Jay Berry's Cafe — Restaurant in Renton

Our new favorite breakfast spot!

We had one favorite breakfast place in Renton for years, until we tried Jay Berry's. It's our favorite now! Are there for the first time last week. It's located on the corner of an intersection between Renton and Issaquah.

We drove past a line of cars parked on the side of the road. We took a chance on their decently-sized parking lot and a few spots were availabe. They have a few spots by the front door for pickup orders and it was like a revolving door with cars picking up and leaving. Just this consistent busy rush.

We got there around 11am and it was packed. I didn't see a ton of people waiting outside, even though the parking lot was very full. We took a chance to go inside and get on the wait list.

The hallway to get to the host stand is narrow. Even though the restaurant looks small from the outside, they've taken advantage of every table spot inside. It was pretty full. They seat people in the bar area on the left when you first walk in. It's smart because it keeps wait times low. People don't seem to care where they sit because that just means you eat sooner! Past the host stand is the main dining room area, with an open kitchen on the right. The place was filled with people. The decor is charming. It feels like you're going to grandma's house. I liked all of the funny hanging quotes on the wall.

I have past experience as a host and server years ago, so I like to try to time when we'll be sat when we go out to eat. I saw a few tables finishing their meals and figured turnover wouldn't be too long. There was only 2 or 3 names on the host list ahead of us, but we were quoted 20 minutes. The quoted time was too high. I knew it wouldn't be that long. We were sat below 10 minutes. We were given a buzzer and waited in the car until we were buzzed back in. Don't bother waiting inside. It's too narrow and blocks the flow of people coming in and leaving.

We were sat at a 2-person table toward the back of the restaurant. The service was quick and our server was attentive and sweet.

The only downside is the condiments take up so much room on the smaller tables you feel squished when your drinks and food arrives. A different, more compact setup would be better for the 2-tops.

Our food arrived fast!

My husband ordered country fried steak and I ordered waffles. They have mini sizes if you're not super hungry. It's just half the regular size order. A regular size waffle plate is two small square size waffles. So, a mini is just one waffle (with eggs, hashbrowns & choice of meat). I had a bite of my hubby's food and now all I want is the country fried steak! Soooo good! The country gravy tastes like it has sausage in it. It was so yummy. And I love that the portions are healthy-sized and not super-sized. I felt perfectly full.

We finished our meals and got our bill right away. We paid, I thanked our server for great service, and we left.

Overall, such a nice little breakfast spot and our new favorite breakfast place. We...

Incredibly Rude Owner (reading other 1-star reviews, you can see this is a pattern)

We took our visiting relatives here for breakfast. It was a busy morning and we were a larger group, so we understandably had a long wait. After 45 min we told the young hostess we would be willing to split into two separate tables if it would make the wait shorter. As she was taking us to our separate 4-person tables (on opposite ends of the restaurant), a 4-person table right next to the rest of our party became vacant. I asked the hostess if we could just wait for that 4-person table to be cleared and thus sit close to the rest of our party, and allow the other 4-person table intended for us to go to the next people in line waiting for a table. She said that wasn't possible because they "already had a seating plan in their heads and a wait-list." I pointed out that it would just be swapping one 4-person table for another in a different location. She insisted this wasn't possible, so the rest of our party continued to the other side of the restaurant and were seated. About 5 minutes later we were told we were being moved to a different table. I assumed this meant they had changed their minds. However, we were lead to a large table to accommodate all of us (great! I thought), but when we met the rest of our family they were shaken. A different, older hostess, who was not even the one I had spoken to, had gone to them and chewed them all out about how rude they were for asking to switch tables after agreeing to be seated and how difficult they had made the lives of the staff of the restaurant. They were stunned because they had no idea what she was talking about. It was completely uncalled for, seeing as the request had been made at the beginning, in a respectful way, and not even to move to a larger table. It would have made zero difference in their work load, and when we were told no, we had simply gone to where they wanted us to be seated. Clearly they had gotten their signals crossed, and she had no reason to be so rude to my family. She upset one older relative so much he couldn't even eat, and the rest of us would have packed up and gone to another restaurant if we weren't already starving from waiting for almost an hour. As it was, no one really enjoyed their meal, and they did not bring one child's pancakes out until everyone else was almost finished, even though we saw multiple pancakes going to other tables in between. The actual wait staff was friendly and helpful, but their front end people need a little help. Eating out is a treat for us, and this experience was a complete waste of our money. We won't be visiting this establishment...

I ordered the same french toast breakfast as I always do with turkey bacon. Never has my order been wrong but today. They gave me regular bacon instead of Turkey bacon and I didnt notice until I got all the way home and opened my food. My boyfriend called them spoke with Nicole which is the manger which she tried to tell him the order was right, that she asked the cooks, then put him on hold and hung up the phone on him. Then I called and spoke with Nicole and told her at this point I just want my money back cause my order was wrong and she literally argued with me over the phone saying it was turkey bacon when it's not I took pictures and I eat it all the time so i know what it looks and taste like. I couldnt even eat my french toast cause the bacon was on it with all the fat touching it. I arrive at the restaurant to get my refund and I bring my wrong order back as well which they didnt bother to look at. I have literally one cashier and two waitress and the manger nicole all arguing with me about my order and when I just want my money back at this point and not once did anyone apologize for the inconvenience for me having to drive all the way there or for my order being wrong. I will not eat/order from here again and not cause there food nasty but because their customer service is horrible and unprofessional in my opinion after that experience.

Also at one point I asked the manager to show me the packaging that says turkey bacon and she brings back the packaging that says bacon and the other one has no packaging that supposedly was turkey bacon. How convenient smh. Like I said this has never happened to me before with "Jay Berry's cafe" . If they would of just be professional about them getting the order wrong or that they were out of turkey bacon this could of all been avoided and they wouldn't be losing me as a customer's. I know losing two people as customer doesn't seem like a lot but it just shows how much they care about...