Mimi's Cafe — Restaurant in Torrance

My son and I went for an early dinner that night. The place was pretty much empty and service was prompt. My son wanted cinnamon french toast, I wanted to try chicken pot pie.

My son received his french toast and was disappointed; what he received looked like Texas toast, not cinnamon rolls. He is not a complainer so he ate it, looking at your menu later I realized that he probably received the brioche french toast instead. The item was described as french toast grande on the receipt.

I had the chicken pot pie; and here I am tempted to go off on one of those snide reviews, the type you may encounter on Amazon. The description on Mimi’s menu is as follows; “CHICKEN POT PIE  Freshly baked with roasted chicken, peas, carrots, onions and potatoes folded into a creamy herb sauce. Topped with a flaky crust.” There is a little fork icon behind this description; I did bother to look up what that meant. A returning favorite. Sounded good.

When she put the plate on the table, I felt my jaw drop. What on earth was that? I did not recognize it. I may have asked her “is this chicken pot pie?” but I am not sure if I did, since I was just baffled to see the concoction put in front of me. I may have been speechless, I had never, I swear, never seen anything like it. I recall looking around me to see if people were eyeing me, if there was a hidden camera, because the joke sure was on me.

Once more the description: “Freshly baked with roasted chicken, peas, carrots, onions and potatoes folded into a creamy herb sauce. Topped with a flaky crust. “What I received: a deep plate filled with a somewhat runny filling, and something that looked like a perfectly round pancake floating on top.

Now I have eaten chicken pot pie before. I have made it. You layer a dish with pastry, fill it with your filling , and cover it with more pastry. Some egg wash, bake it off. That is chicken pot pie. I should not have to give you examples of who all makes good ones but Carrow’s comes to mind. Marie Calendar’s , not so much.

This thing I received was not like that. It was a heated filling,with lots of rubbery chicken, not baked, thrown in a plate and then, as an afterthought, topped with a floating, patty- like crust, and it was painfully obvious that this perfectly circular crust came from a box. This may have been the baked element. If that is what the “freshly baked” pertained to, you should have put that in front of the word “crust”.

I ate it. It was not bad. I had to be careful to take measured bites of the crust, so I would have some semblance of balance between filling and pastry. You could not just dive in with wild abandonment, like with a normal chicken pot pie. It took some math and I missed the expected bottom layer; I am used to twice as much crust. While cutting the crust, I worried that I would have problems with the whole tough, floaty thing coming up, or getting squashed in the plate and the plate overflowing; none of this happened. Plus, there was that hidden camera feeling..

I should not have to worry about these things. Chicken pot pie is comfort. It is safe, gooey chicken goodness .

Seriously, this menu item is an embarrassment. It does not even remotely resemble home cooking, it screams “commissary filling from a bag” and “box pastry”. This is not what I expect from this restaurant. I know that in reality is not all food in restaurants is home cooked but this presentation is, well frankly, pathetic. You are supposed to feel warm and fuzzy after eating chicken pot pie. I felt cold and unloved. In spite of the mistake she made with the French toast, I liked my waitress. The crème brulee was excellent. So it was not a complete loss.

I am looking at the reviews and realize I am not the only one... RIchard Jimenez, another local guide described the exact same baffled reaction when he first saw the the chicken pot pie! So no, it is not me.

I notified Mimi's that I had reviewed them; no reaction....getting a lot of...

I purchased turkey🇹🇷 sausage & egg with one pancake, fish🐟 & chips, jambalaya, tomato🍅 Basil cup, mushroom🍄 Brie Burger I did not like the jambalaya🍤 at all it was Bland with no taste it tasted like someone microwaved frozen food & they were not able to evaporate the ice🧊 to keep the flavor there was no effort put in to making what they brought out to me on this visit I also ordered the mushroom Brie Burger🍔 that was also created like my grandmother👵 famous sausage and egg🥚 breakfast sandwich🥪 that she would make for me after sending me off to school in the morning but Grandma's was a whole lot more flavorful The sausage & egg🥚 with 1 pancake🥞 was like a children's plate but was for a full grown-up The fish🐟 & chip🍟 was the only dish that was prepared correctly and was somewhat presented correct to our table

I also ordered 2 cups latte vanilla 50/50 hazelnut the coffee☕️ was great the best coffee☕️ beans 🫘 also yesterday I stopped in before my visit to dine in buttermilk spice muffin was great as well that is one of their major features from what I hear buttermilk spice muffin I will be getting that for sure

The restroom🚻 was sort of kind of clean but still needed to be clean it was too early in the morning🌄/afternoon with no customers for their restrooms 🚻 not to be an great or good condition or if not at least clean where the toilets weren't clean the mirrors🪞weren't wiped off

The presentation was not to my expectations for the price of these plates at this place there was also cleaning materials sitting in front of us as you can see in one of my pictures there should be no cleaning supplies sitting on the tables as you eat they should be behind the counter somewhere where customers cannot see

Shiftlead Millie came in to saved the day as you can see on my receipt Millie took off the meals I did not eat & where not happy😅 with for me letting them know ahead of time⏲️ of how I felt about the items I purchased the price I explained to Millie when it comes to price in the food industry the major thing is presentation presentation means everything should not charge somebody for food but add more on as it's a five-star restaurant but you're really preparing food with no consideration of the person that you are creating this meal for this is a restaurant this is not a fast food establishment all I can ask is a staff to upgrade do better I will be back to this astablishment also try...

I have been coming to this location since 1997.

This location has been consistent with their food quality over the past 20 years, from my experience.

Unfortunately,many things have changed in the past few years.

My recent visit was very disappointing. I invited two friends to meet me here for breakfast. I felt bad because no one was satisfied with their food.

Over the years and as of right today, It is still printed on the menu ... "Apple wood bacon". Not anymore Apple wood bacon is thick and tasty. The bacon that was served was skimpy and cheap.

The only thing that was exactly the same was the Blueberry Muffin 🧁 Delicious.

When we arrived,there was no one in the front waiting area. We waited patiently for someone to come up front to seat us, But we ended up seating ourselves.

The bus boy came and offered us beverages and completed his task.

The waitress approached our table, who seemed to be a bit overwhelmed. Even though it wasn't busy at all.

There were about 10 customers total inside the restaurant at this time. She was multitasking by taking table orders inside, the patio area and to go/catering orders.

Overall things we totally different than my past experiences here at...