Cleburne Cafeteria — Restaurant in Houston

I visited this establishment yesterday to pick up an order for chicken, Macaroni, broccoli, roll, fruit punch and pie slice. When one of the workers brought my food to the car, the first thing she went to hand me was the fruit punch, and simultaneously as I grabbed it, it became obvious that the top wasn’t on the cup and that the cup was filled too high to snap the lid on the cup because punch leaked out of the top of the cup and onto the seat of my car as she handed it to me. As the drink is spilling, she says “ be careful” as the punch is wasting in my seat. The top lid of the cup was not attached to the cup but rather just sitting on the top of the cup almost floating. This was no fault of mine and in fact, once I put the drink into my cup holder and put the top on, the drink was still coming out of the lid onto the top on the lid through the straw hole; the cup was simply filled too high. I called the management to inform them of this and how red punch being spilled is unacceptable and if they could accommodate the situation by getting my seat cleaned. The manager Sheila got on the phone and was one of the most rude people ever and accused me of waisting punch in my own seat and me wanting them to clean something I caused. She said simply “there’s nothing I can do about you spilling the drink in your seat.” I was very disappointed because my family and I have spent a lot money patronizing this establishment over the last couple of decades and being treated this way was bothersome. I didn’t spend money at Cleburne’s Cafeteria to be treated rude and leave the establishment with a cleaning bill for my seat that was caused by one of their employees. I will definitely check into legal recourse if it’s not too time consuming or expensive. I assume that my seat would cost $50 or so to get cleaned so hiring an attorney may not be cost effective but I hope this review prevents anyone else from having a bad experience at Cleburne’s that cost you money and they basically accept no accountability. That female manager who I think may be the daughter, is one of the most rude people I’ve ever spoken to there. I’ve seen her have a bad attitude with other customers there in the to-go line in the past and assumed that maybe that was just that day but no, this lady is plain rude. I would not go back to this establishment or recommend anyone to again. They don’t value their customers experience and in my case left me with a cleaning bill that I didn’t have before the worker for Cleburne’s Cafeteria reached into my car to hand me a cup with the top coming off, overfilled, and spilling. The fruit punch cup was filled so high until I’m sure she wasted some even walking to my car. I had no way of knowing this and the drink should have never been filled that high. She even said, “you have to drink some for it to go down.”, this is after the drink had spilled. That’s unacceptable to find that out after the red punch has been spilled in your car. Mistakes happen, but the way the manager handled the situation is disappointing and she is not fit to provide customer service to anyone, I’m sure her father would be disappointed. Before I even said what happened she accused me of waisting the drink in my car, not the worker. She said “didn’t she tell you to be careful?”, I’m like “yes but there was no way the drink wouldn’t spill unless some was poured out. That’s not how you hand someone a drink (already spilling). The top could not go on the cup without forcing liquid out of the straw hole.

• To everyone who has read negative reviews and the owners responses, notice that none of the responses offer any resolve. They allow the customers to take the hits for all of their short comings as a business. I will never go to Cleburne’s again...

This was my first and last time. My mom bragged about this place for months ( she use to go the old location) and wanted to take me to lunch. It looked nice when we walked in. Then the pushiness started. Going down the line the servers are rude and yelling. Mind you this was my very first time, I was trying to see the options asking questions. The servers were yelling "next!" I decided on parsley salad(it was ok), chicken fried chicken(it looked grilled and was flavor less), mashed potatoes and white gravy (not good at all, I loaded it with hot sauce), green beans( they needed season and we're cold), broccoli cheese casserole ( it tasted burnt), cold dinner roll(butter did not melt at all), and unsweetened tea. My mom had fried white chicken and sides. We get to the table and my mom break her wing apart take a bite of the flat and her chicken is cold. She ask the waitress for fresh chicken. This is the beginning of the circus. First they offered to microwave her fried chicken(really?) She declined and asked for fresh chicken. They told her it would be 30 mins. We we're dine with that. Then they came out within 2 mins with chicken that looked microwaved. My mom asked for the manager or owner. The irate ghetto manager Sheila, just stirred the pot with her piss poor customer service. She told my mama if she didn't like or want the chicken she can leave and never come back(all while yelling) My mama asked for a refund since she did not eat any of her food. Ghetto Shelia told her she is not getting a refund and don't come back. When my mom gave her the same energy she threaten to call the police. We agreed, she should call the police. Their so called security guard came and follow us to our table and yelling us we had to leave and throwing togo plates at our table. We declined! So, we sat down and waited for the police. The police came and suggested my mom dispute the $70 she paid for our meal (that's what she did). He also whispered that he didn't understand why they didn't just give her chicken, why call the police?..... The owner George was there and never came out when requested. I have never been so embarrassed and treated like that in an establishment were I patronize. But after reading the reviews I got the gist of their business. It seems like "we" are not that welcomed. They will NEVER have to worry about ME again. I told them I will be reviewing my experience on all platforms. Sheila didn't care and it shows in her customer service. There is also a language barrier with the customers and the staff. Luby's would Never!!!! This place is over rated and over priced! For subpar food and poor...

Extremely overpriced for moderately average food at best.

We love the idea of Cleburne, having been previously frequented the old cafeteria style restaurants like Morrison's and Piccadilly's. We finally tried Cleburne and ordered the following:

Grilled chicken w/ pineapple, chicken fried chicken, prime rib, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, green beans, green peas salad, yeast rolls, carrot salad, egg custard, pumpkin pie, and coconut custard pie. We also had 3 iced teas to drink. Each of us had 3 sides along with our entrees.

The total price for 3 (the items mentioned above) was $165. That is absolute robbery for a cafeteria.

The food was as follows:

Prime rib - Very average and fatty. Nothing special. Good portion.

Grilled chicken w/ pineapple - extremely average. Not a lot of flavor. It was OK, medium portion.

Chicken fried chicken - average taste and average portion. Gravy was OK.

Mac & cheese - not a lot of flavor, barely warm.

Green beans - average tasting, slightly soft.

Mashed potatoes - not instant but tasted similar to it. Very bland.

Rice pilaf - cold but tasted OK.

Carrot salad - very good!! Tasted great and good portion.

Peas salad - tasted good but too many onions. Could've done without all the onion and maybe added egg like traditional pea salad.

Yeast rolls - average

Egg custard - decent. Good egg flavor. Not very sweet.

Pumpkin pie - standard, tasted good.

Coconut custard pie - also standard and tasted good.

Iced tea - average

For over $50 a person total (including 18% tip) this was completely NOT worth it. I am still shocked at $165 bill for 3 adults at a cafeteria. The prime rib was $36 I believe, the chicken and rice was $18.99 and the chicken fried chicken was $18.99 as well. The sides were about $5 each, the desserts $5 each, and the drinks were $3 each. So with each of us having an entree plus 3 sides and 1 dessert and 1 drink came out to $165 with tip included. This is about 25% more then any other local restaurant for the same overall amount of food.

Service was very slow and it took quite a while to get some to-go boxes.

2 stars because the food was at least average. Everything else was severely lacking. This is a huge rip off for what you get. If you really like the nostalgia of this place, great, but if you haven't been yet, you'd be better off eating...