Clay's Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Indiana

Sunday, June 23, 2024 at 12:40 p.m., my daughter and I stopped here for lunch. I called around noon to inquire about their closing time and was informed that they close at 2:00 p.m.

Upon arrival, we noticed only a few tables occupied and the restaurant had a closed, dirty smell to it that was less than appetizing.

We were instructed to seat ourselves. Immediately after being seated, the waitress handed us our menus, asked for our drink orders and then informed us that, as they close at 2:00 pm. ( A FULL HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES FROM CURRENT TIME, WITH ONLY A FEW TABLES OCCUPIED), we could only order from one section of the menu, which was the sandwiches. None of the full meals or dinner options were being prepared.

This is nothing more than obvious laziness on the part of the staff. It would appear that they think CLOSING time equals QUITTING time. I'm guessing they wanted to walk out the door as close to 2:00 p.m. as possible. Could be why the place smells so bad, because cleaning would take additional time.

We will never eat, or attempt to eat, in this establishment again. We drove to Sofia's Kitchen in Angola. They ALSO had a 2:00 p.m. closing time. The parking lot was packed. We waited 10 minutes to be seated. We placed our order, FROM A FULL MENU at 1:15 p.m. and never once were we made to feel rushed because they CLOSE in just a few minutes. We observed people walking in and being seated in the same friendly manner until the time we left, shortly before 2:00 p.m.

Perhaps, the staff at Clay's could take some lessons from Sofia's Kitchen on how to operate a successful establishment. Clay's from years back was certainly not this yucky or rude. NEVER AGAIN!

THE ESTABLISHMENT HAS RESPONDED WITH AN EXCUSE OF DOWNED TREE AND LOSS OF POWER........

If this were true, the wait staff should have informed of such INSTEAD of telling us that since they closed at 2:00 p.m., the kitchen did not want to get everything out to prepare all of the items on the menu so close to closing time. AND, DO NOT CLAIM TO BE AN 80 YEAR OLD ESTABLISHMENT. 46 years under the Bakers and then this horrific...

We have visited several times a month for years and always enjoyed the experience and food, but were very disappointed when we visited on Tuesday afternoon. This was the first time we visited since the "new ownership ". It was not busy at all. Maybe 4 tables had customers when we arrived. No one seated us. We finally just walked over and sat at a table. Once waitress finally came over, she was noting but attitude. No greeting, just "what do you want to drink." When she came back to take orders, was extremely short and unfriendly. Then meals for our party of 5 came out all at separate times. The first two meals came out and then it was 8 minutes before the next 2 came out, and then another 5 minutes after that for the last plate to be served. The fish,, which we have always loved and ordered for years, was chewy and hard. My husband never received one of his side dishes and when he mentioned it to the waitress, she turned, left, got it, and never said a word. At one point 2 elderly women came in and sat at the far corner table and the waitress rolled her eyes as she had to maneuver around the table to go to the back corner to wait on them. Waitress never once checked on us the entire time we were trying to eat. We finally just got up and stood by register, waiting for our bill and to pay. Someone came out of the back room and started looking for the ticket, couldn't find it, and finally the waitress (who had seen us get up and go to try and pay) called this girl over and handed her our bill without so much as a word to us. I totally understand that times are hard for businesses to find good help, but this waitress clearly had no clue what she was doing and made a terrible impression on is for the new Clay's. Definitely miss the old Clay's! Unfortunately, untill the quality of the food and service improves, we will not be going back or...

I went here with a group for breakfast. The staff was fantastic! They were very friendly and attentive. The atmosphere was quaint and it was enjoyable to be there.

My issue is that I personally think it was over-priced for what it was. I had bacon, 2 scrambled eggs and toast for I believe around $6 (I am not 100% on that price, it may have been more). That would be a fine price if it tasted fresher. I am almost positive that the bacon was the pre-cooked bacon you just heat up for 30 seconds on the grill or in the microwave. It was very thin, crispy and cheap bacon flavored. I got scrambled eggs and they tasted "artificial" for a lack of a better word. They did not taste like they were freshly scrambled or even made to order. It seemed like maybe a bunch of them were made and then dished out when people order them. They also seemed like they were powdered eggs or egg beater eggs, the color and consistency was so uniform and non egg-y. The toast was nothing special, I do not think it was a home made bread. It seemed like a generic store bought bread. With all that I did not think it was worth the cost.

Other people in our party got other items. The general consensus was it was average. The over easy eggs did look good and had wonderful runny yolks, the omelet seemed to be cooked in a fun pan because it was so perfectly round and uniform in color. The pancakes were cooked beautifully but tasted average.

Overall I was impressed with the staff and atmosphere but not so...