As someone who has been in the world of restaurants and fine dining their entire life, i take great joy in trying new places. Today, I decided to see what the hype was about and finally took the dive into the Sophia's Kitchen experience (formerly Little Chef's).
The wait on a Saturday afternoon wasn't bad. We were seated within 30 minutes even with a full house.
Upon being seated, we had a chance to look at college thesis that is the menu. The menu is congested, over packed, and lacks vision or organization. It's several pages long and, as mentioned, disorganized with no clear demarcation between breakfast, lunch, and dinner etc. I can appreciate a Chef's desire to flex their skill in the kitchen by having a diverse menu, but it takes customers longer to decide, causes mass confusion in the kitchen, and requires you to keep more inventory. The first two create longer wait times and cold food, which causes even more chaos and discontent all around.
Off the bat... No refills on kids beverages even with meal prices rivaling the cost of adult meals for things like Grilled Cheese and $7+ for one egg and bacon. They also serve these no refill drinks HEAVY on the ice.
Service... Yikes. These girls are STRESSED and they are anything but friendly. Given the high volume of customers and low number of waitstaff, I'd be pretty surly also. They are quick to bark at you about upcharges and scoff and sigh as you're making your order. Again... I can't blame them, given the conditions, but it certainly doesn't leave a paying patron feeling particularly welcomed or inclined to amend an order or ask for a refill, let alone return.
After ordering, you better be ready to wait. I'm talking like the old Chuck E. Cheese commercial wait where the parents become skeletons and the kid becomes an old man while waiting for their food. In 45 minutes after being seated, I saw my waitress twice. I also never got the cream for my coffee.
Portions are... Average-ish. Nothing to really admire here.
Soup... Creamy Chicken w/ vegetable... Not. Piece of chicken to be found in the entire bowl. Decent flavor, but I could snag a can of Progresso and actually find chicken. When I order a chicken soup, I'm expecting to find actual chicken. It's like the chicken went into hiding and took the majority of the veggies with it. It was Creamy Chicken-less w/ Maybe a veggie or two soup.
Country fried steak... Frozen Tyson style patty. Gravy had an after taste of Windex.
Biscuits and Gravy... Canned undercooked biscuits and that Windex gravy.
Sophia's French Toast... OK French toast underneath a serious mess of apple sauce and pecans. LOVED the pecans... Everything else was bleh.
Over all... Left really disappointed and won't be back.
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