Very sad to watch this place continue to decline over the years. The restaurant is outdated, yet…read morethe food and service always made the visits worth it. Not sure if we'll try again...
We had our toddler granddaughter for church yesterday, and decided to make the drive to Redlands for lunch after. A bunch of small inconveniences turned the meal into a dismal experience. The hostess sat us in the back corner, which was perfect. We were 1 of only 4 tables occupied in the section. With the group next to us leaving shortly after we were seated. She had given us a childs menu, but no crayons. We were waiting to ask a server, but finally ended up asking the family next to us. They said they thought it was weird, but also weren't given any. When the server finally came she informed us they didn't have any crayons.
We ordered a Pacific Omelette, a Meat Lovers Omelette, and a child's Quesadilla with veggies for the side. My husband and I both asked for our hash browns "crispy". I lalalalaloves their honey bran muffins, and was looking forward to having one (part of why I suggested going there). So you guessed it....they didn't have any. Their baker was out that day. Seriously?!? Only 1 person in the whole restaurant is responsible for a bakery item?!? *Sigh* sad, but life goes on. I then realized I'd forgotten to get our G-Daughter's juice. After waiting and waiting for the server to appear, so I could flag her down, I was informed that they also didn't have any cranberry juice. Unfortunately our sweet babe doesn't drink Orange or Apple juice. Our food arrives and you can immediately see my husbands gorgeous, nicely crisped hash browns on his plate. Which put the pale with a hint of color ones on my plate to shame. My 2 slices of toast are on a plate with only 1 strawberry jelly. Husbands pancakes have only 1 small cup of syrup. We figure we can ask for more when she comes to refill my husbands soda, that he has now placed his empty cup at the edge of the table so it could be seen. Unfortunately it wasn't until after another party was finally sat next to us that we are able to get our servers attention again. As we're eating I had to cut up some of the broccoli for the babe, so I steal one of her cauliflowers...*bleh* The veggies (regular Cali mix of carrot, broccoli, cauliflower) were so soggy and bland. The cauliflower would mush in your hand, like they took the frozen bag of veg, threw in a pot of water, and forgot them. But we're finally just over it. I only eat half my meal, so we do need a box. That's easier said than done though because after several minutes of waiting to even see our server so we can flag her down, again, I gave up. With an antsy toddler who needs her pull up changed, I end up leaving the husband to handle the rest at the table.
The final straw was going in to the ladies room to change the babe. Once I pulled down the changing table I realized I was going to have to sharpen my long forgotten ninja-mom skills and proceed with a standing up change. There was no way I was putting my granddaughter on the flimsy feeling changing table. So I got the privilege of kneeling on their dirty bathroom floor to change the diaper/pull-up of a squirmy toddler that is too close now to nap time. (And yes, I tried to have her stand while I sat on a toilet...but she got too frightened from the "noise" of me trying to flush down the stuff in that toilet before I sat down to change her. It apparently needs an adjustment and wouldn't flush down the paper of whoever had used it previously. And if you're a parent, you know some of these wee ones can get really scared with loud-to-them noises)
So overall it was not a pleasant lunch outing for us. Just a bunch of little inconveniences that added up. Usually the service dims the disappointments, but that was not the case on this visit. The overall service was lackadaisical and inattentive.
