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