JJ's Down Home Cafe — Restaurant in Odessa

My daughter thought she, her husband, my grandson, & my sister (who lives in a nearby town) could meet my wife & me here for breakfast. None of us had been there before so sounded good to try out especially with its appropriate name. My wife & I got there a little early plus my daughter, et al, were running late. I was greeted by a very friendly young man who said we can pick a table wherever we liked (plus interesting & nice that the place has separate smoking & non-smoking dining areas that are well divided so no smoke was drifting in our area). During our wait for the rest of our party to join us, our server kept my coffee mug full along with my wife's tea. After everyone else arrived, our server took our orders & actually noted the time on her handwritten order pad. It only took around 15 minutes for our food to be brought to us. Amongst us we had quite a variety of different items & they were all very good. I had the House Omelet with hashbrowns, & rye toast and my wife had their Breakfast Special which included biscuits & gravy, eggs cooked to order, fried potatoes, & sausage. Needless to say she had to get a box for her leftovers (I, having a big appetite, finished off all of my rather tasty repast). I would definitely recommend JJ's Down Home Cafe plus it's nice to be in old fashioned downtown Odessa so you can enjoy the day visiting the various shops down its main...

To be fair, at first we walked into the right side and were met with a wall of cigarette smoke, which almost saw us turning around to leave. People still smoke in restaurants? Please- keep your drug(s) of choice out of my lungs, thank you. That being said, smoking section aside, that restaurant was perfect. It was exactly what it should be: a small town diner just off a major highway.

Our group ended up there on the way to PTK Catalyst 2025 and only went in because the other place we were going to see was closed. My friend and I ordered the friend fish sandwich with tater tots and a burger with curly fries. I was tempted on the salad bar but there were no eggs (yes- this review is from 2025, the year of the $10/dozen eggs). I know...I'm picky. True! The fish was a deep fried piece of frozen fish but at least the fryer was up to temp. I could tell because the fish and the fries and tots came out perfectly crisp and not drowning in seed oils.

The food was good enough that I stopped back up front to compliment their line cook, who turned out to be the one lady's mother and the owner. Brilliant! I love a good family-owned, local, small town business. If I ever get out that way again, I'm stopping. JJ's is a true hidden gem. Don't expect anything fancy. But- what it does, it does perfectly. PS The server was an...

I really want to like this restaurant having spend the first 18 years of my life in Odessa, but the experience my family (my wife, our 5 and 3 year olds, and myself) had deserves a one star review.

Sat down in the smoking section (we live in Columbia where smoking isn't allowed in restaurants) and a waitress let us know there was a non-smoking section on the other side of the wall. We appreciated that! Then we sat down and waited 5-7 minutes without a menu or being spoken to. I got up and grabbed a menu from near the counter. By this time it has been around 8 minutes I'm guessing. The table behind us, who had been sitting there for 2-3 minutes was greeted and their drink order was taken and we were still waiting. A few minutes later we were able to order and our food came out in a reasonable amount of time. My wife and my biscuits and gravy were good. Our kids french toast was good. The cinnamon roll we ordered was smothered in butter so we only took a few bites. I asked my wife why she didn't ask for another one but she said that's probably just the way they make them so she didn't want to ask for another one. Price was decent. My take from this restaurant: if you don't care about time, give it a try. However, if you have any kind of time constraints...