Uptown Cafe — Restaurant in Warrenton

I was looking for a place that was open and offered good food along with soup. I decided that Uptown Cafe was my best choice and stopped in as a single diner yesterday around 7 PM. I appreciated that they are open until 9 PM as most places around here close at 8 PM and I don't like going to eat at a location that I know is closing up soon. There were a few tables occupied and one server. I looked at their specials which included a creamy mushroom soup! After a short time he came over to seat me and was very affable.

I was seated at a nice window seat and decided upon the mushroom soup and their special pot roast. The server came back over to my table and took my order. He apologized for the wait, which in this post-covid era, wasn't much of a wait at all.

My soup came out right away, and it was delicious. I was able to enjoy it while waiting for my food. The main course arrived and it was a huge portion size. I ate half of it and had to take the other half home. The pot roast was cooked perfectly, melting off my fork. The entire meal was very reasonably priced and exceeded my expectations. I had not visited here before because the outside and the location gave me the impression it was an average tourist stop along the way to the coast but I could not have been more wrong about that.

I will definitely...

I ordered the ribeye steak with a salad and fries. They initially brought out the wrong streak dinner completely. When I got the right one, it was a welter weight champion. It was the thinnest, toughest steak I've had in a restaurant. Every bite fought me and got bigger the more I chewed it - this steak was Scrappy! The medium rare was more like medium, and it wasn't hot. The fries were meh, but the salad was great tasting.

My wife ordered a grilled chicken breast burger with cheese and bacon only, on a bun. They brought it out on grilled bread with tomatoes on it, which she despises. She saw right away that it was wrong, so she told the server if we could have a do over. They brought it back, again with grilled bread which they said was easy to replace, but there was clearly still tomato seeds and juice on the bread, and it still wasn't a bun, so they clearly just took the tomato off and put the same bread back on it.

I don't remember ever leaving a half a $28 steak and half of my fries on my plate. Way over priced for what it is. I overheard others getting the wrong food too while we were there. I guess the service and the kitchen most have been having a rough night. Still, that thin ribeye was way overpriced and...

Our visit to this restaurant left a lot to be desired. Upon entry, the first thing you'll notice is that the majority of people here are older and elderly. We were seated and given menus like any other restaurant. My fiance ordered the sausage biscuits with gravy, and we each got Italian sodas.

The food didn't taste fresh, it tasted like it had been frozen. And the gravy tasted cheap, like it was canned. The chef who made our drinks didn't know what cream soda was, and served us our drinks overfilled and unstirred. When served, he made it a point to apologise for not stirring the sodas, told us to do it ourselves, and gave caution to the soda being easy to spill if stirred -- in which it did.

When paying and leaving, the staff asked us about our meal. We just wanted to pay and leave, but we were honest and we said it was mid. The staff became confrontational with us, including the waitress who complained about "Well, now I'm not going to be tipped". I guess she must've forgot that tips are for good service.

If you're looking for a TV dinner meal at a restaurant experience with staff that blindly expect tips from you, then come here. But otherwise, you're gonna have to look elsewhere for a...