2321 East 4th Street Suite A
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Technology brought us to our next restaurant review. My parents were giving Katie and me tickets to a hockey game, but the only problem was that they could not transfer the tickets from my dad's phone to us. Even I have to admit that I've had a little bit of trouble with our electronic ticketing this season, mainly because I had set up the wrong email address to access the tickets. After that snafu, it had been clear sailing getting into the games. We took this opportunity to meet my parents for breakfast at Country Cafe in Santa Ana to sort everything out.
Located right near the corner of 4th and Tustin, in the same little shopping plaza as a UPS Store, a dental office, Subway, and other smaller retail offerings, this address used to be the home of the much-heralded GD Bro Burger, which pulled up stakes in 2019, the same year that Country Cafe opened up. Since that time, Country Cafe has amassed a four and a half star rating on Yelp, with close to 200 reviews.
This is a breakfast/lunch spot, which is open seven days a week, from 7 to 2pm. Their menu is exactly as you'd expect, with lots of egg dishes, pancakes, french toast, waffles, and a sprinkling of Mexican breakfast options. Only the steak and eggs cross the $15 threshold on their menu, with most items going for right around $12.
We arrived at Country Cafe right before 9am on a recent Sunday. They were busy, but we got a table inside right away. The space feels nice and comfortable, with tables that are not too close together. For those of you that prefer to eat outside, there's also a small patio off to the right-hand side of the restaurant. Our server took our order promptly, and our food arrived within about 10 minutes. Let's check it out.
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed that I've been in a Country Fried Steak and Eggs ($14,99) vortex lately. I can not seem to avoid getting this comforting dish to start my day. This one at Country Cafe was stellar. It had the circumference of a softball, with a nice crunchy outer coating and plenty of their delicious country gravy ladled on top. It also came with two eggs and their nicely done home fries which I mixed together to form a kind of hash that was bonded by the delicious yolk of my eggs. I'd probably ask for the home fries to be a little crisper next time, but a really solid start to our visit here.
My mom is a breakfast sandwich fiend. She's also very particular with her sandwiches. She got this Farmer's Favorite Sandwich ($11.99) without the lettuce and tomato that it usually comes with, instead just opting for the bacon, over hard egg, cheese, and mayonnaise between two slices of toasted sourdough. Who really needs lettuce and tomato on a breakfast sandwich anyways? She really enjoyed this. It had plenty of crisp bacon, the egg was cooked well, and the touch of mayo tied things together well. She was also over the moon with the Fruit Cup ($1.50 upcharge) that she opted for instead of the home fries. She loved that they used sliced bananas in it, which is a big plus in her book.
Both Katie and my dad got the Popeye Omelet ($13.99) for their first meal of the day, which meant less writing for me, and less reading of my mediocre writing for you. A true. win-win. This omelet predictably came with spinach as the star of the show but also included bacon, onion, mushrooms, and jack cheese. Katie enjoyed that they used jack cheese here, which changed it up a bit from the usual cheddar that most other places use in their omelets. It was not overly stuffed with bacon and the other fillings, but still a solid effort. My dad got the sourdough toast, while Katie selected the biscuit and gravy, which was the same price. The biscuit was fluffy and light, which led me to believe it was house-made, and the gravy was first-rate.
I always like to pair sweet and savory at breakfast time, so I treated myself to these Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes ($11.99). These two pancakes were fluffy, but a little on the heavy side. The banana and chocolate chips were in the forefront, and these really soaked up the syrup. I had to ask for extra. Definitely worth trying if you are a fan of pancakes.
I think I have to agree with the people of Yelp, Country Cafe was a very good spot for a no-frills breakfast. They are not going for the boozy brunch vibe like Snooze and others have been doing recently. This is a straightforward breakfast place that's not trying to rope you in with trendy breakfast items like tres leches pancakes or lobster benedict. They are making good quality food here, which will always entice people to return. We received great service this morning, even though they were quite packed when we were finished, with a wait of at least fifteen minutes for the people that got a late start on this Sunday morning. We ended up getting the ticket situation all sorted out, and were onto the game a few days later.
Out of five courthouses, (because the flag of Santa Ana features both the Old Orange County Courthouse and the current Orange County Superior Court Complex), five being best to zero being worst, Country Cafe gets 3 courthouses.
For more information about County Cafe, head to their website by clicking here: http://countrycafe2321.com/
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