Campfire Grill — Restaurant in Town of Cheektowaga

I've been wanting to try this place for awhile. Unfortunately they don't serve dinner, so I had to wait for the right timing. My son organized a breakfast get together for his car club so it was the perfect time to give it a try.

He made a reservation for 6 then at the last minute we had more people come so he had to bump it to 10. They seemed to have lost the original reservation so that was a negative, but they were able to get us in with the extra's so that was a big plus. We had to wait a bit but they had picnic tables outside so we all gathered around and we had our get together.

I forgot my glasses so I couldn't read much of the menu. I asked other people what they were having and figured it out. They are known for making their own smoked ham and bacon. Yay! Oh, and their own fruit toppings for the pancakes/French toast. Yum!

I ended up with the hash and eggs. Good choice, it was delicious. Someone else had the garbage plate and it was huge. Good for 3 meals at least. My son had French toast, the person to my left had sloppy eggs, and I saw pancakes and also omelettes.

Ever guy one was very happy with their food. The service was great as well. Beyond our server every other server would just walk up and ask if everything was ok, or how did everything taste. They all took care of us which I really liked.

We all had an excellent time and now I will bring the rest or my family here. Good food and great service are getting hard to find. This place nailed it so we'll be back for sure.

Update 2/1/20:

So I did go back with my wife for breakfast. It was 180° opposite from the first time. The food was horrible for both of us. The service was still wonderful and I hope it was just a new cook although I doubt it. Everything was bad.

When we got there there was an hour wait so we were offered to sit at the counter, so we did. We could obviously see and hear into the kitchen and it was telling. But first, the food.

My wife had a vegetable omelet. Some of the vegetables were done well, but the brocolli was especially raw. Something she can't eat that way. The potatoes were barely cooked which she was ok with, but to me they were about 15 seconds from raw. When ordering they gave us the option of onions in our potatoes which we both eagerly said yes to. We didn't know those too would be raw.

Before I describe my meal I'll interject with the kitchen here. My wife noticed the potato cook wasn't really a cook. He just stood there waiting for plates and then scooped potatoes from some sort of container on to the plates. Hmm. But while watching we noticed him describing what he did to the other cook who was at the window. Hence why we thought maybe new staff? Let's hope. But we also noticed something we were not happy with at all. We saw a lot of beards with no covering and several staff with no hair covering at all. Then we saw that no one were wearing any gloves. Not happy with that whatsoever.

I will say the staff on our side of the kitchen partition were awesome. Very experienced and working their butts off. Maybe too much so. They were so busy they were practically running to deliver orders and take care of customers. One more person would have done a lot to help the crush.

But back to my meal. I ordered the country fried steak. It was on a huge plate and portion size was equally big. But it suffered from rushed preparation. The eggs were supposed to be over medium and they were barely over at all and stone cold. The potatoes I covered already. The bread was dry and cold and for sour dough, pretty unimpressive for a place which claims so much home made faire. The steak was, well inedible. I will give this to them, it was real meat. A cube steak to be exact. The problem with that is that there is a line between cooked and over cooked for cube steak. I couldn't get my teeth through it. I mentioned it to our server and she was very apologetic. The re-fire was charred and the gravy was white sauce with some bits of sausage thrown in at the last...

4/5 isn't really fair, I think they get like a 92% for 2024. Awesome spot to order breakfast on a lazy Sunday. We've ordered here quite a few times since around 2019 or so. During covid, the business was ran into the ground due to strict gov't regulations and I respect the owner for fighting back against this. Campfire's pricing has gone up over the years quite a bit since this whole ordeal and due to that, we don't order as often anymore. We almost always order take out because sometimes one of us will get sick or we're trying to take care of house stuff. The food quality was consistently insanely great like 10/10 status up until this year and now I'd say sometimes it feels a bit more rushed than what we've had over the years but it's still great. I am a sucker for biscuits and gravy and highly recommend giving it a shot if that's your jam. They have incredibly good home fries that have amazing flavor. Their home fries are extremely addictive. Their sausage patties are my preference compared to links and have a bit of a spicy punch to them which I enjoy and they always cook eggs exactly how you order which I respect. Most of the time if you order bacon, you get medium which is how I like it. My girlfriend enjoys their french toast (I think that's what she usually gets) and country fried steak. She said they gave her a massive portion of steak last time and was pleasantly surprised. We've ordered take out plenty of times and I'd say there's about a 5% shot that our order's missing something from our experience. Not a huge deal, but because their take out is bagged up and tied, they don't really check to make sure everything is there at the register. They've never given us a problem when something was missing and you just let them know before taking off from the parking lot if that's the case. I've rushed home twice before checking and learned to check in the parking lot or sunroom before leaving. That said, they're always pleasant when picking up and don't make you feel bad for not seating in which I appreciate. Sorry we get busy! We've eaten inside here quite a few times as well and I really enjoy the staff and atmosphere. The theme is family oriented and old school which is really a great throwback that I appreciate bringing me massive amounts of nostalgia as someone who was born in the 1980s. The seating is nothing fancy but everything about this place is comforting and traditional feeling. We've never had one single bad experience with staff here and think every worker we've ever interacted with has had a positive and welcoming attitude which is a needle in a haystack and worth the few price hikes we've endured...

This was my second visit after a few years and unfortunately it did not live up to the experience I remembered. I want to begin by acknowledging the male servers working on July 17. They were genuinely kind, professional, and attentive even though we were not seated at their tables. Their positive attitude was greatly appreciated.

However, the rest of the service was disappointing. We were greeted by a female staff member who seemed uninterested and unwelcoming. It honestly felt like we were an inconvenience just by walking in. Both she and our main server, a younger woman, responded mostly with short answers such as sure and uh huh, showing little engagement or warmth. The younger server did become somewhat more approachable later on but the overall atmosphere remained flat and uncomfortable.

The same woman who greeted us also handled our checkout and asked how everything was. My mother-in-law, who was quite disappointed, simply replied that it was okay. She was clearly unhappy. If the staff member had been truly interested in feedback she could have asked additional questions but she didn’t. I hope management reads these reviews and takes steps to improve customer satisfaction. Poor service not only damages the restaurant’s reputation but also limits servers’ ability to earn better tips.

Regarding the food there were some positives but overall it fell short. My husband’s steak was tough and my eggs Benedict did not resemble the traditional dish. It was essentially fried eggs topped with sauce. The fresh fruit on the side appeared old and unappealing which was disappointing. My mother-in-law’s scrambled eggs were more like an omelet than scrambled. The potatoes were the best part of the meal well seasoned and clearly prepared with care.

In conclusion the combination of inconsistent service and underwhelming food makes it difficult to recommend this restaurant. There are many better options for breakfast downtown and we will not...