Beckie’s Café — Restaurant in Central Point

The blurb on the menu boasts "homemade pies, homestyle cooking, and friendly service". I was disappointed in all three of these.

I was told the wait would be 15-20 minutes. Waited outside in the 100 degree heat for 40 minutes before going in and asking how much longer the wait would be. The hostess didn't answer, just rolled her eyes, picked up a menu, and walked to a table. Because she didn't say anything to me, I stayed where I was, waiting for an answer. Then she looked back at me and waved me over like I'm supposed to know she was suddenly ready to seat me. If that table was ready and I could have been seated, why did it require me going inside to ask about it? And how does asking warrant that kind of reaction? That wasn't the only empty table either; other people were outside waiting, and it took a while for the empty table next to me to be filled as well.

Then it took a while for the waitress to come over to my table. She asked if I wanted water, as if I had just sat down and was still determining what I wanted to eat. I told her I was ready to order and had been waiting for a while, and she acted like that was my fault, and suddenly she became very rude to me as well, giving snarky remarks like, "I guess I wasn't fast enough for you".

Then I waited another 15 minutes for my food, which was disappointing. The BBQ burger, despite being $3 more expensive than the Woodchuck, comes with fewer toppings, and the patty was dry and overcooked. I've had better patties come from frozen packs at the grocery store. The side salad was fine, at least.

Finally, I tried to order a pie, which was the only reason this place was recommended to me, and the only reason I came at all. I tried to order pecan pie, and was told there was none. I was about to then try to order huckleberry pie, but apparently there were so few pies available that it was easier to just tell me which ones they did have, which was less than half of what was on the menu. How do you run a place that's supposed to be famous for pies, but not keep even half of your pies available to order?

The slice of pie I was able to get was small and only average in taste, which is ridiculous considering how much they charge for it. They offered a single scoop of ice cream with it, but were going to charge an additional $2 just for that. I only got my water refilled once, as the pie got to the table, and after the glass had been empty for some time.

To top it all off, they never brought the check to the table. I had to walk up to the front and ask to pay. Nobody ever told me it was set up that way, so I guess I was just supposed to read their minds and know it wasn't like an ordinary restaurant.

By the time I left, it had been about an hour and a half since I arrived, all for sub-par service and mediocre food. In fact, I wrote this entire review at the table during the numerous times when I was just waiting, and that doesn't even include the 40 minutes I spent waiting outside. I understand that things get busy, but part of running a restaurant is dealing with that appropriately, not just letting everything fall apart and not doing anything about it. If the problem is not enough staff, they certainly charge enough to be able to afford...

I stopped at Beckie's for a slice of pie after hearing from the locals to definitely take a trip there. I can say that I don't think it was worth it. The per slice price is quite high, so I had high expectations for a pie slice that's $8-9 a piece. I tried the peach pie with ice cream on top and my partner got the chocolate cream pie. The chocolate cream pie tasted like it used Hershey's chocolate (plus it had a Hershey's chocolate bar as a garnish on top), which is pretty low tier (contains ingredients like PGPR instead of cocoa butter as an example). The peach pie I had was just ok. The peach filling was decently spiced but too sweet (peaches are naturally sweet & doesn't need that much extra sugar...or in this case I suspect corn syrup....), but the crust was more of a "dough blob" than flavorful or added anything to the pie, in fact, I think it detracted from the pie. The crust did look house-made. The ice cream tasted like it was just from a store-brand tub vs. made in house. I'd expect for that price tag they'd have house made ice cream vs. store bought.

3 other points that I wasn't pleased with -

1. Their parking lot is small. If they have auxiliary parking, it's not obvious where that is. With how popular this place is, I think it's a roll of the dice as to whether you can find parking or not. The lot is also narrow, and doesn't allow you a lot of maneuverability before you're out on the highway right next to Beckie's.

2. If you're eco-conscious like I am, you'll be dismayed to find that Beckie's serves all their food in styrofoam boxes (which almost no one recycles) & uses plastic cutlery. The guests litter the styrofoam and plastic cutlery all over the forest floor around the cafe. There are other options available for to-go containers/cutlery.

3. I looked on the side of their building and saw that their grill exhaust had a trail of grease dripping off of the bottom of the exhaust onto the side of the building and then pooling on the ground. It was, of course, rancid and had a strong enough smell that I could detect it in a forest area. I'm sure this attracts flies and other vermin. This...

Stayed at Union Creek and the only restaurant is Beckie's across the street. I went over there to order takeout so we can eat in our cabin and they told me they "weren't doing that today". I didn't understand, so I asked the server if they were out of food? She said yes. There were about 8 tables already sitting eating food, so they weren't busy at all. Then she said the nearest other restaurant was 14 miles south and that I could go there. I was super confused by this, said OK, and walked back to Union Creek and asked the front desk ladies if that was normal? They both said no and got the manager (I didn't ask for the manager, they just went and got him), and he went back to talk to the restaurant and straightened it out. He said it was a "misunderstanding" - something about when Beckie's is busy people skip the line by ordering to go...but even that doesn't make sense because they weren't busy and there was no line. A different server helped take my order, and I said if the issue is tipping, I'm happy to tip (and did - 20%), but later that evening my stomach was very upset from the meal. I don't know what happened, but I am not Caucasion, so I wonder...and hope that wasn't the issue. But based on a few other reviews I just read here, that might very well be the problem. I told my boyfriend (we are an older couple) what happened and he agreed that was all very weird and said shouldn't go back there again. So we ended up driving an hour south to Klamath Falls where the nearest grocery store is, and got some fruit and snacks to have for lunch and dinner the next day. All in all, the Union Creek management and front desk ladies were nice and the 25 mile access to Crater Lake was good, but the vibe was weird so I won't be going back...