Dierk's Parkside Cafe — Restaurant in Santa Rosa

I really wanted to like this place. My husband and I are traveling for the next few days. We picked this restaurant because of the great reviews. I was happy to see when we got there that it was indeed popular with the locals. We grabbed some menus and found a table. Coffee was served quickly but that was the only time anything happened quickly. If you have lots of time to sit and visit and enjoy the atmosphere this is probably a great place to go. We were however a little pressed for time but figured 45 minutes should be plenty of time, wrong. The waitress took a while to get to taking our order and we realized we might be in trouble when she still had 3 tables ahead of us that she hasn't gotten to. I understand when everyone comes in and there is a rush but I don't understand being ignored.

After our order was taken I leisurely enjoyed my coffee and was looking for more to no avail. It was very hard to catch anyone's eye and my cup was empty. I don't think I've ever seen the bottom of my coffee cup at a restaurant! As my husband and I watched the minutes go by we worried more and more about timing. I tried to catch the waitresses attention to ask about our food and let her know we were concerned, nothing. She walked around the room multiple times and short of yelling I could not get her to look at us. By the time I did we had to be leaving. Because we still needed some food we had it packed up to go, paid our bill and left.

The unfortunate part really is that I would have been satisfied and understanding about it all if the staff had been attentive to us. Very...

We came here for breakfast on a weekday and they were moderately busy, mostly all locals who clearly eat there regularly. I say that because when people walked in, the server immediately brought coffee to their table and made conversation that indicated they were regulars… this is telling about a place, if the locals eat there on a regular basis, there’s probably something good about the place.

In this case, they offered so many great/appetizing items on the menu that it was tough to choose what to eat. I asked the server which was best from a few items that looked appeitizng to me and she told me to go with the chicken biscuit… this was a great piece of advise, as that was a very tasty breakfast entrée! The hash browns that came with it were incredible too! The gravy on top of the biscuit was excellent… batter on the chicken was perfect too!

My wife got the veggie bowl and she absolutely loved it. It definitely looked really good and was loaded with a nice assortment of veggies!

Overall – Great breakfast was had here… Stop in and try it...

It's not often I give a place 5 stars, but Dierk's Parkside is such a great spot for breakfast/brunch that I'd feel guilty giving it anything less. Grab a seat at the counter to watch the kitchen staff work (and chat with the owner). Try a warm, freshly made pull-a-part (a cinnamon- and sugar-dusted bit of donut-like goodness). Their corned beef hash is amazing and, though I haven't tried them, the benedicts come highly recommended by friends. I'm not normally a stuffed omelette person, but the ingredient options are so good that I can't resist. I usually skip the potatoes in favor of some fresh seasonal sauteed veggies and a side of bacon. You'll pay a little more than at your typical breakfast restaurant, but you get what you pay for and it's worth every penny. We prefer this location over Dierk's Midtown (which I'd give 3.5-4 stars). The only advantage that the Midtown location has is that breakfast is served until closing whereas Dierk's Parkside stops serving breakfast at noon...