Big House Cafe & Catering — Restaurant in Casa Grande

Decided to try a non-chain restaurant on our way up to Phoenix on Saturday. It was between Big House Cafe or Cook E Jar Bakery & Cafe. We should have gone with the latter. There were several people outside when we arrived, so I knew that there would be a wait for a table. When we went inside to put our names on the list, there were 3 or 4 empty (dirty) tables, so for a second I thought that maybe the people outside were waiting for something else (or maybe the tables to be bussed). Then the we put our names on the list and were told that it would be about a 25 minute wait. It was a beautiful day out, so we patiently waited outside. The wait was 30 minutes, acceptable based on being told it would be 25 minutes to begin with. Once seated we got our drinks rather quickly. There were 2 girls (ladies) who I thought were the waitresses. Turns out one was only doing drinks and taking names and seating people and the other was the waitress and also taking names and seating people. Both girls were relaxed and not hurried. By this time all tables inside are full (I do not know how many people were out on the patio or if there were additional wait staff outside). Before the waitress eventually (20 minutes later) came to take our orders, my husband had asked if we needed to place our orders at the counter. The waitress said no that she got a little behind (her demeanor was not that of someone who was busy, but rather really laid back). After placing our orders it took another 20 minutes for our food to arrive. Took us 12 minutes to eat. They really picked up their pace when it was time to pay because that only took 3 minutes. If I had a time machine, I would have gone to Cook E Jar Bakery & Cafe instead. Next...

⭐⭐⭐11/25 No real change. Same meal. Plates were hot, food was hot, portions more than adequate. Coffee never ran dry and girls were pleasant and helpful. Biscuit remains under whelming. Thick and doughy. (Amazing that McDonald's can make them awesome in every store 🤔) Seated in the back room which is a bit on the drab side. The patio preferred next time. Still a solid buy today at $20 a head. No bargain but with the stop.

First Visit: Not to expectations. With the rave reviews I was disappointed. Two of us, in early on a Sunday. Seated quickly. Order taken quickly. Coffee hot. Looked like a winner. Ordered the biscuit and gravy (country plate?), Wife the hatch chili breakfast.

Took a solid 30min to get food. *Counted 12 people in the place! Watching food come out it appears "one ticket at a time" is possible.

Biscuit was not baked thru, dough in the middle. Gravy tasteless and no sign of sausage. Other than the patty with it. Scrambled eggs were simply an omelet not folder- ie. flat egg batter. Not the definition of scrambled. Potatoes saved the meal.

Hatch chili breakfast was a chili relleno smothered in beans, cheese, pico, green chili.... reported to be very good. Plate was 3X the size of what I had. A solid value. Eggs; the same. But here it makes sense.

Overall ⭐⭐⭐. Wait service was great. Food service meh.. Food 50/50. Prices reasonable. May try again. No "fluffy" biscuit...

Met up with my wife's family it had been a year since seeing her sister and 10 years since seeing her cousin. We ordered 6 meals, all different. We chatted for 30 mins after ordering, got refills on our drinks and asked about our food . . . we were told that it was coming soon. We chatted some more, 30 mins more. Still no food. The whole deck had been served and had left before we got our food. It took 1hr and 10 mins to be served, ridiculous. The meals were large, some were served hot and some were not, I didn't dare send mine back, I was hungry and didn't want to wait any longer. The Turkey sandwich my brother ordered looked awesome, my ham steak was large and thick but cold, the eggs were hot and good. My wife's chix salad was good if you like a little chicken with your breading. Too bad. We might give it another try, maybe it was just a bad day for them. The nesting bird above our table shouldn't be there, that was just nasty. We will sit somewhere else if we go back. Our waitress was friendly and attentive, slow service is on the kitchen crew. The nasty bird nest with the bird is on the ownership, hope they clean it up before the health dept comes to...