I am giving a one star review based on how a single employee can ruin an experience. Or come close to ruining it. Mr. E. wanted Norm's for a late breakfast. Normally, (no pun intended!) Norm's would be the last place I would visit on a Sunday, 'cos I know it will be a madhouse! I prefer a quiet, relaxing atmosphere when I go out for breakfast. Just sayin'. We drove up, and saw only a couple of parties outside. We decided it might not be too bad. Once inside, the waiting area was pretty much packed, and so was the dining room. I asked the hostess for a quote on a wait time, and she told me 15-20 minutes. I know Norm's can move people through pretty quickly at times, so I figured that might be doable. I actually wasn't even that hungry yet, but the Mr. was. He said he didn't mind waiting, so we gave our name and waited. While we did, I observed that there were two hostesses set up at the cash register. Another was about 3/4 of the way down the main aisle. She had a microphone, and it seemed that she was calling groups of people to be seated. Except that it was very noisy inside, and some of the time, the hostess would speak right into the mike, and the rest of the time, not, so we couldn't hear well, even though we listened carefully as each and every name was called. After about 20 minutes, I approached the hostess at the front to see what progress we had made on "the list". She replied, "oh, it will only be another 15-20 minutes". ?! Did you ever see that Seinfeld episode at the Chinese restaurant? I began to feel I was in it! I told Mr. E., and he said that he was getting REALLY hungry,but he still wanted to wait. Shortly after that, he said that he heard our name called. We went up to the front, and they gestured us to the hostess at the stand towards the back. Yes, ourselves and about 20 other people! They called the names of about 5-6 the groups at a time, and we all lined up like dutiful little schoolchildren. I started chatting with a couple behind us, and next thing I knew, Mr. E. had spoken to the hostess, and then took off. With the crowd and the traffic of people, I couldn't catch up to him quickly, so I asked the hostess if she had called our party. She practically spat out the words, "I didn't call you! Your name's not on my list!". Apparently, I had incurred her wrath for some reason. I went back up to the front to try to sort out what had happened. It seems they transfer names from the front list to the back list, and that's how they seat people. After much discussion, the front hostess determined that we were still on the front list, with about two or three parties ahead of us. Then,Mr. E saw the "back hostess" walk by him, and tried to flag her down, as he thought he'd heard his name again. This time, she retorted with an even ruder tone, that is, after he said, "excuse me" several times to try to get her attention. By that time, we had been waiting over 35 minutes. I was ready to leave, but not Mr. E! I enlisted the help of the manager, and I complained about how rude the BH (back hostess) was. Then, she said, "oh, your table is ready. But, don't worry, "BH" won't be serving you. I told her no, and she wouldn't be seating us either. I was done talking to her. So, the mgr, seated us, and our waitress, Oli, came right over. Oli was sweet as sugar, and super efficient. But, the table we'd been seated at was about 10 feet away from BH's hostess stand. I began to notice a disturbing trend. When she would call a party that consisted of people who appeared to be Hispanic, she would smile and wave to get their attention. When it was a Caucasian, or white, group of people, she would be stone-faced. I couldn't gauge her tone of voice,due to high decibel level in the restaurant,, but I'm guessing it was close to the tone she took with both me and my Mr. Time after time, almost to a person, I noticed this pattern. I've witnessed plenty of prejudice in my day, and I don't care what the basis is for that prejudice, I'm against it! Mr.E. said he remembered the BH from years past, he said she worked another shift. He just thought she was rude in general, 'cos she was always rude to him! He said he never noticed her being selective in her rudeness. I was seething by this time. He said just to forget about it and enjoy my meal. Which I actually did. Oli kept the coffee coming. She served our food fairly quickly, and it was hot and, well, about as tasty as you could expect Norm's food to be. I loved that they had both turkey sausage and turkey bacon. I chose the sausage, but, now I think I should have asked them to give me some of each. My poached eggs were done just right, and we both enjoyed the fresh fruit. They actually served a slice each of honeydew, cantaloupe and orange, rather than the mish-mash many restaurants of this price range serve. Mr. E's steak and eggs were satisfying to him. It's a good thing, because it will be a VERY long time before I cross this Norm's threshold with him again!!! read more

Rodrigo was really great! Whatever you do... stay away from the meatloaf!!

I had to give it a star lol. I've been sitting here for 30 min got my drink order but no drink haha yeah idk if it's dennys or any other restaurant but shits whack. It's dead you don't have any tables and yet your customer service sucks as well read more

I was there this Friday and service sucked, we ended up waiting be seated longer than they said and an additional 35 mins for the food we order and never got. How long does it takes to cook some eggs and ham? I was so upset that I got up and left. read more

Worst service ever. Waited for drink order then waited 45 mins for food to come. Fettuccini was dry and shrimp was burnt not blackened

I love the breakfast here. Great place to grab a quick breakfast any time of the day. Gets a little busy on weekend mornings but moves pretty fast. Waiters and waitresses are helpful and are always checking in before and during meals. Parking gets packed as well. Would recommend you have someone get off to write your name down on the list before you park. read more

My fiancee and myself usually go to west covina but this day we didn't. We ordered the lumberjack sorry nasty yuck got an upset stomach. We were not escorted to the table but pointed to a table at the corner. The wait to be seated was not to much but I know now why its not that busy. I love norms but this location was not to my satisfaction. Thumb down for this location. read more

The #1 Reason employees quit is because of MANAGEMENT. The management at this location is terrible. It is disturbing for a supervisor to yell at their employees in front of customers. Rosa was talking about an employee right in front of me. If I was the employee I would definitely be calling Human Resources. How can an employee be able to do that? read more

desperate to eat after a night out with my cousin after one too many drinks! Norms was on the way home! can someone say WTF is this shit on my plate???? EWWWW nasty food, bad service, salad sucks! I pretty much paid for take a few bites here and there! UGH last time I eat there! read more

The food here is pretty good but the service is less than perfect, except for Chris, she is amazing. Also, avoid the shrimp cocktail, I have never seen anybody order it. read more

Tonight is probably one of the best nights I've ever experienced at this norms. The staff is perfect and the food is delicious. They all look like they actually love their job. I got served by this young woman named Grace and she was super sweet!! Thanks for the great night and service! read more

The pancakes are the best. I would rather go to norms than Denny's. Lina the waiter is the best. So professional. She brought our drinks and our order very quickly and got everything perfect. read more

I had the waffle. It was fine but nothing special. At least is was light and not real thick and heavy.

Came in with my family. Took 20 minutes to be sat. Took another 20 minutes to have our drinks taken. RIDICULOUS. how are they this understaffed? Me and my family were on a long trip and just needed something to get us by. Whoever their manager is (Nyheen) please reconsider your scheduling tactics. Yes, after the 4th time of asking, we finally got your name. This was probably the worst experience at Norms. If you're looking to eat here for the graveyard shift, take into consideration that there will probably be two waitresses cause the manager obviously is saving more staff on days he works. Thank you to Priscilla for being so sweet to us and apologizing on someone else's blatant ignorant management skills. read more

Dang! I was craving a really good breakfast so we decided to come to Norms, bad choice, everything was very mediocre, orange juice, coffee, eggs, waffles, everything was saturated with butter, eggs were dry, norms used to be good, well I can't come back really this kind of quality. read more

Ive been going here for about ten years now and it hasnt changed not a good thing but not bad ether the food is good but can get loud when alot of kids are there. read more

I came here with my wife,my mother in law and my wife's cousin. Well wife ordered a patty melt with fries. She requested Swiss cheese instead of cheddar cheese. So when my wife's patty melt arrived, it had cheddar. No big deal. So we told the waiter that we ordered the patty melt with Swiss cheese. Well ten minutes later, her food arrives. And to our disbelief, the cooks had put blue cheese on her patty melt. Yes you heard me correctly,blue cheese on a patty melt. I'm like, in all my 20 year culinary career,I've never seen,or even heard of putting blue cheese on a patty melt. Anyways, we talked to the manager and she said we don't have Swiss cheese. I said well, you should have told our server to tell us we don't carry Swiss cheese and this wouldn't been a problem. read more

My husband and I were looking forward to norms Gumbo the best. I decided to order the samom and my husband had his usual His turkey with fries. Ok maybe last night was a bad night for every one, Dec 22, 2011 the Fish was awful full of grease, dry and gumby The skin in the back looked like it was soaking in orange grease, not to menttion my green beans were awful and cold, the bake potatoe looked like it had been in the oven for at least the whole day, My husbands fries were cold and crusty I think they may have forgotten to throw away. we went at 6:05 Than we go to pay and the cashier ask how was every thing and when I told her the truth she than said did you tell you server. Well? than why did you ask. read more

Every time I go to norms because I want decent food for a reasonable price I get terrible service. We sat down and 10 minutes later another table was sat next to us. Approximately 1 minute later that table was served by the waitress. We asked the waitress if we could get some service and she was inconvenienced by the fact that we wanted service so we left and spoke to the manager and all he said was " do you want to sit at another table..... we left with no apologies. As we left another customer said that she was a career waitress and that was the worst service ever. read more

Came in and was seated right away. Monique our waitress took our drink orders and she brought them back right away. We asked for straws and she only had one and said she will be right back with two more. That never happened because she decided to stop and visit with what seemed to be a former employee or a visiting employee and forgot about our straws. 10 minutes or so went by and she came to inform us that our food was almost ready so I asked her again for straws. She came back with the straws and try to use the new straw law as an excuse. That would of been fine if we never asked for straws but we did so now it was her trying to find a way out. I would of been happier if she would of said sorry I forgot. Food was good even though I was a little irritated. read more

I love Norm's breakfast and I go there very often, but I will never be going back to this Norm's on 2 separate occasions i have been in there and completely ignored. We were sitting there got there before 2 other tables and they were helped first, not my problem with it don't mind it. The waiter who's name I can't remember(older man) can we up to us after 15 minutes told us he would be right with us. 10 minutes later a total of 25 minutes so far he finally takes our orders. While we were waiting for our food the other two tables got their food ate and left. We got our appetizers and my cousin found a hair in his gumbo. After waiting another 15 minutes after we got our starters, we walked out and guess what the waiter didn't even notice a thing. Never going back to this Norm's again read more

They say home is where the heart is. And for me, Norms is just that. Growing up, for every celebratory dinner, for every stellar report card and perfect attendance certificate, or for every family get-together, it was always Norms. I've been going to Norms for as long as I can remember and I hadn't felt a need to review it until now. Sentiment aside, the restaurant itself is great. There's a variety of food with all types of meals to fit your particular cravings. Also, most entrees come with soup and salad, so you're getting a boatload food for a really cheap price. Lastly, I've always liked the service here. It can get really crowded at peak hours (e.g. Sunday brunch), but the service is usually consistent in its speed and attention. Also, no review of Norm's will be complete without mentioning their Louisiana Spicy Gumbo. I have it every time I come here and it continues to be the one thing I have to always get. It's really filling so be careful of not getting too full before the entrees come out. Luckily, Norms serves it everyday so you can always get it. There's no place like home says Dorothy. And if Dorothy had to make a pit-stop before heading into that Oz place, I'm sure she wouldn't mind sitting down for a meal at Norms with all of her buddies. The atmosphere is warm, friendly, and there's a real welcoming feel to it that you don't always get with other diners. So for my 100th review, I can think of no better place to review than a place I consider to be a second home. Norm's, I tip my hat off to you for years of great food, unforgettable memories, and for being a never-ending source of familiarity and homeliness. Here's to you. read more

So my family and I have been to Norms many times. Food has always been good and no complaints. However this morning I was sadly disappointed that they didn't offer any vegetarian sides- I specifically asked the waitress if there were any Vegetarian substitutions she had no idea what I was talking about she said do you mean Turkey. read more

We have been to Norm's Restaurants before in Orange County locations and liked the food. It's not gourmet food but good food at decent prices. It can get busy on the weekends, but we didn't have to wait but about 5-10 minutes on a Saturday night. We got the meatloaf and the big breakfast platter. Both were quite good and for under $20 for the two of us. Service was decent even though it was quite busy. read more

Not that many choices at midnight for restaurants in Whittier. Sometimes we'll be coming back from a show in Long Beach or La Mirada and it's late and we are hungry. It's usually pretty busy at this late hour or early morning and service is inconsistent, but it's OK. read more

Came here. First time the sirloin steak was severely undercooked and raw [not rare] the 2nd time it was completely overcooked and tough. Terrible cooking staff and they rishi g us out because they were busy. Gross. Never coming again. Wait for scottys or jacks just down the street where you might actually get your money's worth. read more

Horrible waited more then an hour for a burger that was never put in. Smh. They didn't even bother to discount the one plate out of 3 that made it to the table after 1:15 mins which tasted plain!!!! read more

I had no problem with the service its pretty much BOH. My son wanted NY strip and eggs server insisted in getting the Sirloin Steak special " it was delicous and juicy"so he agreed got it medium. When the order came in I wanted to check if it was cooked to a medium and had to taste cause it looked grey and had no hard sear, steak was very salty and had a weird after taste which led me to believe it was spoiled, Sent it back asked for the NY strip, order came, it also did not have a hard sear and when I cut into it, it was RAW (I've worked with a Chef who is famous for that line) I felt bad for my son cause he was the only one who did not eat because of this fiasco, so once again we had to send it back and finally they gave it a good sear and cooked to a medium. I know I'm asking for too much from an establishment that's constantly busy but at least don't lose quality over quanity. read more

y'all never answer the phone tf I'm hungry like it says open 24/7 so wassup I'm tryna eat some mozzarella sticks smh this why ihop is better

I haven't had great experiences at this Norms in the past. But, I decided to give it another try. Mostly, this was because the company proudly displays on their website that all Norms have wifi. Upon arriving, we see a note on the door stating that wifi is limited to 45 minutes. No games. No media streaming. ETC. ETC. OK? So, very limited wifi. The food was decent. Hard to mess up a club sandwich. The garlic fries were super oily. Not greasy. After they fry the fries and put delicious garlic and parm on it, they put globs of olive oil. After I was finished, there was a pool of oil on the bottom of my plate. The first table we were seated at was in the restaurant's kindergarten corner. Three tables of loud children, screaming and running around. The restaurant is large, and there is plenty of seats away from the kids corner. Yet, they sit us in the middle of it. So, we say we want to move. Unfortunately, our new waitress was slooooooooow. Never checked on us. Never got us refills on our drinks. Yeah, mediocre food, limited wifi, bad service. I think I'll go to Denny's. read more

Horrible service by Diana. She took our order, never even smiled. Brought our food. I had ordered hashbrowns instead of fruit for my daughter and she was annoyed when I told her it was supposed to be hashbrowns. She muttered something about "mother", the rest in Spanish, to the cook. She never came back to check if everything was ok, but checked with the table behind usual tipple times. Never asked if we wanted a drink refill. My daughters bacon was black and disgusting. We had to go to the cashier to get our check after she disappeared. read more

NORMS Restaurant - Charred bacon. Gross! - American Near Me - Whittier, California

I guess tonight was not a good night foe us. We have eaten her many times before and very good service. But today our server only came once to our table to refill our drinks and took the plates. She asked if we needed anything else. We said no. Then we didn't see her again. Then she came back to only say she was leaving on her brake and the other server was going to be taking her place. Then she was gone. We paid our bill left a tip . read more

Norms Restaurant I went to today this morning the service was extremely poor the manager was rude despicable had no Rapport whatsoever I will not eat there again until that manager is gone organization really sucks he needs to go to management classes and etiquette management classes I went to Norm's quite often this is terrible that I can even get good service read more

Hunger strikes at 1:30 am, where can you go? Obviously not norms unless you want cold pre-made food. How can you say that you never close on the business itself but have the grill close at 11. You should have that note on the business because I wanted a late night decent burger but now I know I can't go here. Instead we see the chef and the waitress outside shooting the bull, going to her car to talk and be on their phones, and smoke cigarettes right outside the door. Lucky for me there are other places that don't close. It sucks for the people who work the night shift. Lucky for me there are other places that are open. If it was just today for cleaning, the waitress should have said that rather than "The grill closes at 11" which implies it happens every night. read more

Ten minutes til we got our drinks! And no straw?? Damn they arent even busy :( i love Norms but our waiter sucks!!! Booooooo!!!!

I came super hungry trying to enjoy a nice meal, but our server is obviously having a bad day or who knows what and decides to ruin my night and meal. I usually don't let anyone ruin my day or take things to personal, but i feel like shes being racist and she gave me the check before she even brought my food. What bothers me the most is that she treats others like this. SHE SHOULD GET FIRED! Never coming to this norm again. Bye felicia! read more

Worst service we ever had at a Norms! It was not even that busy and we had to wait over 30 minutes for our food! Food was amazing once we got it the service not so much read more

Food is great. Front desk ALWAYS has an attitude. Last time I went with the kids the girl asked three times where is my party cuz my kids are a different color than me. Good freakin grief Yolanda! Still, it is a treat to go here with the kids. They love it. read more

How does the manager allow spoiled steaks to go out to the customers? How does that happen? Ordered 2 steaks and both were smelling funky as they dropped the plates in front of us. Asked for another cut and the t-bone they gave us was also spoiled! Stick to their eggs and pancakes. read more

This place is always busy but that's not a bad thing. I love the food here and even if you have to wait 10-15 mins it's totally worth it but I came here with my husband in Easter and our waitress was beyond exceptional. Her name is Lorena. She took care of us and got us everything we needed before we even had to ask. She took care of our drink refills and checked on us often, she was very friendly and pleasant. She made our dinning experience that much better and we look forward to returning and hoping we are lucky enough to have her again read more