My family like most are very busy during the week and occasionally we like to get together with parents and go have breakfast out on the town. This usually involves one of the few breakfast choices in Casa Grande, Arizona. This post is my review of all the local breakfast places in Casa Grande and in general, since most of these are chain’s and exist everywhere else.
First off, my favorite place went out of business a few years ago after the owner came down sick. This was called “The Belgium Waffle Haus” and was a private mom and pop cafe that opened in Downtown Casa Grande on Florence Blvd. It had home made and super high quality (Yep you guessed it) Belgium Waffles that were so spectacular nowhere else have I tasted a crispy thick and utterly amazingly seasoned belgium waffle. Don’t even think that any of the chain’s can compete, because they can’t touch this quality. Alas, this place shut down and I will never know the love of a Belgium Waffle of such magnitude unless maybe I travel to Europe or find another authentic mom and pop joint.
So now we can hit the main list of restaurants, for those who live in Casa Grande these are pretty much your only choices for breakfast.
This is one of the newest chains to open in Casa Grande and the funny thing is, I love this restaurant in Chandler, but for some reason all of the food served in the Casa Grande office is either burned, uncooked or just doesn’t taste as well. I think maybe the kitchen staff needs to be retrained or replaced because we have gone here 4 times and every time were disappointed with the food. Yet every time we went to the one in Chandler or Mesa the food was terrific, so don’t know what it is about the local restaurant. One thing I will say, I really love the sausages at Mimi’s they are thick and natural casing sausage links that are well seasoned and delicious.
Denny’s is about bottom of the barrel as far as food quality goes, there egg’s are mediocre, pancakes are marginally better than McDonald’s and their sausages are soggy and limp. I have gone here several times when we just wanted to give it “another” try, and was disappointed every time. I even stopped at Denny’s while in Showlow and tried their new Flapjack Skillet Breakfast, which was just as mediocre as the rest of the food. It serves its purposes as a meal, but is barely above a fast food meal. In fact I would prefer a Jack in the Box “Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich” to almost anything at Denny’s.
This is just about my favorite place in Casa Grande as the food is consistently the same high quality. The sausage links seem to be the favorite of my kids, and I love the pancakes and specials they run. Now, my favorite are the Harvest Grain N’ Nut pancakes not the original buttermilk, but those are good too. I like the omelette’s and the scrambled eggs are always well cooked and not too dry. IHOP also has some of the best pancake specials, in the last few months my favorite were the “Washington Apple Crisp Sampler” which had their buttermilk pancakes covered in cooked apples in a cinnamon sugar sauce with brown sugar on top and whipped cream. Very delicious to say the least. Georgia Peaches and Praline were my other favorite with caramel sauce and peaches coating the pancakes, the peaches were in a syrup that was heavenly. IHOP is consistently one of my favorite chain restaurants.
Another very consistently good restaurant, the biscuits and gravy are among the best anywhere I have had. The sausages are patties which are thick and fresh and taste very well. The eggs are always cooked well, and their pancakes are more home style large and delicious. My only complaint is they don’t seem to have as kid friendly of a menu as IHOP, and their food takes longer to be delivered on average from kitchen to table as a whole. Their menu choices are small and they never vary, which is another disadvantage. IHOP has at least thirty to fifty breakfast items and specials every week, Cracker Barrel has the same twenty or so items with one special rotating a month, and the special usually is something already on the menu, nothing new at all. Cracker Barrel prides itself on home style which is why they have a very rigid and non-varying menu I am sure, but they could use some innovation and creativity in the cuisine to help vary up the meals a bit.
This is a small time cafe in Downtown Casa Grande, and is really a diamond in the rough. Their food is delicious and home made, and their pancakes and french toast are excellent. My favorite dish here is the Breakfast Quasadilla which is loaded with Scrambled egg, Cheese, and large diced chunks of ham. With a nice mild salsa on the side, this is a perfect breakfast dish. My only complaint about this restaurant is that the food takes too long to be cooked and served. Probably because it is fresh cooked and they have a small kitchen with only one (maybe two) cooks on staff at the same time. The staff is always friendly and they have coloring books and crayons for the kids.
There is a JB’s Restaurant but I haven’t eaten there, I friend of mine had a bad experience at JB’s in Phoenix, and I just won’t go there as a result.
So thats my story of Breakfast places, by the way my favorite breakfast place in Arizona is called “The Good Egg”, and they are located in Chandler, Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix. They have the best sausage links, and the highest quality food. There are none in Casa Grande though, and it isn’t worth the 45 minute drive to the nearest one on a Sunday morning though.
So readers, let me know what your favorite breakfast restaurants are?
-Dragon Blogger
Jenn from BeforeIAmFamous writes that she frequents Denny’s for lack of other choices and the good coffee and great hours. You can read about it on her site.
Supernova Splash blog writes about a former Friday Tradition of eating breakfast at the Waffle Shop.
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