Chubby's Fish & Steak — Restaurant in Orland

This is one of those gems which most people never find. Orland is a wide spot in the road with a 4-way-stop-sign at the main intersection in town. As such, there aren't many places to eat, and none of them is a gourmet dining establishment. However, I was surprised when I stopped in there this morning for breakfast and found that one of the specials was a lobster omelet. HUH? This place is known for its biscuits and gravy (breakfast) and hamburger steak (lunch/dinner). I ordered it because at $8.99, I had very little to lose. I honestly figured it was going to be a plain omelet over which someone had waved an empty lobster shell for a few seconds. I was unbelievably surprised when I was served. This was a 2 egg omelet, which before being folded, had two slices of crispy bacon covered liberally with what appeared to be a half cream cheese and half lobster mixture with a mere hint of a lemon juice squeeze, melting and oozing out from the ends when served, and with a couple tasty slices of tomato on top. It was real lobster (or such a good imitation that I couldn't tell the difference, and I've had lobster enough to know its taste and texture) and it was not hard to find at all inside. I am positive that either they received an unordered case of lobster and didn't have to pay for it, or they will soon be out of business for serving $10 worth of lobster in a $9 omelet.

Since it was a special, don't expect to walk in every day and have it announced to you by the waitress. But I will say I've eaten there several times and have never been disappointed. The worst thing which happened since I started eating there occasionally was the permanent loss of the soup and salad bar during Covid. They are famous with many for their Friday fish fry, but since I'm a batter fan rather than a cornmeal dredge fan, I won't crow about it. YMMV.

You'd have to drive a few miles out of your way if you're on the interstate, but if you are going across Northeast Indiana on IN-120 between I-69 to the east and IN-9 to the west, take a chance and stop to see what's on special today. You'll be surprised at the QQ (quality quotient, the ratio of food goodness to cost) you will find there. With coffee and tip, under $15, and that makes it a...

Chubby’s Fish & Steak. The place with an ever decreasing quality of food and service with ever increasing prices. I have eaten at this establishment for many years now and every day, the food gets worse and worse. Chubby’s can barely be called a steak place these days as their steak is terrible. Often I will receive steak that is 60% fat, cold, and over done or underdone. Steak is not the only food that comes out cold, often you will receive your food cold. Many items on the menu are pre made as well. Moving onto breakfast we’ll dive straight into breakfast. Omelettes and skillets, such as the western, used to be flavorful with excellent ratios of the ingredients. Now, they’re increasing bland often with to much cheese and not enough potatoes, or something similar. Pancakes are decreasing in size, food will come out cold or orders will be wrong (something I have noticed is common for breakfast foods. Despite all of these complaints for breakfast, Chubby’s Fish & Steak should still be called Chubby’s Pancakes & Omelets because their lunch and dinner foods are subpar and are outdone by the Draft Horse across the street or Wall Lake Tavern on Wall Lake. While overall service is decreasing, one server in particular is the worst. I will not point fingers but, if you eat here on Saturdays, go to the left side of the restaurant. Otherwise you get a server who doesn’t care. She won’t clear the tables, doesn’t refill drinks while, is slow to serve and take orders, and has a hard time giving you your bill. For all of this terrible quality, you will be billed an expensive price. The only reason I did not give this establishment a one star is their breakfast specials. The breakfast specials remain the only good food at Chubby’s. So, why does this restaurant stay in business? Because where else can you go? The owners know this well, and therefore, don’t care about their problems. This restaurant needs a major turn around to be deserving of its current 4...

Very disappointed. We had been wanting to try this place when we were in the area. The service was terrible. When we came in we weren't sure to seat ourselves or wait to be seated. We asked a waitress nearby and she wasn't very friendly. We were never greeted in anyway by anyone. We waited a while for someone to wait on us and even bring us a menu. Then we waited a while for someone to take our order. The waitress set our meals down and walked away. No one ever came back to out table to see how the meal was. We wanted to order dessert but couldn't since no one came back. A waitress was vacuuming and the rest of the staff were standing around at the main counter in back. When someone finally brought our bill, she just set it down on our table and walked away, not saying a word. We are very kind people and don't complain much. But it sure felt like none of the employees had any motivation to make our meal pleasant. Do these people hate working here? We were very disappointed and have never seen such poor service or such apathy from a restaurant before. If we ever come into the area again we will eat at the other restaurant...