Shakers — Restaurant in South Pasadena

This place was fantastic. Ended up being quite early for our appointment to take our kiddo to Kid's Space Museum so we decided to get breakfast/brunch first.

Found Shaker's via a Google search.

Kiddo ordered eggs (scrambled) & bacon w/side of fruit (vs potatoes) and OJ. Standard fare and nothing to write home about here.

Wife ordered the quiche Lorraine which was sublime. Most places offer a wet/undercooked/slimy frittata as a quiche which is absolutely wrong! Or the opposite -- an overly cooked and dry frittata as a quiche. The quiche was creamy with an amazing pastry crust that was oh so buttery and flaky. Had it been any flakier, it would've needed some Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo!

I ordered the Chicken Fried steak which was served on top of their home made biscuits and smothered in their country gravy. Let me say that I HATE country gravy and when my plate came out, I was more than ready to scrape the country gravy off to the side but when I tried it, I was surprised and delighted at the fact that this place can make country gravy without having it taste like burnt flour! And then the biscuit -- it wasn't the best biscuit that I've ever had but it was definitely in the Top 5. Flaky, airy, yet good density, pillowy softness with that great buttery flavory. Finally, the chicken fried steak -- the meat was tenderized perfectly so it was super tender (and not stringy even though it was a cheap cut of meat which chicken fried steak is) and the coating was nice and crispy (not crunchy but crispy). Oil was clean as the batter didn't feel greasy at all!

If I have to nitpick about anything on this breakfast review, it's the coffee...no, the coffee is NOT bad. It's just that the coffee was not mind-blowing like the food. So it's probably an unfair comparison.

Oh, our server was fantastic and provided excellent service and was on top of refilling/refreshing our coffee without having to be flagged down.

I also liked the fact that you could use your smartphone to scan the QR code on the receipt and just literally 'Pay-n-Go' instead of having to wait at the register to pay.

For those eagle-eyed readers that are still w/me, you probably picked up on the fact that I stated that the above was just the breakfast review...

That's right! After Kid's Space Museum, when the kiddo was tired out and couldn't take the heat anymore, we decided to head home. However, before hitting the freeway to get home, we decided to eat heading back home. Unable to agree on a place for lunch, we agreed to go back to Shaker's.

Kiddo wasn't hungry so opted for an Oreo milkshake. She loved it and wished it came w/more cherries.

My wife ordered the Chicken Pot Pie and I was lucky to get a few bites to try. It was a warm blanket of comforty goodness! The flaky pie crust was so good and there was plenty of chicken, mushrooms, peas and carrots. The only thing that would've made the chicken pot pie tastier would have been if it had been cold and rainy outside!

I opted for the pot roast melt sandwich and if there is such a thing as a perfect hot sandwich, I think I found it! The pot roast was super succulent and soft, the caramelized onions were just sweet perfection (literally - the sweetness was amazing), the jack cheese was gooey and melty which was perfectly complimented by the crunchy and buttery sourdough toast that bookended the whole concoction perfectly! (You notice how many times I used the word 'perfect' here in this paragraph?) The sandwich also comes with fries but I subbed/upgrade the standard fries to sweet potato fries. The sweet complimented the savory perfectly.

Don't skip the...

I stopped by to meet a good friend I hadn't seen in over two decades and I overestimated the amount of traffic I would hit and ended up arriving two hours early.

I decided to sit at the countertop and asked for a cup of coffee. Although I was very interested in grabbing a slice of pie, I held off and enjoyed the fresh cup of brew.

I did let the server and waitress know that I was waiting for someone and that I was quite early and at first we were okay.

Three cups of coffee down (consumed at quite a slow pace to kill time) I received my check though I had not asked for it. I didn't think anything of it but by the time the third cup was done I was not offered a refill for about 20 minutes. Lucky someone, perhaps a manager or shift leader noticed I was out of my beverage and got the waitress to serve me one more cup.

I expected to be charged per cup but the price was actually very reasonable. I paid the check just in we and decided to refrain from any more refills (plus four cups of coffee is a lot - should have probably asked for decaf)

Luckily my friend arrived as I finished my coffee and we were seated at a table.

I ordered the Salmon, rice and veggies along with a slice of zucchini bread which I had never had before elsewhere; it was quite delicious, I recommend it.

We spent about an hour catching up after dinner (about 30mins eating) which means I spent about 3.5 hours at this restaurant and was not rushed out or asked to leave (not that it was done intentionally, of course).

Other than the awkward moment with the coffee, I liked the place so much that my friend and I decided to stop by on s more regular basis. I look forward to trying out some more of the various dishes they have available.

Oh and I'll be back for that slice of pie I ended...

Shakers was very good, had a great atmosphere , and was very accommodating. Last week on Tuesday I took my puppy to a pet bakery in pasadena and started to search for a place to obtain take out food. Found shakers to be highly rated, so decided to get food for take out and treat my mom, also to see what all the hubbub was about. My mom went into shakers, approximately 11ish am to see what she wanted and found out that we could take our puppy to the patio area and eat there. Im not big on patios, usually i feel ignored when i dine in one and this place was pretty busy. But we decided to eat here. I do not remember her name, a petite and pretty waitress with an authoritative tone that demanded respect, lol. Our waitress brought a bowl of water for my puppy, right there, I knew I wanted to give a good tip. My mom and I had the white egg veggie omelette with house potatoes and ice tea. It was so good! The price isn’t bad, about the same price of a combo from a “pretty good” fast food chain. Quotes due to subjectiveness. But this place is worth it. Our server constantly checked up on us, topped us off with ice tea often, also topped off a customer’s ice tea that wasn’t one of hers, so kind. I did not feel ignored, especially with the heavy traffic in the dining room. One thing I noticed, the servers talk to customers as if they are old friends. The atmosphere shows a strong and friendly community within the restaurant, imo anyways. This is something i never seen before, but I did like. I give it full stars, gave ~25% tip for the great service and mom also added more, think she put additional 50%...