Giant Chef — Restaurant in Pleasant Hill

The food was okay, everything on my plate was overcooked, but my waitress delivered great service. One of the things that bothered me is.....I walked away from this place feeling somewhat discriminated against.

Let me explain....this place came recommended by an older couple I had met eating breakfast at another establishment and being a breakfast connissieur I was eager to give it a go. So, as you enter the restaurant much there is a sign posted indicating you have to wait to be seated. The young lady at the register was closing out a tab. As she finished, she glanced up at me and asked is there anyone else in my party and I replied, "no". The woman working the register asked me if I was ready to be seated and I responded, "yes" and she asked if I wanted to sit at the counter and pointed out a spot next to the kitchen area where there was too much foot traffic for my liking. So, I politely declined. She then asked if I wanted to sit in an outside heated patio area which looked relatively unoccupied and isolated. Again, I politely declined. Then I pointed out two one seater tables clearly set for one person. One of the tables was occupied by a single patron and the other was empty., both had just one chair which a clear indication it is for a one person party. I asked to be seated at the single seat location and was told and it is a table for more than one person becsuse it was larger than a normal one person table. Without pulling out a measuring tape and with only one chair it looked like a single party seat to a normal person. It didn't make any sense to me, so I picked out another spot at the counter and settled in. After about 15 minutes into my meal I glanced over my shoulder and saw she had seated a single person party at that table which really irritated me. I lost my appetite and asked for a to-go box and packaged up my meal.

As a person of color who obviously stands out it felt like a concerted effort not to seat me at the open single seat location. Additionally, after seeing who she ended up putting at that location didn't fit the information she gave me when I inquired about the seat. I will not be returning to the Giant Chef under any circumstance and recommend if this is their normal way of doing business the door need to be closed. It should not feel like I stepped back into 60's. If the woman who is doing the seating misunderstood the organizations seating policy then maybe she should not be interacting with the general public. Nonetheless, my experience was not a pleasurable one and definitely individuals of African American decent...

I was actually recommended this place by a few of the locals, and decided to try it out with my family one morning. The outdoor seating was nice and the staff was friendly. Food portions are nice and big so you will not leave hungry. Generally I can only compare this place to other breakfast places I've eaten at in the past. Ordered myself the country fried steak. I'm particular about my counrty/chicken fried steaks. They've varied from place to place from tender and delicious, to chewy and hamburger-like. This one was closer to the chewy hamburger end. I also normally get my eggs poached (like to break the yolk over the steak & hashbrowns.) Which is never really an issue at other places, but they wouldn't make them that way for me here so I had to settle with over easy. The bacon was a bit mixed. On one plate it was cooked perfectly, while another it was too crispy and hard. My wife also got an eggshell in her scrambled eggs. I'm willing to give this place another chance someday but as far as first impressions go it was a little...

When I heard that my fav breakfast place, Heavenly Bistro bought Giant Chef, I had to try it. At Bistro, the food and everything else was outstanding except for the limited parking. This was reversed for this place. We found plenty of parking though it was there was a terrible rainstorm going that morning. All the tables in the main dining area was full so we ended with one of the last tables in the covered patio area. Much to our disappointment, our crab/avocado omlette wasn't on the menu. So I chose the smoked pork chops with hash browns and eggs. The chops were thin and seemed more like 2 slabs of ham. The hash browns lacked the crispy crunch of Bistro and the creamer were packages instead of in a dispenser. It was ok but 2 steps below Heavenly Bistro's dishes. In the patio, the table next to us had a leak on the roof and the floor flooded on the other side of the patio. I asked the chef if the crab/avocado omlette would make the menu here and he said, "No chance." Oh well. At least...