GoldenLight Cafe & Cantina — Restaurant in Amarillo

Normally I wouldn’t make a review like this, but I cannot sit back and allow people with disabilities who have service animals be discriminated against and refused service to like this establishment did to me. Please be advised this review is about the service, I cannot speak on the food since I was never given an opportunity to try it. I am from the Ft Worth area. I was in Amarillo visiting family for the holidays. My Aunt and cousin from Clovis, NM asked me and my husband to meet at this restaurant to have a delicious hamburger before we left Amarillo. So my Aunt, cousin and two young children drove almost 2 hours JUST to eat at this establishment. When we arrived, we came in through the back, I went inside with my husband, and his service animal. I told a waitress I had a party of 6 and we were fine sitting out back on the picnic tables, she explained that area was closed and we would need to wait for a table to open up, and she would come get us from out back once it was ready. Me, my husband and his service animal all went back outside to wait. A few moment passed and that same waitress came out back and said “ I cannot have a Dog in the restaurant and the patio area is closed” my husband explained that the dog was a service animal and he was allowed in the restaurant. The waitress got upset, her tone changed, and she said “ No the Dog cannot come in, he isn’t wearing any identification showing that he is a service animal” my husband then explained “according to the ADA my service animal does not have to have a vest or anything identifying it is a service animal” the waitress then go very loud, she said “Oh my God” and stormed off back inside the restaurant. My husband followed her asking to please speak to a manager. The manager was cooking behind the grill and came outside to speak to my husband. He offered no solutions, even after my husband explained what the ADA sates, and even released his own medical reasoning for having a service animal in hopes for the manager to realize the discrimination this establishment was allowing to happen. The manager did nothing, a simple sorry and said he was refusing service to us all. Below you will find a link showing what the guidelines are for Americans with Disabilities who have service animals. I also would like to mention, we went right next door to the Mexican restaurant Braceros for lunch. I explained what happened at Golden Light, Braceros had ZERO issues with my husbands service animal, they even brought out water for him to drink. I will be perusing further action for discrimination against this establishment, as the entire ordeal was recorded. I’m also including a PDF that shows my husbands dog registration. I have blacked out sensitive information but this just shows even further that this establishment was in the...

I want to start this review by saying the food was pretty good. Not amazing.. but good! I am giving them 3 out of 5 stars, and that is pretty generous. We walked in at about 12:30. We were followed in by two other groups. It is a self seating restaurant so we chose the closest booth and sat down. To start off, both groups that came in right after us immediately got service. It took about 10 minutes before a server came by. She took drink orders and all was good. About another 15 minutes after drinks came (after the other groups were helped) our server came over to take our order. We ordered a bacon and grilled onion cheese burger with large fries to share. Idk if our server just wrote us off because we were sharing or what, but for the next hour we waited for food with no attention from a server AT ALL.. We watched as each table around us was checked on and conversed with.. while we didn't get so much as a glance. So on we waited... This is a local favorite and their menu said it isn't a "fast food" place... so no big deal there. After an hour, our food came out. It was just a plain old cheeseburger.. no bacon..no grilled onions.. I didn't want to eat it without letting my server know first so that she could adjust the meal ticket... so for an additional 20 minutes, we attempted to flag down a server.. We finally found one (who was not our server) who adjusted our ticket.. By this time my burger was cold.. but I'm almost 2 hours into this thing and was starving, so I ate it. We never once were approached by our server again. The other server was kind enough to bring me some ranch for the fries but that's it. The server that wasn't ours checked us out at the front and apologized for the mix up on orders, we tipped her and left. For all the hype that this place gets.. I was incredibly disappointed. With so many AMAZING restaurants in this town, ones who make fantastic burgers, I don't see myself wasting another 2 hours at this place.. Sad...

Really good experience!

Oldest restaurant in Amarillo according to their menu. Still in its original location since the glory days of Route 66! The atmosphere is amazing. Really classic, very American style cafe/diner. The folks there were friendly and the food was great.

It’s relatively small, so don’t be bummed if you have to wait for a table. The food is NOT FAST (and that’s perfectly fine). For reference, a burger took between 20-25 minutes but it was worth the wait. And it was pretty rushed so I don’t blame them.

The few drawbacks: my order of fries and chili got to me way after I was done with my burger. They must have missed it. Can’t blame them, it was pretty packed. Understandable, but unpleasant nonetheless.

I wasn’t a fan of the chili, but hey, that is not an instant DQ. Different strokes for different folks. What was IMO unanimously GREAT was the burger! I had the Waller Burger. The fries were a bit on the flimsy side but very hot, tasty and not soggy either.

They close at 22:00 but by 21:00 they will not let more people in, so keep that in mind.

Great food, good atmosphere and sweet southern hospitality....