Aunt Emma's Pancakes — Restaurant in National City

I would like to preface my review by saying that my spouse and I have been a customers of both Aunt Emma's restaurants locations for years and although I can recall only one other issue in recent memory with less than stellar service I had never experienced anything like i did here on an early afternoon in April, ANYWHERE.

I came by with my son and daughter after his doctor appointment right at 1pm. We ask to sit in our usual spot near the bar top with our usual server (Pauline) but the section was closing and we were deferred to another area of the restaurant. Normally, not a problem, but it just so happens that I've had only one prior incident with only one other server and I was seated by the hostess in that server's particular area. I'm not one to hold grudges (too much energy) so I take my seat and order shortly after. Food doesn't take remarkably long but it does come minus the kids' sides of pancakes, fruit, and a hot tea. I ask about the sides and am told it wont be long.. While I'm waiting my son spills a syrup container and it lands on the floor as the rude server I had observed on a prior visit comes walking by, picks up the container and slams it down on the table with enough force to coax my autistic son into an apology. Normally this would be enough to set me off but it was a good day and I didn't want to add to the anxiety my son was surely already feeling. I tell him it's ok it's only syrup but he continues to apologize "I'm sorry" "sorry". Over 20 minutes pass and while pancakes, fruit and tea are missing when I decide to get up and grab my own tea and ask to speak with a manager regarding the servers conduct towards my son and missing sides which I was told by the server could not be removed from the price since I was no longer interested in waiting for them. Another 10-15 minutes of waiting (now near 2:30) I get up to pay when finally the manager reveals herself and explains to me that "It's already cheap" and that she is "floored" by my complaints. I am the one who is now floored by the "Manager's" conduct and choose instead to leave. Precisely then I realize my son is not by my side and after a quick and frantic search he is found in the restroom. I quickly take my kids to the front of the restaurant to pay (for everything) when Erica, the manager, confronts me again telling me that she has removed the items from the bill. Not only that she has the missing items packaged in to-go containers and quickly 'shoos' me away with the food as though I it was part of my plan to be humiliated by her "already cheap" food. Still, I bite my tongue but trash the containers of food before leaving the restaurant. WORST. EXPERIENCE. EVER.

If by any chance Emma's MGMT reads these reviews I would gladly speak in volumes about...

9/2024 - Ha ha... in National City after after a service call this morning. I have no idea why I would try again, but I did. Ordered dry toast, got buttered. Rest of the meal was OK. But still have the same problems getting coffee or water refill. Nothings changed at all. I got feed back on the past two reviews and it's almost like it's a rubber stamped reply "we apologize for your experience" and " we strive to provide good service" BS! It's truly sad that a place situated in such a good location with the defense contractors, base workers and the local shops being their bread and butter that they don't have better service. I am truly done with this place. Hey rubber stamp replier... don't bother to. I ain't a coming back!

6/2024 - well, I was in National City today and decided to try Aunt Emma's again. 5 years ago was a disappointment, so I wanted to see if they changed. They didn't. I walk in and stood at the counter as if I had a question. Just wanted to order my coffee while I was in the bathroom washing my hands. Every single server walked past me and ignored me. WTH? So I go wash, come back and sit down. No greeting or kind word. Just drop the menu in front of me and walk past. Again WTH. Look at the menu, and the server shows up. Give my order with the coffee. Half the order shows up and I look for my server, she is standing on the counter wiping the ceiling. Meanwhile, the rest of my order is sitting in the cooks window getting cold. By the time I got it, it wouldn't even melt the butter. The whole time I never saw a coffee refill or a check if everything was ok. Apparently AE's still hasn't learned what customer service is.

I wrote this review about 5 years ago; Reviwers Cole and Matilda either work there or never go out to eat and have no basis for comparison. Ive eaten here when it was Kieths. Mediocre to poor service then and still is now. Well, let me be fairer. Its hit and miss. If theres no one there then the service can be good. Get more than 2 customers and you have to tackle a server to get a coffee refill. Cooks are also hit and miss. Dont get the fried potatoes with breakfast. They deep fry them and they still come out half raw. Crunchy on the outside, crunchy on the inside. I used to travel in my job. Up and down the coast, and as far east as Chicago. I have eaten in a lot of venues. Aunt Emmas needs to raise the quality bar. Im eating at Family House...

This experience was awful from start to finish. It all started when I called to place my order for pickup. No matter what I did, the waitress couldn’t hear me. Then, according to the waitress taking the order, “it was taking too long”. I placed an order for two orders for buttermilk short stack pancakes (3 pancakes) with a side of sausage and grits and orange juice for each. The waitress stated it would be 20 minutes. Great, just enough time to get over there and have them ready for pickup. On arrival I go into the restaurant, and let them know my name for the order. The waitress brings over my orange juices and then goes back to the back. In about 5 minutes she comes back with my order and states that she’s included butter, ketchup (not sure why), and syrup. I take the order and leave but once outside, I realize my bag is too light to have grits so I check the order...no grits. So my boyfriend and I go in and they greet me with, “the grits?”. On confirmation, the waitress goes on back and comes back with one cup of grits. I ask her where the other one is because we had ordered two. She states, “there was only one order, do you want to buy another one?” I tell her no, it’s fine, we’ll share. We head back outside and check our order again. There’s no syrup and only one butter and one set of plastic ware. My boyfriend has to head in twice more in order to get syrup, butter, and another set of plastic ware. The waitress very much had an air of “why are you coming back”, “why are you here”, “what is your problem”. Unfortunately, all this trouble did not give us a reward of good food. Instead the pancakes (only 2 in each order) were dough-y and were overall unsatisfactory. The sausage was ok. The grits were made with milk (?????????) and were very sweet. If that’s how you like your grits, then you’ll be pleased, but I was not happy with them at all. Overall, the customer service was the worst I had ever seen and the food was at best...