The Corner Cafe — Restaurant in Griffin

October 07, 2021, The Corner Cafe

To say that I am disappointed in the actions of this restaurant, wait staff and management would be a major understatement!

We ordered the southwestern egg rolls, a corn beef reuben, a philly steak, fries, soft drinks, and a bacon onion ring burger (hold the bacon)

My friend ordered the above bacon onion ring burger, hold the bacon. The burger was delivered with bacon.

We called Daniel (our waiter) over and explained that due to his religious protocols he couldn't eat pork which is why we asked for no bacon. Daniel said he understood and would have another remade. Not more than 1-1/2 minutes passed and a burger was brought out. However, it appeared to me to be the same burger minus bacon.

Why do I says this? Because the cheese was not at all in a stage of melt but cooled, the burger didn't have its shine to it like a hot burger would. We sat around and ate our other food for a bit. My friend asked if I was sure a new burger was made because it came back so quickly. I called back our waiter and asked if the bacon had simply been removed. He assured me that he fully understood what needed to be done and the reason why we requested it, and the burger had been made fresh again.

A minute later my friend went to put condiments on the burger and found a bacon sliver a couple inches long still on the burger.

I asked for the manager and expressed our concern the burger hadn't been remade but simply the bacon removed. He also assured me that it had been remade and that they have burgers already made on the grill and just add the toppings to them as a request is made. I interrupted him and stated, then can you explain to me why this burger has bacon on it still and why it came out not hot but looking like it had sat around like we sent it back. He couldn't, and asked if he could make us a fresh one. The new burger, correctly made, came out with the burger literally rolling with steam off of it, the cheese still in fully liquid melted form and shiny hot. Later on the manager brought one complimentary piece of key lime pie, but we did not eat this.

My disappointment is in what I feel was an intentional disregard of serving food which the wait staff and manager knew violated a religious practice and then attempting to manipulate the truth about what was done on simply removing the bacon off of it instead of truly making it fresh again. This is an absolute disgrace and a slap in the face of our sacred trust in the United States for freedom of religion and respect for those persons personal religious practices. If you can't trust someone to act honorably in such a small thing as simply making a burger again from scratch because of their mistake...

We will not return to this establishment and take my business elsewhere. Our trust in their conducting themselves honorably has...

I won't leave any stars because I am willing to give this place a second chance, but if I had another experience like I did tonight I will not be back. My parents and roommate have raved about this place for months, and tonight was my first experience. And while the food was OK it was not the quality that any of them had become accustomed. The fried zucchini was delicious as were the desserts and my dad really enjoyed his Marsala which is why the food I can forgive. The service however was ATROCIOUS. My water glass was only filled once during the meal and once our food came out she didn't check on us again until we had almost finished eating... she only seemed to make some type of effort after she realized we had become irritated at the very end. My mother waited several minutes before even starting to eat for her to come back over, but couldn't wait any longer. We watched the server (short brunette, long ponytail and a headband-she never offered her name) stand in the corner playing on her phone and gossiping with other servers and completely ignore our table. At one point the entire table stared at her to try and get her attention, and she made eye contact and turned away. Then she came to our area and cleared a table and still didn't even acknowledge us until my roommate had to loudly speak to her to get her attention to almost make her come back over. Then at the end of the meal as my dad was paying he caught her and another server talking about our table, probably me in particular because I don't hide my irritation on my face well, and called her out on it she didn't offer an apology she just walked away. I hope the next time we return I have a better experience because I want to like the place my whole family drives...

I can't say enough good things about the Corner Cafe in Griffin. We stopped on our home from a visit to Callaway Gardens and we're so glad we did. The food was delicious, the wait staff was friendly and efficient, the portions were huge, and the prices were very reasonable. Upon arrival, we were seated and waited on within minutes. The place was full and we can understand why. They have an extensive menu so I asked our waiter for suggestions. He said the owner was born and raised in Mexico, but also lived and worked in Italy so you couldn't go wrong with any of those ethnic choices, but that really everything is good. I chose the lasagna and it was delicious! I make a pretty mean lasagna and this one was right up there in the running with mine. With a generous side salad and garlic bread, my entree was less than $10. My hubby went with the burger and fries. He said the both the burger and fries were great. Best burger he's had in a long time and only $6.50. You can hardly get a fast food burger for that. To top it off they have a display case with a myriad of decadent desserts. I think all the desserts are made in house. We chose an eclair that was as big as two decks of cards put together, end to end, and a snickers cannoli. We could only eat half of each so we took the rest with us. They were both worth every single calorie. Our total bill was less than $30 (minus tip). I wish we didn't live so far away so we could visit at least weekly, but you can be sure if we're ever anywhere in the area, the Corner Cafe will be on...