Norma's Cafe — Restaurant in Frisco

First time ever at Norma's a couple of weeks ago.... At Frisco location. Food: good tasting, not quite hot enough when served. I had chicken fried steak which was good Sides : get 3 with combo dinner but portions of the sides are small, could easily be twice the size and not be outrageous large Side salad: disappointed not at the size (adequate) but that the standard side salad is only lettuce and croutons. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS.... THAT'S NOT A SIDE SALAD. AND ESPECIALLY DISSAPOINTED THATI paid $ 2 exrra, ridiculously high, for the small portion of onions , chopped green peppers and tomatoes added to my side salad. $2 is more than the worth (determined by combo dinner full price) that the cost of a regular side would be, and, to me, it's pretty obvious, that the side salad proper is not really a side salad so that customers will ask for added items and pay disproportionately extra for the added items... I tell it like it is. And very disappointed that my waitress did not iniform me that there would be added cost for the additions to the lettuce. Drink: reasonable, but even with inflation, overpriced, as all restaurants do nowadays (are there any ethical restaurantuars any longer? ) YES, there are. SHOUT OUT TO BRAUM'S which is one of the few restaurants in DFW that has raised prices appropriately in last 2 years and not succombed to greedflation as most restaurants have. . OVEVERALL RATING/summary : Tasty food but not good value for reasons stated above. I probably will NOT return. RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Increase size of side item portions
2. Serve food while it is hot
3. Develop a true side salad w more than lettuce, as a side item
4. Inform customers up front of additional costs of reasonable tweaks to menu items such as...

Tonight was my first night, and may very well be my last. I have heard nothing but good things about Norma’s chicken fried steak, and I was nothing but disappointed. Our waitress, Kayla, was friendly enough, but after she took the order for our meal, we did not see her again for the rest of our visit. She was in the area, continually taking tables, but even when our food actually made it to us, she didn’t stop to make sure everything was in order. She should have, because every single part of our meal was dropped off ice cold. Cold enough that the gravy on my chicken fried steak and my mac and cheese had formed a skin on top. Stale biscuit, stale cornbread, like it had been made in the morning and left to sit out. Never even got a drink refill. What’s worse, the shift manager sat down at a table with some, presumably, friends of his, less than four feet away from us, and never even looked up when we said something. Our sever didn’t even bring us a check; we didn’t know how much we owed until we were about to walk out the front door. We had to point out which table we sat at so another server could ring us up. When we told her about our experience, all she said was, “Yeah, sorry, they’re really backed up right now.” If that’s the case, why is your manager posted up at a table chilling with his friends instead of in the back, making sure the bread is fresh or running food or, at a minimum, checking in with customers? If you’re not going to have respect enough for the customer to make sure everything comes out right, at least have respect enough for the food to make sure it comes out hot. What a...

TLWR: Come for the dessert then leave.

Food: 3/5 This was possibly the most unfortunate cafe food I've had. I ordered their famous chicken fried steak only to be very disappointed. The steak was too thick, in my opinion, and caused it to be a bit chewy (but some people may like that). The biscuits and gravy were thoroughly okay. The real problem came with the hash browns and eggs. I don't think the chef had put any salt on them. They were the blandest things I have ever had and made an average meal into a subpar experience. However, the desserts saved this situation. We ordered their lemon mile high pie along with a strawberry pie and they were both fantastic. I don't think I'd ever come back for their cafe food but I would visit again for the desserts.

Service: 2/5 The server was very helpful and kind. However, the food took forever to arrive and we got both our appetizers and bread basket after we had already gotten our food. To be fair, it was a very busy day but the experience did not make up for the 30 minute wait before hand.

Overall: A below average experience for a cafe. Food was not worth the wait or price and the whole experience was only saved by the great dessert they served. I may give it another go when I don't have to wait 30 minutes for a table but, more than likely, I'll just grab...