Carver Cafe — Restaurant in Happy Valley

We took a Twilight themed road trip vacation. This brought us to The Carver Cafe. Reviews online of this roadside diner vary between real good to very poor. I dissagree with the bad reviews. We arrived to find decent if tight parking. It is a popular spot with "Twilighters", fans of the Twilight books and films. This location was featured in the first film where shy girl Bella Swan and her father Chief of Police Charlie Swan dined. The corner table by the window is the place to have you picture taken as that is where the two actors performed their scene. The round table has been replaced with a rectangular set up. The diner is typical of PNW American Roadside Diners. There is a 15 foot bar with 3 stools and tables in the tiny L shaped dinning room. The lower walls are painted forest green and have wood paneling. Images of the regions rich logging history adorn the walls along with an impressive set of antlers from hunting days gone by. It is reasonably quiet given the front door is just feet away from the highway. Parking is on both sides of the resturant. There is a nice set of planters in front of the entrance separating the highway from the entrance. A tall sign set to one side has the establishments name in green. There is not a lot of dining space inside; I counted space for about 40 diners including the seats at the bar. It is a clean enviroment. It is obvious the owners to take pride in their business. The diner appears to be a family run operation with one or two hires not related to the core employees. I could be wrong about this, but the gal who seated us did not seem to be related to the rest of the people working. The cook seemed to be the manager and bottle washer...the younger folk handled the regular duties of order taking, serving and cleanup. All of the staff appeared happy if earnest in their work save for the youngest gal who seemed a little less energetic. We surmised she was the youngest of the family having to wile away her summer in the employ of her family at the family business. She still served us promptly, and did not let her summer dissapointments affect our experience. The young man who also served was very serious and pleasant, wanting his interaction with us to be professional. He really seemed to enjoy his work. So to the gal that I first interacted with. Serious about their job. Efficiency and prioritys we often dont see at other food places. We ordered mostly from the breakfast menu. My son ordered from the lunch menu. The food arrived hot and ready with what seemed like the whole staff bringing out a plate or dish. I saw them all repeat this with other customers as they streamed in. I ordered the Oregon Omelette and Hashbrowns. My daughter ordered eggs with pancakes and a side of bacon with biscuits. My wife chose eggs with french toast and hashbrowns and a side of bacon. My son went after a cheese burger. As we ate, we marveled over how tasty the food really was. Nothing was cold, everything was cooked to our expectation, all of it was really tasty. My wife mentioned her french toast was prepared perfectly. It wasnt too sweet or not sweet enough. She didnt really need to put any syrup on it. That sorta surprised her. She declared it the best french toast she had ever eaten. My Oregon Omelette was perfectly made, the egg was wonderfully cooked and not rubbery. The vegetables were fresh and cooked exactly to retain the right amount of fesh crisp before becoming too mushy. The hashbrowns were not oily. They were wonderfully flavorable. My son didnt give much info on his burger, but by the speed in which he consumed it, I suspect it was to his liking. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed her meal as well. As for the poor reviews. One must remember the pandemic shuttered a lot of businesses that are this tiny. This place is a fan destination which causes 30 min wait times. The staff are ready to please. One must remember that it is still just a diner. Not a foo-foo place in a big city. Dont go in expecting "Per Se, NY" style dining and you...

I'm old enough to remember when this place was called "Rick's Carver Cafe." Look it up if you want to, or can find ANYTHING ONLINE referencing this, because it PREDATES ONLINE ITSELF (get it?). In the 80's I took many trips from S.E. Portland to Estacada, and drive by the Carver Cafe EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. At that time, it was known only as "RICK'S CARVER CAFE." We never stopped and ate there, despite driving by a million and a half times. That may be a slight exaggeration. In the last month or so, myself, my wife and my youngest daughter stopped in to eat on a weekend (Saturday or Sunday I think). It was pretty busy. WE LOVE places with atmosphere. This place had it. It's obviously family-ran these days with "grandma" cooking and the grandkids waiting on tables and such. My wife and I LOVE cinema. We both started working in video stores at AGE FIFTEEEN when video stores were still a thing. Okay, they filmed an episode of Twilight here or something like 12+ years ago or something similar?! How long can you ride on that? How many vampire fans can you get in to ride on "This is a tourist attraction?" We waited SO LONG FOR OUR FOOD. It seemed like FOREVER AND A DAY AND A HALF, and I'm NOT KIDDING AT ALL. I loved hanging there, we had nothing else going on at the time. Atmosphere was fun for a small family cafe in the middle of almost nowhere. Even I got bored with that. As much as I LOVE MOVIES, and am a MOVIE BUFF, the Twilight thing just doesn't do it for me. When the food FINALLY ARRIVED FOR US, it was OH SO DISAPOINTING, and I was both HUNRGY, and EXCITED for it. Ate everything on my plate, but I gotta say -- I was super disappointed. I asked for CRISPY HASHBROWNS. They weren't. They didn't even taste good. Eggs, meh. Toast -- how can you EFF-UP TOAST?! I drink black coffee. It was pretty good. I don't know. I asked if anyone remembered "RICK?" Grandma does, and says he was a jerk with a big ego. Yeah yeah.... Grandma ain't much of a cook. :) That is all from the SK...

Went here at 1:00 pm on a Wednesday afternoon, probably 3 months ago. They had my review removed for some reason. Her we go again. they took 10 -15 mins to hand us menus. Had multiple opportunities to hand us menus, even let us know that they will be with us in a minute. Nothing but stares from us after we were invited to sit at the bar booth. 15 minutes go by, they finally hand us menus. 20 minutes, we get our order in. I'm watching this younger girl in the back with long black hair. She was just standing there as her hair was blowing up in the air from the vents. I already knew this was gonna be a problem. She walks out of view. She comes back with a bunch of plates, and starts to put them above the grill where a younger guy was making food. As she's putting the plates up, A CHUNK OF HER HAIR IS IN THE SAME HAND AS THE PLATES SHES HOLDING. She got it all tangled up in the plates and definitely in the food on the grill. Her hair was so long that she accidentally grabbed it while trying to put dishes away at a RESTAURANT. I work with food and this is unacceptable. No hairnet, and even more concerning your hair is not tied up? Absolutely disgusting. I told them that I did not want my food any longer, and to just make my boyfriend's food to go. The younger brunette girl told me that it would be the same wait time, which I obviously knew. Came back 55 minutes later and all of the tables that ordered after us had their food, and told us it was gonna be 10-15 more minutes. Definitely left. Disgusting and horrible service. Been coming here 8 years and it just somehow keeps getting worse. Bunch of unhygienic children who are not fit for the restaurant industry! This is coming from a 19 year old manager in food...