Breakfast House — Restaurant in California

I'll be honest in this review. So I suggest the restaurant needs to be honest too. We ate here the other day. I had the biscuits and gravy with a side of hash browns. The biscuits and gravy were good as the biscuit tasted fresh and the gravy tasted good. But I did not like the hash browns. I thought they were undercooked and the potato slices I felt were sliced too thick. So minus 1 star. But what I really didn't like was the restaurant's charging system. First of all, I'm a firm believer that if someone's going to leave a tip, they should tip on the amount for the food and service (pre-taxed). Why would you tip on tax? When the waitress left the bill at the table, I noticed that the bill had three separate suggested tip amounts, 15%, 18% and 20%. Each percentage had it's stated monetary value listed. All the amounts suggested on the bill were pre-taxed amounts, which I liked. So when I was ready to pay, and signaled to the waitress that I would be paying with a credit card, the waitress brought over a small hand held card reader. I immediately noticed a small sticker on the card reader advising that an additional 3.5% would be added to the bill total for using a credit card. What the hell??! Did I just eat at a gas station?? Minus 1 more star. More and more places are starting to charge this bogus transaction fee. It has always been industry standard for the establishment to absolve this fee, not the customer! So shame on you for adding this fee. I also noticed after I paid my bill that the tip I left was actually added to the total bill AFTER the tax. So minus 2 additional stars for that. It's faulty advertisement, and I'm sure that the majority of the customers never even realize they are getting over charged as the card reader is adding the tip to the total amount after tax, unlike what was stated on the initial bill. So that brought this review down to a 1...

I've been here 3-4 times now and the first two times I really loved the food and the service. My first time was when I had an early appointment at the DMV so I had a great breakfast here first. I also took my son on another trip and he really liked it as well. It wasn't too crowded and the food was good.

This last time, a couple weeks ago, I took my wife to see what she thought of the place. Again, it wasn't too busy and the service is friendly but the food really wasn't hot, just warm. To top it off, I ordered a mediterranean skillet. I usually order a skillet at a breakfast place if I can because you know your food will stay hot until you finish the meal. I swear I ordered a skillet on my first visit and it was actually served on a skillet. This last trip my "skillet" was served on a plate and it was just warm when it landed on the table and cooled off fast. I didn't ask why it was served on a plate instead of a skillet. The place wasn't busy so it wasn't like all the skillets were dirty.

I read great reviews about the crusted french toast so I upgraded my toast/muffin to the crusted french toast. It really was good, I'll get it again -if I come back. Probably not with my wife because she wasn't impressed. She thought it was "ok".

I'll most likely give them another chance but there are other small family owned places that are closer to me in Santee. I'll bump my review up a star if the food is HOT next time and my "skillet" is served...

I ordered from The Breakfast House thinking I’d treat myself to a solid breakfast—what I got was one of the worst meals I’ve had in a long time, and I paid $25 for it. For that kind of money, I expected at least decent food. Instead, I got something that felt like a lazy afterthought.

The eggs and sausage were the only halfway decent part of the meal, and that’s being generous. But let’s talk about the rest:

The “herb potatoes” tasted like they were seasoned with literal potpourri—like someone thought dried flowers and whatever was lying in a spice rack would somehow enhance the flavor. It didn’t. It was disgusting. The chicken tenders? Fake, rubbery, absolutely awful. I’ve had better frozen tenders from the dollar store. The toast? Don’t even get me started. It wasn’t toasted at all—just a sad, dry, cold piece of bread tossed onto the plate like an afterthought. Calling it “toast” is false advertising.

The whole meal was a letdown from start to finish. Bland, cheap-tasting, and clearly made with zero care or quality. This wasn’t just a bad breakfast—it was borderline insulting.

I will never eat here again, and I’d warn anyone else to keep their expectations low if they do....