The Original Karen's Kitchen — Restaurant in Quartz Hill

The restaurant is a small, cute place located just off the street with parking in the back. If you've never been there, drive slow so you don't miss the driveway that takes you to parking. They have indoor and outdoor shaded seating. Upon entering, the restaurant looked very clean and wasn't very busy. We came on. Sunday around 1230pm. It's labeled as country cooking but the ambiance didn't display anything country about it. Was very plain, but clean.

Our orders didn't take too long. The server was so sweet and brought my grandparents their shared salad on two plates. Normally, it's brought on one plate, and you have to ask for a second plate to share. She heard them discussing they would share their meal, and she was so thoughtful to do this.

I really wanted to give this 5 stars, but I have to be honest in my review. Even 4 stars is generous.

The food was not that great. My grandparents ordered the 2 chicken breast meal, and the breasts were actually breast filets and were so thin and dry. The mashed potatoes were excellent, and it appeared they were actually whole mashed and not instant. However, the brown gravy used over them was way too much and way too salty. There was no flavor to it other than salt. The cornbread had good flavor but was very dry as well. My son ordered the hot turkey sandwich and asked for sourdough bread as his choice. The meal came as an open face sandwich that had so much of the same brown gravy as was on my grandparents' mashed potatoes. Again, it's way too salty and no flavor. It made it difficult to eat and completely saturated his bread. He was able to push some gravy off to the side and used the cranberry sauce that was provided for his meal but he left most of the turkey and mushy bread on his plate as it wasn't palatable. I ordered the waffle breakfast with over medium eggs and sausage links. The eggs were cooked perfectly, and the sausage links were okay, but the waffle wasn't flavorful and was actually hard to cut because it was almost rubbery. It's hard to chew even with the syrup. I'm not sure what kind of batter is being used, but it needs improvement. My recommendation is for the owner and chef to really look at the recipes and even have some volunteers come in to sample products. There's so many people using frozen and packaged items, and it's disappointing. Anyone can buy and serve frozen/packaged food. But at least purchase good quality and flavourful frozen/ packaged food. This restaurant is labeled country cooking, and it has some work to do to be considered real country cooking.

Service was beyond excellent the entire time. We never felt like we couldn't find our server. She was always making rounds and checked on through the meal while also allowing us time to eat and talk without her hovering. Perfect service. However, I unfortunately wouldn't come back until they made some changes with the food...

Driving through, decided to stop here for lunch. Steady flow of customers for a Monday afternoon! I ordered chicken and waffles and oh my goodness! It was SO good. The chicken was juicy and so full of flavor and perfectly crisp! The waffles, HUGE and thick! The serving was enormous. I could only eat 1/3 of it! The prices were beyond reasonable for this servings that they give. In comparison, I got chicken and waffles from a place in Valencia, I paid $20, I got half the amount I did today at Karen's, and it was not nearly as a flavorful and satisfying as what I ordered today. Everything I saw being served was very well portioned. Only complaint I heard was that the over easy eggs were over cooked to medium. Seriously this place was so good. Very clean, very open atmosphere, friendly waitresses, and the overall and beyonds was great. It was nice hearing families gathering together over a meal and laughing and enjoying each other's company. All good things to say about...

The food is good, I asked for crispy hashbrowns and they weren't, and the bacon was not completely cooked like I prefer. I like my bacon fully cooked, but not burnt. The eggs were perfect, the biscuits and gravy was great, the first thing I ate. Coffee was drinkable, black, definitely not that burned-sitting on the burner too long stuff. I was there in the early morning and it was quiet and only a few customers. The CON: There is only one bathroom, for everyone to use. So if they have half the place filled you are going to need to wait for a turn to use it. With being able to seat 50-60ish people, along with the outside seating, you could be waiting a long time! I say, still go and enjoy, just know...