Denny's — Restaurant in San Clemente

This Denny's is perfectly average. The place is pretty clean, not to my standards, but fine. the service is pretty good, not great, but fine. Parking is easy and free in their lot. No one wears a mask, no one cares. I am not surprised, we are in San Diego County.

This Denny's is older than many we have in Los Angeles and if you are from out of the Country, Denny's is really just a diner that has okay food. Some are much better than others. This one is fine. Just be mindful of what you order. Stick with their breakfast and you will be fine.

We were seated very fast and someone came to get our drink order. Our server was very nice and we liked him. We got coffee and a Sprite for my grandson. All was fine.

We ordered our meals. I went with breakfast because that is what they do best. My husband ordered steak with his breakfast, steak and eggs--mistake. My grandson ordered a burger--huge mistake.

My eggs and pancakes were good. They came as ordered and I have no complaints. My husband's T Bone steak was just awful. It was ever so thin and cooked poorly. He ordered it medium rare, it came very well done. My grandson's burger was so burnt it was not eatable. Our nice server brought another one, not as burned, but not good. He did not eat it and we just shared my food. Their fries were terrible.

The coffee was good, but don't expect them to refill and when you ask you will be waiting.

I have never seen a burger so burned. So, order that and yes, they are going to burn it at this San Clemente Denny's. The server told us later that all are well done so no one will get sick. They are right, if you don't eat it, the burger is sure not going to make you sick. They clearly have no trust in their supplier or their methods of handling meat.

But all in all, it was fine. The server...

The server was good, and the food did not take 'too' long considering how busy it was on a Sat morning, but my biggest issue is with the way Eva (the manager) handled our check. We told the person at the register we wanted to pay by credit cards by splitting our check into two. The young lady at the register took the first credit car for the correct amount but then realized she could not get it to take a credit card for the remaining. By this time, the other person had left as they were in a hurry to get back to LA so I was dealing with this myself. The young lady at the register was obviously encountering something she was not used to, so I just asked her to get her manager assuming the manager could correct the issue...that's why they are in the mgr position. But the manager just looked at me and said 'sorry its too late and they could only close the tix by me paying cash'. I told mgr I had no cash and that I was surprised she could not correct it. Ultimately, I offered to pay cash but said I needed to leave to go to the bank to get it; I even offered to leave my credit card as collateral. I don't blame the server (she was not told to split the check) nor the register person (she was young and obviously this was something new she was trying to do), but I can't believe I had to come up with the solution that I offered because the manager could not come up with something better.

My comments to Denny's as a company is train your management to handle exception situations; that should be one of the reasons they are in the management position.

Otherwise, the food and service was good. And if my server reads this...I'm sorry but I realized I may have given you closer to a 13% tip when I meant to give a 20% tip but in the ensuing mess I totally got my...

We had heard about Denny's and had to try them out during our California road trip so happened across this place near a fuel stop. It's on a small retail park next to the freeway interchange although getting to it is a bit awkward depending on which direction you approach it from. We went in, were sat down and immediately felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer range of food items available. After some cut-throat eliminating we chose the Clasic Benny Breakfast and the All American Slam with coffee and orange juice. Overall we were disappointed by the food. It was quite greasy and tasteless. The hash browns occupied most of the plate and didn't inspire. The eggs were OK as was the meat but, sadly, it gave us the impression of mass produced items grouped together according to the order. This would be our one and only visit to Denny's. Our waiter, Flavio B, was very good, he was attentive and patient as we ploughed our way through the huge menu and kept my coffee topped up without prompting. He gave some suggestions which we included in our choices The place was quiet with only about 10 people scattered around a quite large restaurant area although it was just after 8am when we arrived so peak brekky time I would have thought. Overall an experience and one to tick off the list but not a repeater...