables? Okay there we're seated, oh wait the tables covered in syrup. okay we'll as the waitress to wash it off. Waiting....waiting....waiting....waiting...STILL waiting. FINALLY, yeah would you mind wiping the table down. Walks over 10 feet to get rag says loud enough for us to hear to another server, "thought you wiped your tables down?"" I did" "Well obviously not enough for the their highness" UHHHH EXCUSE ME we can hear you!! Okay finally the table doesn't seem like its waiting for a pancake to go with the syrup. Yes the 3 egg, waffle breakfast please. Oh is this a waffle? Thought it was hockey puck. REALLY? that's your waffle? Oh yeah that's real homecooking, cause my mum and grams always made hockey pucks for breakfast. NOT Bottom line, TERRIBLE service, AWFUL waffles, defiantly not something to write home about, and can't believe that its promoted as "Home cooking" read more

Unfortunately I was pretty disappointed. The service was great, the salad was good, but then my burger came... First couple bites were pretty good, but once I got closer to the center, it became obvious that this was NOT fresh. I don't know if it was old or frozen or both, but when your patty is pink in the middle, yet still like biting through leather, there's something horribly wrong. Lost my appetite & couldn't finish it. (Not feelin so hot right now either) I hope they read these and take it to heart. Nice people & coziness only goes so far if I can't eat the food. read more

Love this place. Incredible service. Aweseome juicy delicious burger cooked to perfectio and what a cobb salad. Turkey was so flavorful, generous amount of avocado, delicious crunchy bacon, wonderful dressings. Will be back soon read more

Was Lakeside Cafe under new management Now Mila's Lakeside Cafe. Lakeside Cafe was good home cook meals, good service and in a clean environment. Mila's has dirty floors, walls and tables and it took over 30 minutes to get our order. A burger with fries and eggs Benedict with hash browns. The food quality was good. Great eggs Benedict and the burger was excellent, but the fries that came with the burger were now skinny fries that were overcooked and stale at the same time. Horrible fries! In summary, they could use some paint and a good regular cleaning. Need to improve the speed of the kitchen orders too. read more

Came in with my family, we all got prime rib. It was AWESOME!! Service staff kicks ass, WE'LL BE BACK!

The food was absolutely horrible. No seasoning at all, very small portions, and extremely greasy. Service was very slow. We asked the waiter for ketchup (took him 5 minutes) and napkins (twice)... never got them. There were only 3 other tables occupied in the entire restaurant. Over priced, slow service, bad food = never coming back. read more

Terrible. Our service was decent at best. No drinks were refilled or even offered to be. I had orange juice. It tasted like a glass of water with oranges squeezed into it. I ordered french toast. The syrup was like water. No flavor whatsoever. I don't understand how they stay open. What a complete waste of $30. I'm so mad. Lesson learned. read more