The Vagabond Coffee Shop

Gary:     I woke up this morning ready to ride.  I walk outside and notice it is drizzling. Man, not another Sunday of damn rain. So I text Hope with options; Ride, shine it, or cage it. She, with her way with words, reminded me that she is not a sissy. So, not to be outdone by a ‘girl,’ I got on my bike and headed north. When I left Northridge, it had stopped drizzling but as soon as I approached Valencia it was lightly raining. At this point, the bike I just spend hours detailing is now getting wet. Damn it, I had to keep telling myself, I am not a sissy, I am not a sissy. I arrived at Fillmore a little after nine and Hope was ready to go. We are bikers so weather is just an annoyance, not a deal breaker. We ride to eat and we were both hungry in spite of the weather.

Hope:    Our ride started out quite miserably, for a Southern California day. Temperatures were supposed to reach 70, but they were still in the 50s when we left Fillmore. A few miles down the road, it started misting. Misting turned into heavier misting, and by the time we reached Ventura, I was riding by Braille, as my glasses were completely fogged up and the rain hitting my eyeballs was downright painful. My jeans were wet from the knee down, as was my facemask (thank god I wore one).The roads were miserable and well, the ride just sucked.  We found the place easily and walked into another world….

Gary:     When we arrived our only agenda was parking the bikes, getting inside and having some breakfast. Of course, it is never that easy. There is a hotel next to the restaurant, so we both tried to negotiate parking under the eve by the entrance of the hotel. The lady inside wasn’t buying our story so we just did a little u-turn and parked on the restaurant side under the eve.  It turned out to be no problem and no one bothered the bikes but on a nice day there is ample parking on the street and in the parking lot. I was still concerned about my detail job on my bike, like it mattered anymore. Upon entering the restaurant Hope heard this…..

Hope:    “Wake up and be happy,” were the words of wisdom offered by our exceptional waitress, Sharon, at The Vagabond Coffee Shop. The Vagabond Coffee Shop boasts, “Home of the BEST breakfast,” in the Ventura County Star and well, I’d have to agree with them!

This place is huge! It’s a big L-shaped restaurant which offers 2 long counters! So, we headed through and claimed our area. Sharon greeted us and did me a favor and reprimanded Gary, who was already acting a-fool. As we watched all the activity in this place, it was remarkably well run, like a well-oiled machine. Waitresses as well as kitchen staff were not only smiling and laughing, but joking with the customers and each other. Our waitress has been there 13 years, and compared to some of the others, she’s a newcomer! Some have been there 35+ years!

Gary:      Sharon actually smacked me in the kisser to straighten me out. It was a love tap mind you and it made me really laugh. Sharon is quite the character and I really enjoyed the ‘motherly’ attention.  The owner of this place, Jolene, has been running this place for 35 years. Her husband, who is no longing with us, used to manage the place for the original owners, who gave him free hand at running it like it was his. He must have done a great job for them because he eventually wound up owning it. Jolene has taken the reins and I must say this place is fantastic. She is quite the lady and super nice.

Hope:    Everyone was friendly and obviously having a good time. Being Easter Sunday morning, there were the regulars, tourists, and people just looking for good eats on a holiday morning. The volume of food churned out by the kitchen staff was remarkable. It was non-stop Again..this is a huge place, probably seating 200 people. Accommodating a party of 20 or so would be a piece of cake!

Gary:     Hope is right, this place can accommodate any large group for breakfast and the way the staff hustles, there would be no problem getting good service. I marveled at the old school way of how the waitress’s handled the plates of food. No trays here. They stacked the plates on their arms and these are no kids doing this. These are experienced waitresses that take pride in their jobs. What a pleasure to see. 

Hope:    There is the regular menu, a separate menu for breakfast specials and more specials posted on the dry erase board by the entrance. We chatted, goofed around, and did our ordering. I settled on chicken-fried steak, home fries, scrambled eggs, and (you guessed it) an English muffin. Our food arrived and we continued to be doted on by Sharon and the others. The chicken-fried steak was really chicken-fried and fork-tender! The potatoes were seasoned, crisped and yummy. The eggs were scrambled perfectly and served with some very good homemade salsa as well as a couple of fried yellow jalapeno peppers. The English muffin was buttered (with real butter). My only problem was that I knew there was no way I could fit all this food into my belly.

Gary:     I ordered the T-bone steak with over easy eggs (you get 3 here), country potatoes and rye toast. The steak was 16 ounces of delicious meat, cooked just the way I like it, the eggs were close to over-easy but you know what? I didn’t give a shit; this place was just too much fun and they were close enough for me to be perfectly happy. I have to really point out that because of the service, the joking, the care, the constant refilling of the coffee for me and the tea for Hope, there are some things that are not that important to be picky about. The way the eggs were cooked was one of those things. 

Hope:    Looking around, the place was decorated by ‘40’ pin-ups and when I asked what it meant, I was told the restaurant is over 40 years old, but they couldn’t find any plus signs! The waitress told us, “We’ll be 40 ‘til we’re 50” and at the rate they’re going, they will have no problem reaching that milestone.

As if the fun, laughter, and full stomach weren’t enough, Gary finished his breakfast and went in search of what the restaurant had for dessert. We were informed by the owner, Jolene, they used to serve homemade pie, but now only offer cobbler. I am very hesitant to order dessert, as I’m really picky. I do not consume pie filling out of a can! However, Jolene informed us it is homemade and it is made from real fruit, not the gloppy stuff sold in a can! True to her word, it is real fruit topped with a flaky crust dusted with sugar, served warm and with real whipped cream. It is out of this world.

Gary:     I loved the cobbler. Hope was real hesitant because of what she just stated but I knew if it was good we would be battling for the last bite. She won. In fact, she actually scoured the dish with her spoon so well that I don’t think the dishwasher had to clean it. I loved this place and would go back anytime.

Hope:    Two hours later, with my jeans still wet from the knees down (and fitting a bit more snug than when we started out), we finally said our goodbyes and thanked everyone for a wonderful time. I got a hug goodbye from Jolene and we promised to return! Great service, great food, and despite the crappy weather, this place was FUN! I HIGHLY recommend The Vagabond Coffee House!!!

The Vagabond Coffee Shop

760 E. Thompson Blvd.

Ventura, CA

(805) 643-1390

 

 

After our review of Bonnie Lu's Cafe

After we posted the review of Bonnie Lu’s Café, we received a response from Jenny, the owner. Oue review illustrated many problems with the staff and service at Bonnie Lu’s Café and it was even more evident with the prevailing attitude of Jennie’s response which was mean-spirited, immature and terribly unprofessional.  Personally, we both feel that as a business owner, especially in today’s shitty economy, one would choose one’s words very carefully so their business is not negatively impacted by their temper but hey—everyone is different.

Gary & I both responded, offering our reasons as to why we wrote what we did and pointed out that if you have a problem, the objective should be to correct it, not get ugly with the people who are pointing out that a problem exists. We gave her the option of re-writing her e-mail but have not yet heard from her. We both feel very strongly that posting her malicious e-mail would do more harm than good and if she wants to shoot herself in the foot, she’ll have to use her own gun; we’re not going to let her use ours! What we will offer you are our responses to her e-mail and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what she wrote.

Gary’s response:

Hi Jenny,

I am sorry you didn't like what we wrote and as you will notice, we both have different opinions of what we experienced. I did not find your restaurant that bad, in fact, I thought it was good and as you will read in my side of the story that I was willing to give your manager the benefit of the doubt. The rating is based on a total experience. Not just the food, not just the service, not just the coffee but its total effect on the dining experience. We do this review for bikers, like us, who are just looking for really good food, service and a smile on their face. While you were full of smiles and very nice, your waitress/manager was not that sharp in the service area, which she admitted to us. The other waitress with the, 'I don't want to be here' attitude can affect your customers. She apparently affected Hope's experience which she honestly wrote about. Just because we didn't have the best experience this time, we would certainly be willing to try your restaurant again and revise what we have said. Everyone has an off day, it could have been you or it could have been us. Your steady customers surely disagree with us which is fine. You probably treat them differently and you should, they are your bread and butter. But remember, if we are to recommend your restaurant to bikers like us, I don't want them coming in there and expecting something that didn't happen to us. That would be unfair to them. Let me just ask you this. What would have happened on this day if 20 of us walked in? What would have happened if your ' I don't want to be here' waitress was to serve them? Probably not a good experience. I could be wrong but from that particular day, I don't think I would be.  You must remember also, that the bar is held very high by our previous experiences at a couple of other places, namely Pete's Breakfast House and Allison's which are exceptional restaurants. Anyway, Jenny, I will sign off by saying, if you can convince your staff to be as you were that day our experience would have been totally different.

I wish you the best in your business and hopefully someday we can try your place again and have a different opinion.

Gary

Hope’s response:

Wow! Talk about wanting to shoot the messengers! I guess not everyone deals with criticism in a mature manner.

Most importantly, we have no incentive or motive to give a bad review versus a good review. We have no advertisers, no sponsors, and absolutely no reason to offer false information. After all, these reviews are read by our friends!

The food, service, and dining experience are what they are and speak for themselves. Again, we have no motive or gain by offering untrue information.

Human nature being what it is, we have learned that when most people are confronted with a truth they would much rather not hear, their first impression is to get angry. Very angry. They want to lash out and hurt the person(s) who are pointing out their flaws and touching on their sensitivities and insecurities. They resort to (what we call) bad behavior and it most often includes mud-slinging and our favorite, name calling. This is a classic example of misplaced anger; not being able to change the “problem,” and projecting all those “yucky” feelings on the other person(s).

Sad, but true…

Moving on, you can either stay stuck in the problem or use this experience as a learning tool to improve the quality of customer service at your establishment. That gives you a few choices...

1. I can post your awful e-mail to our blog, which will most likely draw negative attention to you and your restaurant. Everyone knows that staff has bad days and good days. However, an owner who goes out of her way to write and send the type of message you did can only do more damage than good. In turn, I would also post the responses offered by Gary and myself. 

or

2. You can re-write your e-mail, perhaps keeping in mind the power of the written word and the attention, either positive or negative, it can draw to your restaurant and we can post that. Perhaps you would consider apologizing for our dining experience and acknowledging that we should have received better service (perhaps you were understaffed or just too busy to pay the attention you would have under normal circumstances). You could even extend a complimentary invitation for a return visit so we could offer another review. (On a side note, we discussed our impressions in great detail with Kim and she informed us that the 'waitress without a smile' was a relative and greatly resented the fact that she had to work, compounded by the fact that she was not getting paid. That in of itself speaks volumes. Kim also apologized to us for 'disappearing' when we first arrived, acknowledging the lapse in customer service, so one would believe this is not an isolated event). 

The choice is yours...

Sincerely,

Hope-Carolyn

Bonnie Lu's Cafe

Gary:   Good Morning everyone. It is time to ride and eat once again. After taking Saturday off due to my participating in an event with my club and Hope having to catch up on ‘the house’ thing, we got together on Sunday for a ride. Hope and I talked on Saturday and we made a time of 9:30am to meet at her house. I know what you’re thinking but I was there on time. No shit, I made it with a few minutes to spare. In fact, Hope was already in the driveway warming up her bike (I sneaked up behind her without her knowing, good thing she didn’t have a weapon in hand) so we didn’t spend much time getting ready.

I rode up to Fillmore today from the 118 West thru Moorpark, then rode through Grimes Canyon. I like that ride and it seems shorter in distance. I don’t know if it is but who cares. It’s a nice ride. When Hope calmed down and decided not to harm me for sneaking up on her, she handed me a piece of paper with multiple names of cafes for us to choose from. I am really amazed at her knowledge of this area. There must have been 10 different restaurants on that piece of paper. I picked a place in Ojai called Bonnie Lu’s Cafe and yes, we actually went there. (I was surprised, but I think she was preoccupied with how to stab me and get away with it for sneaking up on her... LOL)

Hope:   I’m beginning to think there’s some kind of evil conspiracy going on and no, I’m not referring to our government or world politics…but the weather! It’s beautiful during the work week but once the weekend begins approaching, the temperatures drop 20 degrees and end up partly cloudy. Of course, I remind myself I could still be living in New Jersey where winters are frigid, summers are sweltering, and it seems to rain every weekend in-between.

Gary got to my house at a reasonable time (that means he was late, but I’m getting used to it) and we headed west to the Santa Paula and then took the 150 north and headed to Ojai (for those of you who don’t know, its pronounced O-Hi). The bank in Santa Paula said it was 54 degrees at 9:51 a.m.! It was no surprise that there weren’t too many other bikers on the road! We followed the 150 through the Black Mountain Orchard area where they grow English walnuts and then though the canyon that offers orange groves as far as the eye can see.

Gary:  This ‘late’ thing reminds me of one of my old bosses at 20^th Century Fox when I was just beginning in the movie industry, that being on time is late, if you’re not there 10 minutes early then you’re late and since I am the only one that wears a watch (it’s new and Hope was with me when I bought it) I think I may be getting a bum rap.  Anyway, the ride to Ojai is one of the best in the country. It is a beautiful road lined with trees, green fields, horses and farms. Since we have had our share of rain this year, everything is very green right now. It is a semi-twisty road that really makes for fun riding. I don’t think I could ever get bored of it. In fact, the view of Ojai from on the top of the road before entering the valley is just spectacular. When you ride there, take your time; it is just too awesome to rush.

Hope: We parked our scoots in front of Bonnie Lu’s Café and walked in. Unfortunately, we were completely ignored as we walked toward the counter, even though I made a point of talking to one of the waitresses to let her know where we were headed. We sat down and were greeted by a smiling pig-tailed Kim. Tea for me, coffee for Gary and 2 menus kept us busy for the first 3 minutes. After about 10 more and our appetites growing ravenously, Kim returned with an apology for taking so long. Mind you, the place was not overly busy, so I was beginning to think it was one of my invisible days… 

Gary: When we arrived at Bonnie Lu’s we both noticed that there was no line to get in. That is usually not a good sign. Some of our favorite places that we visit regularly have at least a 20 minute wait. Not here. We walk in and see that they have a counter (always our preference). There were plenty of seats, so we get comfortable, a waitress comes and gives us our tea and coffee, and then disappears. I mean, gone. Hope’s comment was, “Am I invisible today?” and I’m like, “I guess so.” After a few minutes, which seems like forever when you’re hungry, a waitress showed up. We give our order and just start looking around and noticed that there weren’t many people that look like regulars.

Hope:   I ordered chicken-fried steak, scrambled eggs, home fries and an English muffin.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything chicken-fried about the piece of meat sitting on my plate that had not been trimmed of its grizzle and fat. In contrast, the scrambled eggs were wonderful, as were the home fried potatoes. The country gravy was nice and thick with large chunks of flavorful sausage throughout. While I continued to eat, the same waitress I approached when we first entered the restaurant (who ignored me) was seen exiting the kitchen repeatedly while chewing whatever food she was snacking on. After watching this without interruption, it really started to bug me. As a teenager, I ran a snack-bar in a local five and dime and eating while on the clock was completely unacceptable. This same waitress was void of smiling and I found it quite amusing that her restaurant-issued tee-shirt logo stated, “good fixins served with a smile.” 

Gary: Today I broke from my usual and had them put together some Buckwheat pancakes, over-easy eggs, pork chops, hash browns and some sour dough toast. To many of you, that may seem like a lot of food but hey, I am trying this stuff for all you bikers out there and I am starting to look like it, too! LOL!!  Now normally I don’t order hash browns but in all the places we have been to we have never ordered them, so to broaden our horizons, I got bold. Now I know why we don’t order them. Even though they were cooked the way I like them, crispy, they have no flavor. Just a potato that is crisp.

The eggs were cooked perfectly but the pork chop was a bit tough. The pancakes were not to my liking so I didn’t finish them (they were dry), and the sourdough was just store-bought. The service was just OK; not bad, but not exceptional. The coffee is the Costco brand which is good but I can get that at home and with a sourpuss waitress with food in her mouth all the time distracting Hope, I am just OK with this place. Afterward, we did talk to the manager and she offered us some insight about improving things so, I will be graceful and give her the benefit of the doubt.

Hope:   On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the food a 6, but overall and taking into consideration the poor service; the inattentiveness and absentia of our server and the non-smiling and chewing waitress, I would only give this place a 5. There are so many other restaurants with employees who take pride in their jobs and work hard to provide their customers with a good experience that I don’t feel the need to frequent or spend my hard-earned money to be ignored and be treated like I’m ruining their day.

Safe Riding,

 H&G

Bonnie Lu's Country Cafe

328 E Ojai Ave., Ojai CA 93023
805-646-0207

 

Busy Bee Cafe

Hope:   Sunday morning was just as crappy looking as the previous day, but as luck would have it, by time 9 am rolled around, we both had big appetites for food and riding. Our riding was fast and furious—we flew down the 126, exited at California Street in Ventura, and headed to Main Street. It was still early and parking was a breeze, so we found a spot right outside the restaurant and proceeded to turn back the clocks to the 50s…

The Busy Bee Café is definitely a 50s diner…everything from the red and white checkerboard tile to the juke boxes on each table, and the waitress’ uniforms. I had to make sure Arnold and Ritchie Cunningham from Happy Days weren’t behind the counter!!

We were enthusiastically greeted by the owner/manager and grabbed a booth. Mind you, we would have opted for our usual counter seats, but the juke box was only in the booths, not at the counter. The outside window displayed several breakfast specials (as well as dinner specials) in addition to the pretty comprehensive menu. We started off with tea and coffee while pondering our food choices…

Gary:    This place has good coffee! The menu was pretty extensive and it was hard to choose just one breakfast entrée. I went with the pastrami omelet, home fries, and biscuit and gravy. Hope had one of the blackboard specials, machaca and eggs with home fries, English muffin, and country gravy.  Our waitress was attentive, very friendly, and took very good care of us. (Truth be told, I inquired about the corned beef hash and she very diplomatically directed me to order something else.)

Breakfast arrived and looked picture-perfect! The portions were generous and smelled wonderful. It took a lot of willpower to refrain from grabbing our forks and diving in, as we first needed to take pictures for our audience! My pastrami omelet must have had at least ½ pound of yummy pastrami throughout. In fact, I think it had more pastrami than egg!

Hope:   My machaca and eggs were amazing…flavorful, moist, and tender. The potatoes were great and the country gravy was tasty, although its appearance wasn’t so great. I finished everything on my plate, only praying for more room so I could order one of their homemade apple dumplings on their dessert counter. Upon mentioning this to the waitress, I was informed it was services with a warm cinnamon sauce and two scoops of (real) vanilla ice cream. Unfortunately, although the eyes said yes, the stomach said no…

Gary:    This place was a real surprise, admitting my skepticism when we entered. As Hope said, the service was impeccable and we noticed the owner/manager enthusiastically greeted every customer that entered this establishment. Our waitress was busy, busy, busy, but my coffee cup was never empty and we never had to wait for anything. Would we return? DEFINITELY! And when you’re done eating, downtown Ventura offers an array of clothing stores, thrift/antique shops, and gift boutiques.
Busy Bee Cafe
478 E. Main St.
Ventura, CA 93001
805.643.4864

 

 

 

The Golden Egg Cafe

Hope:       Ok, so admittedly, the inclement weather we’ve had the past few weekends put a bit of a damper on our riding. However, rest assured, we continued to eat and critique food, although we did it in the car and merely returned to two of our very favorite restaurants-Allison’s Country Café and Pete’s Breakfast House. Both weekends, we made a point of stopping by Allison’s to stock up on their amazing cinnamon buns; to the point where both Gary & I have gained a good 5 pounds (each) since we last blogged about our adventures!

Gary:  This is a fact about the gaining weight that Hope just mentioned. I am going to make it a point that during the week I eat just veggies or something just so I can continue to get my damn pants on. I refuse to go to another size up because if I do that there is no return.

Hope:   The week before last was Pete’s—I ordered an omelet with Ortega chile, onion, and cheese with a side of fruit and of course, an English muffin. The omelet was fluffy and very flavorful, the fruit plate was filled with sliced strawberries, bananas, melon, and oranges. The coffee was superb (I’m a dedicated tea drinker, but I LOVE the coffee at Pete’s), as was the service and of course, the food.

Gary:    I ordered one of the blackboard specials—the Poli: a split toasted English muffin topped with avocado, grilled tomato, grilled ham, jack cheese, and poached eggs with a side of grilled Italian sausage. The coffee was as Hope said, superb.  This meal was great. The thing that trips me out is that no matter what I order at Pete’s, it is always excellent; their consistency in everything is amazing. I don’t know about Hope, but I am starting to feel like family at Pete’s. That’s how well we are treated and I really appreciate that.

Hope:   Last week, we again braved the inclement weather in Gary’s car (which in of itself, is an experience) and headed to Allison’s. I had an omelet with onion, Serrano chiles, and cheese with a bowl of berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries), and an English muffin. Hope:   Mind you, I took much of it home, but we definitely rolled out of there full and happy!

Gary:  When Hope says braved, she means it. I am not a very good ‘cage’ driver.  I don’t do it often enough to gain many skills or patience, although I did amaze her by successfully parallel parking on the first shot (I got lucky). My car is 12 years old and has only 60,000 miles on it because the only time I use it is when it rains, about 5000 miles a year.  Anyway, I ordered eggs benedict with home fried potatoes and we split an order of their deluxe biscuits and gravy (and you wondered how we each gained 5 pounds…lol…).

Hope:     Despite the fact that the last three (work) days have been in the high 80s to low 90s, today started off in the high 60s with promises of gaining only a few more degrees through the course of the day. Partly cloudy skies were above with a breeze that only seemed to make it feel colder. But hey--we’re bikers, right? The initial plan was for Gary to meet me at my place between 8:30 and 9:00, but it’s already 9:05 and he’s not here. Shocking, I know! The worst part is, I am h-u-n-g-r-y!! No doubt he’ll have an excuse like oversleeping, having to take care of a sick turtle, or loosing track of time. That’s ok..because he’ll tell me he saw a lot of people getting traffic tickets and I’ll freak him out by riding 80 mph!! Gary arrived at 9:10 and said something about running out of mascara or some shit like that (yes, I’m kidding). Rather than indulge him in wasting more time, I fired up my beast and we were off to a new place—The Golden Egg Cafe.

Gary:  I actually got up early and was excited that the rain was finally gone and I get to ride today. I got there at 9:05AM (her stomach was telling time and was a bit fast) and it wasn’t because of some lame excuse (although in the past I have given some) but rather, because we decided to try to put our riding and eating experiences on video, so this was a test run. You will have to wait to see the ‘pilot’ to understand why I was late (LOL).

Hope:   We jumped on the 126 and exited at 10^th street in Santa Paula, hanging a left onto Santa Barbara Street and a right onto Dean Street. After a quick left onto Santa Paula Street, we were immersed in orange and avocado orchards with no other vehicles. We took a right on Cummings and were on Foothill in a few minutes. After another 20-25 minutes of beautiful scenery and smells, we turned left onto Seward and a right onto Main Street; The Golden Egg Café is about 3 or 4 doors west of Pete’s Breakfast House.

The Golden Egg Café is simply decorated with small indoor tables as well as large patio tables outside. Because it was on the chilly and overcast side in Ventura, we opted for an indoor table. We were greeted, ordered tea and coffee and started looking around at the décor as well as the menu. The first thing I noticed was a bottle of 100% real maple syrup on each table. Yes, REAL maple syrup! There were a few specials on the board, but I opted for a bacon, cheese and avocado omelet, home fries, and an English muffin.

Gary:  I went with my usual corned beef hash, eggs over easy, and sourdough toast. Add a side of country gravy and some banana bread, and I was well on our way to feeding my tremendous appetite.

Hope:  Being such a small place, the noise level was a bit too much for me. Factor in a difficult child (who belonged to the owners) and my patience was growing thin. Mind you, if this had been another customer’s child, that’s one thing; but when the owners opt to bring difficult/young children to work with them, supervised only by another child, I’m not happy. After all, I didn’t sign up to eat at Daycare Restaurant. The food came and I was famished. I was unimpressed that they initially served our eggs without the toast/muffin.

Gary:  This is an issue for me because I need the toast to eat my over easy eggs and I won’t start eating them until I can start dunking.  Not only that, when Hope is hungry she gets cranky so between the kids, no toast, and the noise level, it was not a pleasant experience. The acoustics were poor and the noise level was quite high, even for me, and my hearing sucks. My meal was good and everything was prepared the way I ordered it but the hash was not great, so I wasn’t impressed with that. The owner was a nice enough lady but again, it seemed like a day care center so if I was to go back, I would put in earplugs and Pete’s and Allison’s would have to be closed or like Hope told me, ‘burned down’. LOL

Hope:   My omelet was ok, the potatoes were very good, and the country gravy was excellent but Gary’s (homemade) corned beef hash tasted like it had come right out of a can. Staff service continued to be good but again, the noise level killed it for me. After eating as much as we could, I ordered a cinnamon roll to see how it compared to Allison’s. Unfortunately, it didn’t even come close. Made from biscuit mix, it lacked the consistency and flavor one would associate with a good cinnamon roll, so it got tossed. Would I eat there again? Considering it’s a few doors from Pete’s and a few miles from Allison’s? I don’t think so…..

Gary: This place is o.k. if you’re looking to bring your 3 year old and let them run around and cry. However, if you’re looking for a good place for breakfast to start your day, I wouldn’t recommend it (unless you bring extra bungee cords to keep the children outside…lol)…   

The Golden Egg Cafe

2009 E. Main Street

Ventura, CA

805-641-2866

Safe riding!

H & G