Chips Restaurant — Restaurant in Hawthorne

I hate to be writing this review.

I have been a loyal, regular patron at Chips for a little over a year going in weekly, sometimes on multiple days. I have a very severe dietary allergy and like to find a place and frequent it. I'm polite and I overtip and appreciate it when the staff of a restaurant recognizes/remembers me and seems to care. That is exactly how I would describe Chips up to this point. Their food is delicious and their servers are very nice.

Today, however, I ordered a side of pancakes with my my meal. I always order everything without butter and specifically referenced this when ordering my pancakes. When my food arrived, there was a large round dollop of butter on it. That is not serious to me, as it is an easily rectifiable issue. New pancakes without butter on top and I'm okay.

I pointed it out to my server and she realized the mistake immediately. She said "Oh my god. Yes. Right. Your allergy. I'll have them make you new pancakes right away." For me, I was happy about that, as it is the reason I frequent an establishment: she noted that it wasn't that I simply don't like the taste, I'm allergic to a direct dairy product like that.

When she returned with a "new" plate of pancakes, something struck me as odd. The top one had an indention on the edge and a tear, the way you would expect it to look if it was pinched by hand. It's not practice for chefs/cooks to turn pancakes by hand, they use spatulas on the griddle. So I lifted it and noted that the one underneath had an indention in the middle and was oily. Exactly as you would expect if it had a large dollop of butter there. Instead of making new pancakes, the cook simply took the butter off and rearranged the order.

Either this cook doesn't care about what the servers tell him or he was intentionally attempting to give me the finger. Again, the waitstaff is friendly and the ownership seems very nice but cooks/chefs with such an open disregard for the dietary allergies of patrons should not be allowed to handle food. You cannot pay me enough money to go back there and either their food. I will not do it. I can't shake the notion that the cook was intentionally attempting to make me sick.

Again, he's seen me a couple of times a week for the past 52 weeks: he knows me and knows my allergies. Servers who I see once a month know my allergy. He either doesn't care or was intentionally spiteful. For that, I will not go back.

Which is very unfortunate because I really liked their food. I don't like leaving this review but people need to read it. Cooks shouldn't do...

terrible food. just wow. I never thought I’d leave a review like this.

Ordered the open face turkey dinner. When it arrived it was covered in YELLOW “gravy”. So automatically we were all kinda of thrown off. But let’s at least taste it….

The sludge on top was disgusting absolutely inedible. My mother being a professional cook for over 40yrs was able to call out exactly what the concoction was. Oil,Flour, and Knorr chicken bouillon.

It’s like the cook didn’t know how to make a basic gravy so he made a Roux but instead of using butter and flour they used oil and didn’t let the flour cook out. Also instead of using a milk for gravy they used chicken bouillon. They didn’t whisk it properly because of the tiny lumps, we tasted the uncooked flour.

And now to add insult to Injury- we called the server Ava (I think) back to our table. handed her the plate and said this does not taste good at all. SHE DIDNT OFFER ANY APOLOGY AND WORSE NEVER, NOT ONCE DID SHE SAY IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE I CAN GET YOU ?!

She took the plate, never asked any of our party how things were or if we needed anything. We had to ask for a refill of our coffee (coffee was really good)

we also observed some other unprofessional employees eating cake behind counter but facing customers in full visibility. Again, having restaurant experience, your employees are never allowed to eat in customers view. When we got up to pay at the counter Rudy took our payment. He politely asked how things were, we told him. He just said “oh no” with a face of disbelief.

Both Ava and Rudy were very polite people but their responses and actions showed they need to learn basic waitstaff etiquette.

I will...

On Aug. 23, 2025at around 9am, I bought a breakfast for pickup at this Chips Restaurant that’s already wrapped in bag. The service is good like the receptionist is friendly, and the place is a walking distance to where I live. However, when I get home, I checked the food that I bought from them. I saw a scrambled egg with a slice of American cheese on top of the egg. That is not how you make a scrambled egg with cheese.Their pancakes is light brown instead of dark brown and they gave me less butter and less syrup for 2 pancakes. That is cheap quality for the price I pay of 24 dollars even though it comes with home fries potatoes that were sliced in cubes. When, I make my scrambled egg with cheese. First, I I break about 4 eggs for me my daughter and my husband in a bowl. Then, I would put milk or a heavy creamer to make the eggs fluffy. The, I add garlic salt and pepper for seasoning. Then, mixed them together. Turn on the stove and put the pan on it. Then, put a small Irish butter or any butter or oil little bit. Then, pour the mixed eggs in the pan. Then, add the sharp cheddar cheese while cooking it. Mix them in. Then, you can add sharp cheddar cheese at the end and then turn off the stove. It was hot on this day that I decided to go buy the breakfast and I was having a migraine headaches at that time too. That’s why there not a lot of people coming in to Chips Restaurant. I like Pann’s Restaurant better that this Chips Restaurant. If they want more people to come to dine in the Chips Restaurant they better make good food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hoping next time I try this Chips Restaurant it would be better food so a lot of people would enjoy and come...