Millie's Restaurant & Bakery — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Cute American diner with all-day breakfast and lunch. Large dining room with the ability to accommodate big groups. Nice outdoor patio with lots of shade. It has a big parking lot and it's an easy location to get to.

I came in by myself on a Sunday morning at 10am because I was close by and saw great reviews about the food, and especially the country fried steak. Although my food didn't live up to the reviews I read, I'm still happy I came in! More details below!

The general consensus of most other reviews are rather accurate:

Pros:

1 - Great diner atmosphere with a bar-counter to sit at, booths, and huge menu (5 out of 5 stars). Lots of southern style dishes, but also a ton of outgoing options to pick from. It was easy to tell that there were a lot of regulars and families that enjoy coming specifically to this restaurant for weekend breakfast. Although she was very sweet, my server didn't really introduce herself so I didn't feel a very personal connection.

Prices aren't overly high, but the current state of the world is definitely the reason for prices to go up. If you are upset about how much it costs to eat out, then stay home and cook or get fast food.

On a food cost note that is unrelated to my experience: I'm not sure the large range of options is playing to their favor, but it would be interesting to see the backend numbers on sale-rate for each dish compared to how many ingredients they keep on hand to stock the large variety. Just a thought on how they might be able to cut unnecessary operational costs.

2 - quality of service, 5 out of 5 stars: super sweet and friendly staff. Definitely more experienced, professional, and older than some reviews mentioned. Staff is on par with the  diner atmosphere. I got checked on multiple times and it was obvious that everyone was working as a team.

3 - Speed of service, 5 out of 5 stars: Food came out quick! Probably just under 10 minutes from order to in front of me. I sat in front of the kitchen window and the crew back there busted their orders out, but also they quickly plated anything extra that the servers asked for in the moment. Kitchens are stressful! The restaurant was probably running at 65-75% capacity while I was there, but it was nice to see how well it was all handled.

Not-so-Pros:

4 - quality of food, 3.5 out of 5: to be fair this was my first time here and I only tried the country fried steak, but nothing really stuck out. The steak was good, but nothing to write home to the South about. Same opinion for the gravy, but that was room temp. The country potatoes were alright but undercooked. And the pancake was standard. The whipped butter made up for the pancake, generous portion and super easy to cover the pancake from edge to edge. The iced coffee was bold & rich, enjoyable to sip on & I love the huge mason jar it came in. Silly enough.. The jar was probably my favorite thing about my experience!

Averaged out, 4 of 5 stars. I could definitely see myself coming back because my brother lives nearby & I liked the vibes. I'd like to try more options from their menu to have a better opinion on their food in general. However, it's not on my "must try'' list as of this visit. But my opinions are just that! I still encourage you to stop by and try it...

I had been taken out to lunch here by a very good friend of mine. It’s December so the restaurant was cutely decorated with a small Christmas tree right as you walk through the entrance. Other Yuletide decors around the restaurant gave it a nice atmospheric family dining feeling. They have a very cool, super vintage jukebox with some seemingly nice 1950/1960 era musicians on play. I don’t think that Millie’s play this jukebox anymore, but I could be wrong. The was seating at all side of the of restaurant, many windows to view the small Valley picturesque neighborhood surrounding it. Booths and countertop seating. I was sat in the way back of the restaurant where I could also see possible outside dining but I could be wrong. This was my very first time eating here. There food was really well cooked. I am vegan for most of the time but I have a hard time eating enough to maintain the nutrition I think I should be getting so pardon me but I ordered the Turkey holiday meal with a very very small side of cranberry sauce, I had to ask for another side. It was like 2 bites. I didn’t understand why so little amount. The turkey was nicely sliced on top of mediocre bread filled with mashed potatoes and stuffing. Atop with turkey gravy. It was a nice lunch or dinner meal. The turkey wasn’t free range or hormone free. I truly think if any restaurant is gonna serve any meats, PLEASE MAKE SURE THEY ARE PASTURE RAISED & ALLOWED to have access to the Sun. It’s important that if you’re gonna eat meat, at least eat the meat that is raised humanely. I had ordered coffee and water. Coffee was ok. This restaurant needs to add something to the menus to bring back diners. It didn’t have ANY SUGAR FREE PIES (my very good friend is a pre-diabetic). Sugar free can be good if opted the way without using fake sweeteners & made just a yummy as so much of our daily foods have sugar in them. No vegan or vegetarian options available. Millie’s could use some IMPOSSIBLE burgers with vegan mayonnaise and a few other vegan options available like vegan ice cream which is so so good. And people who have lactose intolerance can also enjoy a bite or two while stopping by here. The menu did have some holiday themed menu options, such pumpkin pancakes, warmed apple pie ala mode. Not sure if they had any eggnogs or other themed foods. It was a lovely December day.& I had the chance to stop in with my very dear friend I have known for 15+ years. This place isn’t expensive compared to taking your friends or family out to a gross fast food stop. I believe it’s family owned. The woman who seems to own it came to give my table some change and she was super adorable and had a great sense of humor. Waitress was wearing adorbs festive sweater and hostess had passed our table many times with a coffee pot in her hand and didn’t ask us if we wanted refills. Another gentleman had made sure we had our drinks. They had the service on a tight...

Update:

I returned recently and ordered fish which was accompanied by mixed vegetables and potatoes and a salad.

The small dinner salads are superb. They make their own croutons which are so delicious.

Unfortunately the fish was poorly seasoned and the amount served, paltry. The vegetables were entirely unseasoned and dull in flavor. It's too bad. I once thought this a wonderful restaurant. This was my last visit.

Previous Review

This place was an unexpected surprise. First the positives. The staff is friendly and the service is excellent.

The steak was superbly prepared and the cheese bread is delicious.

I highly recommend the side salad which is an additional $2.99. It consists of mixed greens, cheese and amazing homemade croutons.

Their turkey club sandwich is also superb. The turkey is thinly sliced and flavorful.

The Monte Cristo sandwich is also delicious.

As good as their steak and sandwiches are, their pot pie is not an actual pie. The pie consists of thick gravy that tasted like flour and chicken that was too chewy. This was topped by a pie crust that was over baked and tasted burned.

The fried fish was abundant but the batter wasn't very good. The seasoning added an odd flavor to the fish.

Their prices were also recently raised. In the case of the steak, it rose from $15 and some cents to $19 and some cents. The approximate 25% increase undermines the value of ordering the steak.

Also their desserts are beautiful but over-priced and the graham crusts used in some of their pies is too greasy. Their cookies are also not flavorful and taste more like shortening than butter.

Despite the increase in prices of some items and items I would not recommend, their menu is extensive and offers other good items. I rated them 4-stars because some of their food is quite good but not 5-stars because some of the food isn't that good and because the substantial increase of prices...