Crystal Cafe — Restaurant in South Sioux City

I eat here a few times a week. Service is mediocre as is the food and the prices are slightly high compared to other restraunts. Water glasses look like they are from the 80s and are beat up and chipped up. Not very appealing. I always leave 5 bucks for a tip in cash. Last night I walked in at 7pm. I sat at a small booth that had dirty dishes and a tip left as there were no clean tables or booths to sit in. It looked like they had been busy but a lot of people had left. There was a fairly good sized group there. The waitress walked up and grabbed the dirty cup and plate and tip and I apologized for sitting at a dirty table and she said no its not your fault. I never engaged in conversation with her again because she never stopped to help me or wash the table off. I watched her clear off other tables for people walking in and bring them clean dishes and pour them coffee for 20 minutes and left. I will never give this establishment another dime. 15 minutes later I was at the Mexican restaurant .5 miles down the street eating hot fajitas. Oh and the free internet at Crystal Oil stopped working a...

Our hostess was pleasant and took good care of our party of six. However, we experienced two glaring disappointments:

1. Two of us had to change their preferred entrees because the previous night's staff didn't slice the beef, so roast beef sandwiches weren't available for anyone during the entire next day. The waitress understood the gravity of the situation and joked that she wouldn't be surprised if we chose to dine elsewhere.*

2. I ordered the "Chicken Fried Steak" because it sounded like an intriguing alternative to Country Fried Steak; however, as tasty as it was I realized the meat texture was more dense than poultry usually is. When I asked our hostess about it, she explained it's "FRIED like chicken but yes: it's beef." Since we were having REAL steaks elsewhere that evening, this added further insult to our dining njury experience.

*Note to the manager or menu writer: Please consider an update to the entree description as "Chicken-fried steak" or "Chicken FRIED (beef) steak". We have chosen to dine elsewhere for a little less 'excitement' and...

The food is very good and service is too! I recommend coming here. The slices of pie are huge, and very good too!! I stopped by again for another meal and was very pleased with my chili and cheeseburger. The burger special came with a slice of pie. I chose the peach pie and asked the waitress to heat it up but she forgot. It was a delicious pie but would've been great if it was hot! Over all I still say the food is great and the service was very good!!! I'll be back again. Update October 2021 My wife and I stopped for breakfast, and everything was great! Our server was awesome, and our breakfast was too! The prices are higher than the last visit here, but it's the same way everywhere. We were served huge portions, and everything was hot and fresh! I still give 5 stars, and recommend stopping here for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Update February 2022 Stopped by for dinner, and it seems the kitchen is overwhelmed, and can't keep up with the food orders. Our server is very nice and polite, and has apologized for the wait, and offered a...