CJ's Diner — Restaurant in Palm Desert

My boyfriend and I arrived at 10:20am on a Sunday morning. The place was about half full, with the only available booth being for a large party. Due to physical conditions, we need a booth and requested one. We were told the large booth was the only one. I offered to wait for a smaller booth to allow for a larger party that might come in. The hostess sighed loudly and just said "whatever, you can just sit there." So we did. Not 3 minutes later, a smaller booth right next to use opened up and two men, obviously friends of the waitress, came and sat there. They got their drinks and ordered before we were even addressed. The bus boy finally came and asked for our drinks. I was excited to see a Monte Cristo on the menu and ordered it, but it's made with Swiss cheese, which I don't eat, so I reviewed the menu and saw that under lunch they had the options of several cheeses, pepper jack being one. So I ordered my Monte Cristo with pepper jack instead. The waitress indicated that the sandwiches are pre-made and that they don't even carry pepper jack. What? Pre-made sandwiches?? Okay... My boyfriend tried to order a half sandwich and soup after confirming that lunch options were available. Then he was told they don't have any soup until after 11am. Sigh. Our drinks finally arrived and my diet coke was flat. At this point the two men in the booth next to us had already received their food and were chit chatting with not one, but two waitresses. I finally ended up ording a Country Benedict and my boyfriend ordered a tuna melt. The men next to us ate all their food, paid, and left before our food even arrived. Glad someone gets good service here - apparently not all customers are valued the same here. My country potatoes taste burnt and super salty. The country Benedict was just so bland. It didn't taste like anything at all. I tried to add some Cholula to give it taste, but our bottle was empty and the waitress never came back so we could ask for more. The tuna was an acceptable tuna, nothing impressive. But for the prices we paid...I expected more. I should've taken the 20 minutes drive and gone to Elmer's. I am (as I'm sitting here, in the restaurant, writing this review instead of eating because I felt so strongly) seriously disappointed and have no idea how this place has the reviews it has. I didn't end up eating hardly any of my food, and considering it's an $11 meal...yikes. When we left, we mentioned our terrible experience to the waitress who said that it was our fault because "you guys took a long time to order." -- Yes, we did, because you didn't have what we originally wanted despite it being on the...

Let's start by saying I'm not picky, in general. CJ's diner managed to disappoint me. A lot. During my first visit. Nearly everything was bad, from distracted wait staff, to poorly made food, to the first two things I attempted to order were unavailable.

On the plus side: the bus boy was good at getting me refills on my drinks, as the waitress was not present.

The food is generic. But that's not the problem. The country potatoes were slightly burnt, and wet with grease. The entire sausage Benedict was almost flavourless, I was shocked at just how.bland it was.

The service is glacial, unless you seem to be friends with someone. I sat down. Waited, another pair sat behind me and we're immediately served by the waitress and another staff member as they were friends, these guys got drinks, ate and left and their table was clear before I had received any food. They were almost done eating when I got drinks. Seriously... It took over an hour here and cost $30 to be severely dissapointed.

Please note, this place was not busy or loud when we got here. Only the booths were full... It wasn't a holiday or a special occasion.. just a Sunday at a diner.

The tuna melt was good. Everything else was not. This place says it's the best kept secret in the desert, the poor quality was definitely a suprise.

I will not be back. Elmer's is worth the drive. And you'll probably be done faster too, if my experience is any way normal.

And to cap it off, when I made a complaint about the time and food being terrible, I was told by the waitress that I took a while to order... Maybe because of slow service? And apparently this restaurant doesn't have pepper jack cheese or soup before 11am. I tipped the bus boy, he was nice and attentive enough to keep my iced tea full... YES,...

The food was really good. We went there for breakfast. Apparently they charge a $1 surcharge per egg (and avacados) even though the menu clearly states the price of breakfast and it mentions two eggs come with. This isn't notated on the menu and service staff don't tell you, it's on a small sign in small text on the door that you can't see as you walk in as the door is open, and the sign is on the outside of the door.

We asked about it as we still couldn't see the sign where we were seated outside. My review and complaint of this place has nothing to do in regards to increasing prices on eggs. It's the principle of the matter that it's not up front.

We asked our server, who was fantastic by the way, about the surcharge. She insisted we speak with the owner. This made things real awkward as he came out the door to talk with us with an extremely crast tone. "Do you how expensive it is to get goods and services?" Yeah... no shit. Be a man and not a coward. Put that price you menu. We really enjoyed the food and the staff were amazing and accommodating. We planned on bringing some of folks back to restaurant who we are meeting with during the California Chamber of Commerce meeting at the JW Marriott. However, based on the owner's rudeness and deceptive business practices we will not be returning to your establishment. Atmosphere was amazing outside, but this man's attitude...