I know it’s not a popular spot for a lot of people. That’s fine, personally I like the breakfast and the pie and the tuna melt is pretty good. They have different all you can eat specials on different nights. It’s been around for 65 years, so there’s that. When I go there now, I still see a lot of senior citizens and moms and dads with toddlers. Despite not being a destination for many, I’m mentioning it here because there is a decided lack of “family” restaurants … what we might call a coffee shop … in my neighborhood at this point.
When I moved in to the Del Rey neighborhood, there was a long time coffee shop on Washington called Crest House. It’s now Hatchet Hall. There was an IHOP and that closed and became A-Frame. There was Nichols, which evolved into the more upscale J. Nichols. There was Roll N Rye on Sepulveda which was more of a deli, but had a similar menu. Ronnie’s Diner is a diner but it isn’t open for dinner. Now, Dinah’s is going.
None of these places made the Top Ten list. But, on the other hand, they were all places where families could take their kids and the kids could color on the placemats and the servers were understanding if someone accidentally spilled their milk or whatever. The portions were big, the prices reasonable.
I’ve lived in Del Rey for 20 years and my kids are grown now. All these are spots we went to because the food was decent enough and families were welcome. I see a lot of young families in our neighborhood who might like a spot with free coffee refills, tuna melts, and pancakes for the kids.
My wife and I will drive to CJs (worth a separate post, maybe) but it’s not exactly in our neighborhood. Just not that many “family” spots left in my side of town.