Horizon Cafe
Categories: Diners, American (New), Breakfast & Brunch, Burgers, Sandwiches [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Lakeview, Wrigleyville3805 N Broadway St
(between Grace St & Halsted St)
Chicago, IL 60613 (773) 883-1565
- Nearest Transit:
Sheridan (Red)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 7:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat 7:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Sun 7:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: None
93 reviews
Neighborhood: Lakeview
"I'm still dreaming about the mac and cheese and the scallops. Right now, right this very second as I was thinking about them, a little bit…" read more »
41 Reviews for Horizon Cafe
Such friendly service everytime I've been! They're nice, quick, and accurate. There's a decent variety of nicer diner food on the menu. Nice fluffy eggs. Big portions. And they deliver, for when I'm not in the mood to walk over, hooray!
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I've always had good brunch experiences here. I especially love their omelets. It's got a great menu, but prices are a little high for diner food. Nevertheless, the food is good and the service is great.
Good, homey diner. Quick and friendly service. Large menu with plenty of healthy-looking options to entice you away from the greasy-spoon stuff that you really want. I can only vouch for the traditional diner fare, but it's been consistently good. Tackling a Meat Lover's Breakfast Burrito is a serious but worthwhile undertaking.
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This is your typical Greek-owned breakfast diner. Quick service and big portions, but somewhat lacking on the quality of the food.
I got the hot carved turkey breast sandwich with mashed potatoes and French onion soup. This is the second time I've had French onion soup that didn't have mozzarella melted over it, and that just grinds my gears.*** It also tasted more like garlic salt than beef broth, which I could handle only because my blood is composed of approximately 15% garlic (thanks, Mom). I can't imagine most people would have had the fortitude to finish it. The sandwich was gigantic but sort of bland. Butter had a controlling ownership interest (51%) of the mashed potatoes, which I could not handle because I'm not a native Southerner.
I'm hoping their breakfast food is better.
*** After speaking with the owner of Horizon, I've been schooled on the ways of the French onion. It actually does not traditionally have cheese - onion au gratin comes with baked cheese and sherry. Look out for new soups at Horizon in about a month!
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This is a good place on a hung over Sunday afternoon when you can't decide what you want to eat. Their menu is stacked! The staff are friendly and just darn, good people trying to make a livin'. Definitely go here over IHOP across the street. This place just has more soul.
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Horizon Cafe is a solid 3 stars. The staff is extremely friendly and genuinely cares about your experience. My friends and I went for a late lunch to catch up and they didn't mind that we were hogging a table long after we finished eating. I had a chicken caesar wrap. It was okay, the caesar dressing was a little funky, had a weird after taste. Two of my friends had veggie burgers, which they both seemed to enjoy. My other friend had grilled cheese that she devoured. Overall, it was an enjoyable lunch at a clean, family run diner.
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$20 for a patty melt and a turkey burger a coke and and O.J. We did not order fries, or soup or anything else. We did get 3 tablespoons of coleslaw and an upripe tomatoe slice.
Now, to be fair, the sandwiches were good. The service was good. But $20 for that? Wow....really?.....wow....
As I have been to Horizon almost every weekend for brunch for the past year (and in fact, I ate there just minutes ago), I feel abundantly qualified to give it a review.
I'll preface it by saying I have never strayed from the breakfast selections (serves all day), but that should be more of a testament to their excellent brunch than a red flag for the rest of the food (which I am dead-set on trying soon).
The omelettes are as big as your face, the hash browns are amazing (and I don't even like hashbrowns), and they have a nice rotating specials section (check out the autumnal Pumpkin Pie Pancakes...wowza).
The coffee is done RIGHT. The service is excellent. The staff is friendly and always remembers me. The eggs benedict are delish.
Why would you not go here??!!
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Oh how I wish I could give zero stars. This was quite possibly the worst breakfast I have ever had in my life.
It's always busy so we figured it had to be semi-decent. We were in need of a good, quick, cheap breakfast and given our tired, hungry, and still a bit intoxicated state, we couldn't go far. We decided to give this place a try since its close. Unfortunately it has only reinforced our policy of "when you want to try something new, try something old". We should have gone the extra distance to Stella's.
After Dan's hot chocolate (yummy) was delivered, we got a new waiter. We placed our order - poached eggs Florentine for me and chocolate chip pancakes for Dan - and asked if we could start with some pita or something because we were starving (aka, in need of food in our bellies or else we would puke). Our waiter earned points when he said he would bring a bread basket. He lost those points when he said to watch out because the bread was hot as he'd just microwaved it. Umm, why? Also, it was HOT, so hot I had to let it cool for 5 minutes before I could eat it, totally defeated the purpose of bring me something to eat while I waited for my food.
The food came out really quickly, probably in about 5-7 minutes. Odd then, that it was not hot at all. Lukewarm, almost cold. My hashbrowns were cold and my eggs were sitting on a 2-inch thick pile of spinach that was so obviously from the frozen chopped bag you find in the grocer's freezer. It was dry and gross, as was the unbuttered, untoasted, cold English muffin it sat on. Dan also pointed out that for a really busy restaurant they sure poached my eggs fast - usually it takes longer to do so. So he thinks they may have had a stash of eggs ready and that's why they came out so fast, and so cold. Dan's pancakes were equally bad - about 5 chocolate chips in the center of each cake, cold, and bone dry. He slathered syrup on them and they still just tasted dry.
Our waiter came back and asked how things were and I said to be honest, not great. I said the food was not hot at all and he said he brought it out as soon as it was done. He also said "well I didn't cook it" and then offered to heat it up in the MICROWAVE. We passed on that grossly unappealing option and just ate the rest because we were hungry and eager to get back home and into bed.
For the rest of the day we would mutter to each other "those pancakes were bullshit" and "that hollandaise had no flavor at all -was that from a can?" I recognize that sometimes a place just has an off day, but I will never go back to Horizons. I learned all I need to know from that one experience - they use canned and bagged, frozen poor quality ingredients, they might not cook everything fresh, and the staff is clearly not so bright if they offer to heat up a customer's cold food in the microwave.
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Really Horizon Cafe? You offer a salad with apples in it on your menu, but when it's brought to your table, the apple is cut into massive chunks (instead of nice slices), the seeds are still in it, and the apple is brown. Really? Disgusting.
Service was good, waiter was understanding when I asked for new apple slices. But I've got no idea how he didn't see the brown-ness before he brought it to the table.
ETA: Nick, from Horizon Cafe read my review and sent me a note. Apparently the apples will be cut into neater, julienne slices in the future. Nice! I love seeing that businesses care what their customers think. It always makes me feel warmer and fuzzier about a place, and makes me want to go back. :)
The other salads at my table were as remarkably unimpressive, even if the ingredients weren't cut well and mostly served in massive chunks like my apple. The French Dip looked ok. My BF wasn't impressed. Fries were good though, and the place was clean. That's something, right?
Greeks know diners, for real. I especially appreciated the owners/family chatting at a table, enjoying breakfast and conversating in that endearing matter that Greek people always manage to pull off :)
The reviews are mixed on this place, but I wholeheartedly enjoyed it start to finish. Yes it can get crowded and peak, weekend breakfast hours...but I believe that is usually a testament to the place's good nature!
We arrived around noon on a Saturday, seriously undercaffienated and jonesin' for some egg concoctions. We were not disappointed. Paul, our friendly (and ahem...very good looking) server promptly got us situated with the 2-2-2 order (waters, coffees, diet cokes), and breakfast was off to a fantastic start. I had the low carb platter, which of course could send anyone into cardiac arrest upon just looking at it, but tasted heavenly. Boy had the gyro/feta omelette, and I believe he may have licked the plate...
Atmosphere is decidedly "diner," but clean, welcoming, etc. Menu is large, breakfast is served all day...and Thursdays are Greek nights...
Bathrooms are very clean, and it sure beats the pants of IHOP (across the street) any day of the week.
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This place has the fluffiest eggs and French toast. It's,also, pretty cheap. We discovered it by accident, one Sunday morning, while wandering the streets for breakfast, now we take our friends and family here on Sunday mornings when they visit.
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Fast, inexpensive and basic breakfast. The staff seemed really friendly, especially the manager. It was crowded but tables moved fast and it was less than a five minute wait.
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This place is awesome! Even before you get to the food, the staff is way cool. They will recognize you after you've only been in once or twice. Mom and Dad Horizon are usually around watching over things. Every waiter is attentive. If there is ever a problem, it's only usually because it's a busy weekend morning, the sort of things that happen at any restaurant.
Great sandwiches! Huge omelettes! Oh.. and the chocolate cake....
Don't listen to the naysayers. This isn't Ann Sather or the Grand Lux Cafe... if that's what you want. This is a family run place where you get good food, great service and if you take a moment to get to know the staff, possibly make a few friends.
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I really didn't like this place. I went early one morning. It was totally packed and chaotic, seats were way too close together, it took forever for our food to arrive and when it did, I wasn't very happy with it. I won't go back.
I laugh at the people waiting across the street at the Ihop. Get in this place and enjoy a nice home cooked breakfast with a little family service at a great price.
Nice people here.
I've only been here for breakfast and for that I will return.
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Not impressed. I went here for breakfast and it was not a good experience. Five of us met up and we all ordered breakfast items. Of the five; three of us had egg dishes, including myself. We all felt that the eggs had a weird texture to them, they looked nice but they had zero flavor. It was like eating fluffy nothing. The hash browns were brown on top and raw underneath...a huge pet peeve of mine. So gross to eat something that isn't fully cooked. I will not be going back here when there are so many other outstanding brunch places in the city.
Love this little place- no frills breakfast joint/diner/ Egg white omelete's are the best. HUGE! have good pancakes too. For those who dine by themselves frequently like me, you won't feel uncomfortable. Recentely just tried this place out for dinner and ordered the marianated chicken breast I think it was, and the portion was HUGE! and good- yes the vegetables were clearly from a can, however the rice and chicken were awesome. plus had good lentil soup. Good place in the "hood"
UPDATE 4/08
Just have to continue to encourage stopping by here- had the roast chicken dinner and it was AWESOME! Totally reminds me of home cooking- real mashed potatoes with lumps and fall off the bone chicken- perfect close to the weekend. Of course, as noted, soups are killer- Navy Bean and Cream of Chicken were on tap this weekend and both were great! Keep up the great work Horizon! and fresh carrots that were great! on a previous visit looked like corn on the cob was being served... Hopefully will checkout the Greek night someday soon!
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I've only been here once, typical breakfast food, I had an eggwhite omelette and oj. i remember that i asked the waiter if one of the soups had any meat substance...broth etc. he said i really don't know and then i just brushed it off and said ohh oh ok nvm thats ok and chose not to get it.Then he laughed and says, yea idunno were not Whole Foods.??? and im like what?...To myself but didnt make a comment. Interesting thing is that he was my waiter when my friend and I went to Fornello Trattoria a few months ago, but no Whole foods laughter this time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Update 2/10/08~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, I went in today and service was great. The waitress was super nice and the omelette I had was on point. I can say I was happy with the choice to go here today.
I have been going to Horizon cafe for many many years. They had a fire a few years back but have remodeled with a warm feeling and an updated menu. There menu is quite expansive for a diner and includes things such as bannana fosters pancakes. They also are great about letting you order things that aren't neccessarily on the menu such as a turkey melt. I personally love the chicken pita or the skillets. It's great and the price is right. Also because we are regulars, we have really gotten to know Nick the owner. This really is a family place. His mom Stella and dad John are always there, and his dad makes the soups homeade. The service is also great. We love Dan and Paul. They know us and always remember what we ordered to drink. For those of you who are giving negative reviews, I really don't know what you want. This is a cafe...if you want a gormet breakfast, then there are places for that. But if you want a good all-american family breakfast , lunch or dinner this is the place to go.
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Horizon Cafe - it is what it is and that is a diner. A diner that is affordable and close to my house with friendly service, even. If you live far away, there is probably a restaurant of comparable quality closer to you. If you live in Lakeview, it's a perfectly reasonable place to have breakfast. I did dock them one star because we had to flag down somebody to refill our coffee a couple of times; if there's one area of service in a standard diner on which I refuse to compromise, it's frequent and cheerful coffee refills.
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I give this place a two thumbs up.The food is great.I have been there 9 times so far and will make this place a regular stop. For breakfast , I did try the chocolate chip pancakes and get that all the time now.The hot beef and soups are out of this world. The staff there are very nice. That manager Nick is like the nicest guy.I don't know how he has a smile on his face all day even with dealing with some of those critic wannabees.I go there alot for breakfast and now I will start going for dinner. With that great food and cheap prices, who in the hell wants to cook at home? Also take a look at some of the pictures of the people who wrote bad reviews. Aren't you glad you won't be seeing them there?pretty creepy.
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Horizon is best described as mediocre. It is great for a "morning after a long night out" breakfast, but it's really not that great. Since I live around the corner from here, I frequent it a lot, but it's only because there aren't really any other options. The pancakes were hard, and the hot chocolate was clearly made from a packet and water (not even milk!) The omelettes are good (and GINORMOUS). They seriously must use like 6 eggs. The one thing that they do have going for them is that the people that work here are really nice, and they always have coupons available at the register for the next time that you come.
***Update-apparently the owner's of Horizon keep tabs on what people are writing, and after reading my review, sent me a message telling me that they are working on the pancakes and will take my other comments into mind, so I am giving them another star for responding to customer comments!
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I honestly don't know why people are so picky on Yelp sometimes.
This is a very clean, very friendly diner. I have never had bad meal or experience here and I probably stop in at least twice a week.
I love the convenience of the place and prefer it to the craziness of IHOP (just across the street) especially on weekends.
It has all the usual breakfast meals and also some great skillets. I can't remember the name of the Mexican-inspired dish, but anytime a friend gets it, I always beg for a bite. They have a surprisingly great bagel and lox plate.
I've also done lunch and dinner here, though not as often. Every entree gets soup or salad and a generous portion at that. This often makes it impossible for me to finish, but I live close and doggy bags are the best.
In short, if you're looking for gourmet stuff, go to a true brunch spot and pay some gourmet prices. Same for dinner.
But as diners go, this place is very reliable.
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As far as diners go, this one is above par. The food is always good, there is hardly ever a wait-even on the weekends, but it is the friendly staff that keeps me going back. Everyone that works here treats every customer so well, I always walk out feeling great.
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My husband and I discovered this place a couple years ago...then they had a fire and were closed for a while. The timing of the reopen was perfect however as we USED TO eat at North Coast Cafe back when George owned it (he sold out and opened Platinum Cleaners down the street) but the new owner of NCC is scary, mean and a skirt chaser - ICK - so we were desperate to find a new "home!"
Fortunately within a couple months of NCC being sold, Horizon Cafe reopened and it is as good as I remember. We are now "regulars" (hi Nick and George!), dining in for breakfast/lunch every Saturday and Sunday and a couple home deliveries at night throughout the week. Also, they deliver hot & fast - usually less than 30 minutes to our door!
The food is consistently good and the prices have only been raised once since they opened, just a couple weeks ago. As for the wait staff and management...well they are like family - very warm and kind and also very professional.
Try Greek Night on Thursdays - excellent food!
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Eh...this place is ok. Nothing really special to report. The staff was nice, food mediocre.
I do have to say that there were some creepy looking characters in there! I especially liked the one guy who sat at the table talking to himself for an hour. That was nice.
Two words sum up this place: Help Me.
Seriously, if you want to eat cafeteria food and be entertained by freaks and wack jobs, this place has a never ending horizon filled with them. I couldn't wait to leave.
My friend and I wanted a quick bite close to my place b/c we were in a hurry. The place wasn't even half full, and yet a chicken sandwich and a club sandwich took an eternity to show up at our table (okay, about a half hour). We also both had side salads beforehand, in which they took from a fridge and removed the plastic before serving...a real nice touch. I'm praying that the cesspool I discovered at the bottom of my salad was water, and that ain't so great either.
The clientele here is halfway senile at best. Imagine taking a bunch of separate people who talk to themselves on the street (you know the kind) and putting them at there own separate tables at a diner and watching the oddities... that's about what you get at Horizon. The kicker was this old man who came in, used the bathroom for about 20 minutes, then came out, went back into the kitchen and just hung out back there for a while, then came and sat at a booth and stared at the rest of us while we ate. Uh, does he work there? Is he the owner? Did he wash his hands before returning to work? Holy Cow!!
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Nick is fantastic. Very very nice and attentive. I haven't been here in a while and need to go back in. Nick always donated a gift card for our charity fund raiser every year as well. THANKS!
Passable food - sometimes.
Better breakfests than lunches and dinner.
The one thing that remains constant is the awful service.
It's pretty basic diner stuff.
I'm going to give it four stars b/c...
1) convenience to me & good hours. Never a wait!
2) Service. The staff, while maybe not the most attentive or brightest, are always so goddamn NICE. They seemed to recognize me the last time I went, even though it was only my 2nd or 3rd time. I went once and didn't order any food, just coffee oh! and an appetizer plate for like 4 people. I always feel bad about doing that, but they were still very nice and attentive, not rude at all!
3) The Menu. Lots of different choices.
4) Huge omelettes!
I think this is going to become a regular place for me. Great little diner.
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This is the most friendly place in the neighborhood to eat. The people who own it are all wonderful people. My favorite thing as is many people is the home made soup. Thanks for a great place.
Love the servers, there especially Val. The food is great and this is probably the cleanest restaurant I have ever been in and that includes the bathroom.
I give it five stars for
1. The cleanliness
2. Service
3. The homelike atmosphere
4. The food
5. THE SOUP
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This place is straightforward and unpretentious--diner food at its best. The pancakes leave something to be desired, but the omelets and skillet eggs are fantastic and an excellent hangover cure.
And if you ask nicely, they'll make sure you get a booth. ;)
This is a tough one for me. If it were last year at this time, I would have given Horizon 5 stars.
I'll start with the good: I've been here for dinner many times and I have to say that my dinner experiences have been nothing short of wonderful - great food and service! I would recommend this as a nice diner if you're looking for that sort of dinner. I've had their soups and sandwiches - all very good.
Now, unfortunately, the bad: I brought my mom here for breakfast while she was in town in August and had a terrible experience here so I had to take away a couple stars. I understand that they were busy, but they should be ready to handle everyone that they seat. I will say that when I order eggs, hash browns and bacon I like them very crisp (and ask for them that way when ordering), so I wasn't all that upset that I had to return it to be cooked more ... but I had to return my food twice and after that it still wasn't that well done!? We're talking basic breakfast food, which shouldn't be rocket science to a diner that serves breakfast. To make matters worse, our waitress made us feel like we were one big inconvenience to her with her attitude and rolling eyes. I already felt bad enough about having to return my food (and I really shouldn't). Just a side note: I was done eating by the time they even returned my mom's food. The owner took my mom's meal off of our bill and offered an apology.
I will update my review if I return and have a better experience. I really wanted to give them the 5 stars, but can't until I see that they've started managing their weekend mornings better.
This place shut down literally a week after we moved to the neighborhood. we've been awaiting its return ever since! This is a typical greek-coffee-shop-diner place that serves breakfast all the time but lunch and dinner as well.
we came here Saturday, labor day weekend at 10:30 AM. they were busy but not crazed. We found the service really subpar and the food only OK. I feel breakfast food is easy to do, but hard to excel at, and this place was OK at best.
i'll definitely give it another chance, but in the meantime, try North Coast Cafe down the street. I love their food, it is the same concept as Horizon and does it very well.
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I've had nothing but good experiences at Horizon Cafe.
It's a pretty typical diner experience. The food is inexpensive and good. I've even been for dinner on a handful of occasions and the place is never crowded.
Worth checking out if you're in the mood for some laid-back diner food.
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This restaurant has great diner style food. They shut down in 2004 from an electrical fire which also forced all residents out of the building above them. I believe they are open again and know that they have good size portions and an interesting menu. Definitely worth a try and a great place to support.
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I've never had a bad meal here nor have I had to wait long for a seat or my check. The menu is huge and after a recent remodeling due to fire, it looks even better inside.
I went here with my girlfriend on a Sunday morning. A friend was meeting us there, but we arrived before he did. It was obvious that they were a little busy, but we were second on the list and quoted 15 min, so we decided to stay. During that time, the host (owner/manager?) had open tables but refused to seat us because our 3rd person wasn't there yet. I understand that they need to have tables for people who are going to order and not just sit there waiting for a friend, so this wasn't really that big of a deal.
It became problematic after we sat down. I'll just give a list of our experience, for time's sake:
- our server took about 10 or 15 minutes to actually approach the table. luckily, at this point we were ready to order.
- we ordered 2 coffees and an oj. 5 min later, she came back with the coffee but forgot what my girlfriend had ordered (oj). when the oj came out, it tasted watered down. we gave it back and then watched as the host struggled with replacing the oj container in their juice machine.
- then we waited. and waited. a runner tried to bring out our food, but there was a ton of confusion about who was getting what.
- ugh... the food. i ordered a belgian waffle with blueberries and my friend had the same with strawberries as well. both "fruits" were very obviously fruit pie filling out of a can. he also ordered a bagel (to come out first) that didn't arrive until we were almost done with our meal. my girlfriend ordered biscuits and gravy. i don't know what their definition of b&g is, but it is not your traditional biscuits with sausage gravy. this was a very liquidy white sauce made with ham. the biscuits looked like they were pan-fried. it was not good at all.
- our server never came back during our meal. we "finished" our food and waited and waited. they bussed our table. 10 min (at least) went by with us just sitting there at an empty table. we had to ask for our bill from our server, and it took her another 5 or 10 min to get it to us. during this time, we saw her grab a banana with her bare hands, pick up a tip off the counter (because money is oh so sanitary), and then proceed to slice the banana directly onto another customer's waffle. i worked in food service for years throughout college, and i cannot tolerate blatant disregard of health code.
- we went to pay at the host stand, and the host made us wait another 5 or 10 min while he seated people and cleaned tables.
- also, this place had some of the rudest patrons i've ever encountered. i said excuse me to a gentleman, and he completely ignored me and continued talking to the man with him. he did the same to my friend. a woman tried to barge in front of us at the host counter to pay her bill, and shoved her elbow in my girlfriend's back.
just overall, a terrible experience, bad food, inattentive and spacey service, and rude patrons. we will never go back. try melrose or stella's instead. i'm hoping north coast cafe is better.
I hate to give this restaurant only three stars because my waitress was so attentive and accommodating, but my food wasn't too good(but I ordered roasted sirloin right before they were closing). The soup I tried, which was cream of broccoli, was really good for a diner. My friend ordered something else, and her food was better. I 've been here only once, but I assume their food and service are better than those of a typical diner.
