169 Café — Restaurant in Smithville

Visited this place with a group after church. It is located in a refurbished strip mall near Smithville Hospital. It features farm-style primitive decor, with lots of lovingly-crafted quilted pot holders hung on the wall, available for sale. Menu is comfort food with chicken fried lotsa stuff and traditional veggie sides. My vegetable omelet came with hash browns & toast. Veggies in the omelet were a stingy selection of chopped onions, peppers and canned mushroom bits, that seemed to have been frozen & steamed. I could not tell if the eggs had ever seen a shell. Rubbery & tasteless. The toast was pre-spread with something that did not taste like butter & left the bread limp & soggy. Hash browns were good. The high spot was the waitress who was pleasant and patient as we made our selections. We did not receive individual checks, but all items for the table were listed and we told the cashier which ones were ours so we could pay. Very cumbersome system and would have been unwelcome if it were busy. Bottom line... disappointing food, and not a bargain by any means. Been here twice .....

This is one of the few breakfast places in the area. It was closer to lunchtime. I ordered the Philly cheese steak because I was hungry and wanted to be full. I told the waitress that I couldn't wait to try the pie after I ate. The Philly was by FAR the smallest, worst Philly cheese steak I've ever had. Just call it a small beef sandwich. That was 100% not a Philly in any stretch of the imagination.

After the food was delivered, all of the servers disappeared for about 20 mins. Did everyone go on a smoke break at the same time? I'm not sure what happened. I planned on getting a piece of pie since they looked great at the front counter but the waitress returned from her hiatus with the check and walked away. I guess we weren't allowed to buy any pie.

I walked out hungry. Why did I give it 2 stars instead of 1? The pies looked so good that I gave them an extra star (maybe because I'm full as I write this review). Would I go...

I've been meaning to eat here for ages and boy have I been missing out. The Reuben was one the best Reubens I have ever eaten. The marble rye bread was very fresh and nicely grilled. The corned beef was obviously cooked to perfection in house. It was shredded and moist without being fatty. It was the center piece of this delicious sandwich. The sauerkraut and thousand island dressing were portioned perfectly so the sandwich wasn't a gloppy mess. Every bite was Reuben nirvana and I'm very picky about my Reubens.

The cinnamon apple bread pudding was wonderful. The side salad was a beautiful mix of fresh greens. My husband raved about the chicken fried chicken and the tasty mashed potatoes and gravy.

The fried mushrooms were meh but over all for the first try this place is wonderful. I wish them well and will be back soon to try their chicken...