Elmer's Restaurant — Restaurant in Gresham

Plan to not return after visiting twice and both being the worst service from Elmers. We came in at night after a long 3 day vending at a festival. It was my moms birthday and thought we give this place a go over sharis down the road. We wanted to have a pleasant meal to top off the long evening. When we arrived no one greeted us, we waited for 5 minutes until the waitresses who were serving another table actually let someone know we were there. Not impressed so far. We sit down at a sticky table with crumbs covering the seats in what appears to be a busy night. Once we order something to drink the two other families left leaving my mom and I along with 2 other people in the lobby. We place our order and wait for salads to arrive. After talking for 10-15 mins or so we realize our salads never arrived. We looked around and no waitress was in sight but plenty of talking and laughing in the kitchen. My mom gets up to find someone and ask for a salad. All we hear is "opps" in the kitchen. Our so called waitress brings our salads with our meal. We declined the salads because we want it before our meal not during otherwise our main course will get cold sitting. She apologizes for her service and takes off a meal from the ticket.Thankfully mine was because the chicken steak was rather chewy and didn't have a fresh taste to it. My mom was in a bad mood after this and just wanted to leave since the waitress asked how our food was but clearly didn't care what I had to say. This was the final chance for us to return after a bad experience during grand opening. Made us realize why mall 205 is our favorite location over this one

Edit: Since posting this the manager reached out to give them another chance. We took their offer and went in recently on a Saturday, surprisingly not busy. We ordered our meals that came with salads just to see if they've approved. 1-2 minutes later we actually receive our salads when we expected which was shocking. About 10 mins or so into being there we receive our food, wasn't a fan of the corn since garlic in corn is an odd choice to pair but the main course was fresh and good. I had a drink that was halfway done and the waitress came by and gave another refill before having to track one of them down to refill when its empty. Our waitress made sure to check in on us about 3 times or so which was nice because I rarely ever seen my waitress that much compared to other restaurants. By the end we were happy with our experience because again we were working/vending all day at an event and wanted a decent meal before going home to lounge around. I can see the improvement since the last visit. It'll be a couple more visits of good service before I'm fully onboard for five stars. Eventually we...

I've never had this GREAT of a dining experience! While walking up a friendly lady welcomed me in by opening the door for me, and with menu in hand she asked if I'd prefer a table or a booth.

After reaching the booth she let me know that I'd be waited on by Han, and within 15 seconds he appeared with a huge smile, introduced himself and took my drink order.

60 seconds later I had a huge mug (12oz?) of coffee and iced water. He enthusiastically took my order and was happy to accommodate my need for crispy hashbrowns. While waiting for my food I was delighted to see Han provide several other tables with the same exquisite customer service I was experiencing.

Once my Farmer's omelet, hashbrowns, biscuit and gravy arrived I was blown away by the portion size, in fact two men (I'm talking about construction workers) COULD actually share this meal!!

The omelet was amaaazing! It contained ham, bacon, onion, pepper and swiss cheese, but get this - it was stuffed with the amount of meat, etc that YOU would put in it if you'd made it at home! The hashbrowns were crispy as requested and the biscuit was soft, warm and fluffy.

Although the appearance and texture of the gravy were appealing, sadly I found it a little bland. No big deal though as I added some salt and pepper.

But even though the food was good the real star of the show was Han!! His warm, attentive, sincere, demeanor is a skill set usually reserved for those well beyond his years.

This man is EXCELLENT at his job and you can see the pride in which he performs his duties. As a matter of fact Han's service is actually TOO good, because going forward he's the only person I'm willing to have wait on me. He has set the bar for THAT high! Even if I have to wait 45 minutes while other customers leap frog over me I MUST sit in his section. Think I'm lyin'? Han earned a $20 tip against a $20.49 bill. That's the quality of service he's providing.

As a tall man I was surprised to have so much leg room and if you happen to be a robust man, or are pregnant you should still be very comfortable as the edge of the table was easily 12" from my stomach. I actually had to scoot forward to eat, something I haven't had to do since I was a child.

Due to the height of the seat backs it's actually fairly quiet and private as well. Although there's plenty of parking, due to the layout of the lot you might have a bit of a walk so prepare for that.

In closing, although I'd eaten at Elmer's before it's been a while since I'd been and I can definitely say that between the food and world class customer service of their staff, they've not only made a customer for life, but they've actually rendered their competitors (yes I'm talking about you Dennys and...

Don't know why I even try sometimes. So again.... Went out with friends..... Don't all great stories start that way....... Went out with friends. Met up here. Not a bad looking place. Tall ceilings, specious floor plan, clean and inviting. Host and wait staff nice and accommodating. All around the cleanest Elmers I've been in. Menu is typical sloppy spatula. Heavy breakfast, some lunch some dinner. So you're truly goes against the grain. Breakfast would be to heavy, dinner to easy to mess up. Let's go lunch. But not a burger. To easy to disappoint. Though a sandwich would be good. Good selection. Little this (cold cuts) little that (hot melts). I love a Reuben. They do one on a Rye bread. Awesome (normal) I did not read the part about it being Cornbeef AND Turkey... Ok a twist once I figured that out. It took a minute. The sauce overload over whelmed the whole thing. The kraut was good. Even if it had crispy something's in it. I'm thinking hash browns.... LOL. Sloppy spatula.... Go for... I went with salad tonight. Well course chopped iceberg with shredded carrots thrown in for color. Topped with diced tomatoes and canned sliced black olives and croutons. Served with grilled garlic bread. Weird but nice touch. I began with a coffee. They even have vanilla creamer. I know this I had 1(one) cup. Not by my choice. I wanted more then one cup. Especially at $2.89........ Just 1 cup the time spent there I didn't see anyone get the option for a refill come to think about it. I had issues. Not horrible ones. Just ones that tell me that the masses that fill they're seats have given up. That the norm is "good enough" I'd like to share the love for flavor the insistence for quality and the importance of perfection with...