Cully's Restaurant — Restaurant in Poway

I was here once before pre-covid, but had forgotten my experience. After searching for a diner near me today, I read a few of the reviews here and with the 4.5 star rating decided to eat here again at 10am on a Saturday.

Short review: a small old time diner in an old time strip mall with average to slightly below average food, far below average decor and slightly below average service. Average being what you would experience at Denny's.

Long review: I prefer one-of-a-kind diners and greasy spoon style restaurants. For these places to be a good experience for me, they need to have really good food and/or below average prices. This place is neither of those, hence my two star rating.

The servers like to hang out at the back table and upon entering told me (and others who entered while I was there) from the back to seat ourselves anywhere.

I ordered biscuits and gravy with two eggs and hashbrowns along with coffee. My son ordered a cheeseburger from the kids menu with apple juice. The single biscuit I was served is strange. It is more like a square piece of bread cut out of a pan that was obviously not fresh and was not hot. Over this was an out of the can tasting cold to lukewarm gravy. The scrambled eggs were hot and cooked properly, as were the hashbrowns.

The burger and fries off the kids menu was very generous in size and cooked right. No complaints there.

The decor is basically non existent and leaves a lot to be desired. There are a few scattered unrelated items mounted on the mostly barren walls.

The place is painted shades of tan and brown, with fluorescent ceiling lights and stained ceiling tiles. The entry area and kitchen area's pony walls are constructed poorly with cheap rough lumber that is painted and not finished in any way. For example there are 1x2 strips of lumber where they did not even fill in the nail holes.

The furniture is 40 years old and in dire need of being refinished.

The ownership/management has chosen to insert their personal political beliefs in the entry area where one pays. There was a campaign sign leaning up against the pony wall and several references to another politician on the wall behind the register. This did not bother me, but could trigger others in a positive or negative manner. However, I do think this is not the proper place to express political views and opinions.

There is an older gentleman with a cane that appears to be the owner, but he did not really do much while I was there.

This prices are on par with Denny's so don't look for a bargain here. Coffee was $3 and apple juice was $3.50.

Service overall was average to just below average as well.

My overall experience was below average for the above reasons. Unless you need to eat here for convenience or nostalgia, I would recommend...

This place was alright. Made an order for breakfast. We got a burger with onion rings, and an Italian omelet. The burger was a 7/10 but those onion rings were actually perfect. Honestly if I would have just ordered onion ring, I would have given a 5/5. They were crispy and crunchy and not too much breading, and you could still taste the onion in there. 10/10 for the rings.. but there was more. The other thing we ordered was the omelet with potatoes. Nothing wrong with the potatoes, they were seasoned and cooked well solid 8/10. On the other hand, that omelet was not nice at all... sausage was dry and under seasoned, the cheese underneath was gritty and flavorless, the tomato sauce on top of the egg was weird, and the American cheese to top it of was just so out of place. Not done yet though... the egg. So the egg seemed fine at first. My fist bite was small, tasted like an egg I would cook at home, fine fine. My second bite was a little bigger, was thinking to myself 'this could use some salt and pepper' then I took another bite. Crunch I bit into an egg shell... I am only a 28 year old man, not the oldest or most wise, but I have never bit into an egg at a restaurant in my life. Sure the place had people in it, but it was not the most busy restaurant in the world, or California, or even in poway. I bit down on a large piece of egg shell. Instantaneously, my mouth was filled with grit. It was almost as if I laid down face first at the beach, yelled "Somebody stop me!!" As I proceed to try and suck as much sand as I could. The feeling was awful! If you have ever bit into eggshells, you know it's hard to get it all out of your mouth. I tried and tried. But for the life of me, I just couldn't seem to get it out. I washed my mouth with water, but when I came back to try and finish my potatoes... CRUNCH CRUNCH I think I will reframe from ordering anything egg related from any restaurant any time soon because of this. Big disappointment. The toast was pretty good though. 👍

I would give it a 2.6/5. So leaning towards 3/5, that's...

Update: Okay it's been a long time since I've been here. Mark, the former owner has passed away and the place is under new management. Spoke with the new owner and he's jovial and helpful too. They've remodoled the place and it looks great. They've got new flooring, walls, decor, and a few TV's. The food is still good and the service is fast and friendly. They have an all you can eat Mexican buffet bar now...$25 Looked good. I got the biscuit and gravy with O'Brien potatoes, scrambled eggs, and sausage $13. It was good and filling! Waitress was exceptionally nice and patient. The only improvement is that they only serve 1/2 cups of coffee (not a full mug)..including the refills. All in all, the new place is clean, has a good atmosphere, and it's still a great place for family. Will come back again

This is a local gem. Food is good and there's always plenty of it. Lines grow fast here. Service is friendly and prices are better than ANYONE in town. The owner is the best, so pop in here soon, he'll treat...