"Excellent slice of Americana -- ticky tacky apple decor... Exhausted  older waitress in a tank top with a dirty wrapping on her wrist cast ... S L O W to get food in nearly empty place...exasperated eye-rolling  cook, kitschy lunch counter .. Mediocre food :-) (Not a foodie paradise, Julian.)  'Bout as 'Merican as it gets though... :-o  Go in with *that* expectation and enjoy the experience!  :-)
Review Source:This adorable country cafe is as good as I heard from friends/family. We stopped by for dinner and our waitress, Kristine, I believe, was incredibly friendly and very attentive. There were nine of us including 3 kids and a baby, and she was great with them; asking them questions, making jokes, and being patient. There weren't that many people inside so I thought that was nice because I personally do not like being in crowded restaurants.
I ordered the chicken sandwich and it was nothing overly special but it was pretty good. One of my kids ordered chicken tenders and mashed potatoes, the potatoes were delicious. They claim their BBQ sauce is made in-house and I don't know if it is but it. was. amazing. I asked if I could buy some to take home and they don't sell it but she came back with a 16oz cup of the sauce for me to take home and I hadn't even asked for it. ((Hope no one gets in trouble for that)).
There is no internet connection though and I don't mean that they themselves don't offer wi-fi, it's almost impossible to get internet connection anywhere in Santa Ysabel. But I consider it a good thing; forces people to pay attention to each other rather than have their faces stuck to their phones throughout their meal.
Anyways, I have always heard mixed reviews, more better than bad though, but I loved this restaurant and will definitely be back again!
Sadly dissapointed!! Stopped her on our way to Julian, never again!! Had the  grilled teriyaki chicken breast, steamed veggies and mashed potatoes with country gravy.  My mother had the same and my husband and son had the burger. For my mom and I the chicken was not grilled, but was more like the "grilled chicken" breasts that you buy in the bag at costco.  Our veggies were close to being obviously spoiled when served. The tops of the califlower were brown and obviously tried to be cleaned up by cutting off the very brown spots, and the mashed potatoes were yuck! My hubby and sons burger was nothing special either... Oh and the cup of "homemade" chili... Umm hormel would be more like it!  Didn't chance dessert here... The $52.00 was a HUGE ouch with the nasty food! WON'T be back that is for sure!!
Review Source:We were seated right away, however we had to ask several times for menus. 30 seconds after we got our menus we were asked what we wanted to eat. Really?! Yes your menu is not huge but we still need a little time to think it over. We order then we wait.... And wait... And wait. After far too long we're told that our food will be right out. Some time after that another waitress comes by to confirm what we've ordered. At this point I honestly didn't even remember. Then we are told that it will be just a few more minutes. I set a timer on my phone for 5 minutes and tell the other 3 people at the table that after that timer is done, I'm done. At this point at least 3 other groups that came in after us were seated served and finished eating. Five minutes passed we went to the front and asked for our bill. And they fn actually made us pay for our drinks after all that. Should have been free imo
Review Source:I recently ate here with a group of about 15 people (ten high school students and four adults). I can't bring myself to give this place even a three star rating, however, I bet the others i dined with would give it 3 stars.
Let's start with the service. Mediocre. We wrote down all the kids orders so all the server had to do was bring food, clear plates refill sodas. The soda refilling part rarely happened. When I returned the rotten egg I received, the server didn't seem as appalled and shocked as I would expect.
Food: I think the kids liked their food: chili dogs, chicken strips, burger, tacos french fries and things like that. The club sandwich was also good. My food on the other hand was terrible! I ordered a side salad with a hard boiled egg on the side... Took one bite and spit it out, nearly getting sick. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted! The egg was rotten and smelled awful! The rest of my meal was hard to stomach because every so often when I'd eat a French fry off the kids plates, I got an awful taste in my mouth that reminded me of the rotten egg... So I must question the sanitary practices in the kitchen. I wouldn't be surprised if the kids got sick.
We ordered apple pie for dessert, but they would only sell by the slice (rather than sell a whole pie and let us divvy it up for the kids to share). The kids said the pie was great!
I won't imply that this place is all bad, because some of the food was good and they were able to accommodate our large group, however I won't be returning. Sanitary practices are of utmost importance, and I question theirs.
Walked in and was greeted by a disgruntled and apathetic Asian man. The place smelled like a Chinese restaurant - oily and heavy.
Service was medicore at best and the food was indicative of the service.
Cobb Salad was nothing but Romaine and though the menu stated that the kitchen hosted spring greens, I was denied my vegetation when I requested it because they had none. The waitress didn't apologize for the poor inventory or for the misprint on the menu. "No, we don't have any." And that was all she wrote.
Buffalo burger ordered rare came out medium but was okay. Nothing more to report on that, which is sad, because it's buffalo meat and should have something more worth commenting about. Oh well.
When asked if the waitress could take one order of tea off the tab because my riding partner didn't drink it, she looked at me with this expression as if to tell me that I just shot a puppy in the face.
"I'm sorry. I already put it in the computer."
Then freaking deleted it! Lazy. It's just tea. Damn, woman.
Manager was lazy and had no business wandering around the dining area when it was clear that his blank stares at the dirty tables expressed his level of concern for his business.
Ordered an Original Apple to go and got out.
I'll come again if I'm hungry and order to-go and go sit outside with my pie from the Julian Pie Co. next door.
This place is supposed to be a cozy taste of Julian, but all I really got was over priced apathy.
Fail.
A large group of us had their Sunday Brunch there the other day and all i can say is............HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT......From the minute we walked in the door, the whole restaurant was extremely hot, which seemed to not have any air condtioning, just ceiling fans, that we finally turned on after we asked several times!! Â From then we all waited in line for the buffet and the omelette station........are you ready for this??? Â The guy who was making the omelettes, was sweating profusely all down his face, grabbed a towel to wipe it off( many times) and using the same hand (without a glove) grabbed the cheese to put into the omelettes!! Â I will never be able to eat another omelette again after seeing that. Â I was sick to my stomach the rest of the day. Â And when a friend of mine, mentioned that the the waitress, she just shrugged her off. Â Nice way to have repeat customers........trust me, you would be better off eating at Santa Ysabel Casino right down the road for their brunch.
Review Source:This country cafe has the advantage of being right next door to two icons of the area, Dudley's Bakery and the Julian Pie Company.  That may  help get folks in the door.  But that being said, it was pretty empty, most folks seemed to keep heading toward Julian rather than stop here on that Saturday.
My meal had little draw for me. Â My husband would disagree. Â He ordered the day's lunch special, a platter of fall-off-the-bone, tender pork ribs. Â Actually, they were quite good, the BBQ sauce was great, and was a good sized portion of ribs. Â 4 stars for that one. Â I was not as lucky with the fried chicken dinner, dry and lacking any seasoning to mention. Â The mashed potatoes were OK, the gravy was very creamy and thick, but again, lacking in flavor. Â 2 stars. Â We also ordered the navy bean soup. Â I have had better dirty dishwater. 1 star. Â I hold grudges over things like that.
But now, the great equalizer - hot apple pie. Â It was definitely from Julian Pie Co. Â Wonderfully perfect crust and filling, not too sweet (we had the sugar-free version and didn't miss the sugar at all). Â And the cinnamon ice cream was the perfect pairing for the apple pie. Â One large scoop of ice cream we shared three ways and it was just enough. Â 5 stars. Saved the day!
So, I guess we'll be back if we pass through here. Â I just need to remember to not be tempted by the fried chicken and bean soup (unfortunately two of my favorite comfort foods). Â Go for the pie and ice cream, YEAH! Â But I could also accomplish that by going next door to the Julian Pie Co. and get more choices, and maybe even indulge in a whole pie.
After traveling to Julian over the last 25 or so years on occasion for a slice of apple pie (because you know there is no apple pie in SD) I think I've figured out the best system to beat the crowds.
1. I go out the 78 from Escondido
2. Stop at Dudleys
3. Walk around Downtown Julian
4. Leave Julian (What????? No apple pie?....Relax!!!)
5. Stop at the Mom's Apple Pie on Rte.78
6. Stop at The Apple Country Restaurant
Can you believe it took me years to figure this out? Last time I was up there, I was fighting with everyone to get in the door of the local restaurants and pie shops - the lines were forever. But then I found The Apple Country Restaurant the other day and decided - wow, what a much better way to fly. Get my pie outside of town - still baked fresh (look for that review on Mom's) and, eat outside of town and avoid the crowds and lines.
Food was just as good as any place in town and there were no lines or waits and in fact, they have the second best fried chicken in all of San Diego County if you ask me.
I saw two items on the menu next to each other. Chicken fried chicken and chicken fried steak. I love chicken fried steak so I thought I would try the chicken version. I was expecting a breast of chicken (boneless) deep fried and breaded like its cousin the chicken fried steak but instead, I got a 1/2 of chicken - deep fried.
This was not the Colonels chicken, this was homemade, crispy, delicious fall off the bone chicken obviously fried and battered just for me, not something that's been sitting under a 150W Â light from Home Depot for two hours.
I had a salad, mashed and gravy and passed on the veggies that came with it and it was seriously good home style cooking. Its probably what you order at these types of places and I was glad I picked something that they knew how to "rock". You always expect good home cooking when you find yourself up in the mountains but some of these folks are nothing but city slickers who headed North and brought their bad recipes with them, not today.
I hate sharing this place with everyone because next time I go up the hill to "J", all of you will be there and I'm going to eat my words and be standing in line - again. But, duty calls and I so Yelp.
Enjoy!
It had been years since I had stopped in here but the family and I were headed out to the desert this past weekend in the terrible weather and needed a break for some breakfast and I am glad we stopped in here. This was the right choice. At the foot of Julian....Deep in the "San Diego Back Country"...on a cold a rainy morning..(damn! Sounds like the start to a Tom Clancy novel, but without any CIA sharpshooters,,,,,yet!)...Nothing better than a down home looking and feeling café with great wholesome food and good friendly service.
We stopped in after the Saturday morning breakfast rush, and with the weather being so crappy, I can imagine a lot of us "city dwellers" didn't venture up to the local mountains as normal. There were a half dozen other tables filled with a mix of older couples and "outdoors types" probably coming from or going out to go hunting. To be honest, the food was nothing to jump up and down about, but it was not bad by any means. I had biscuits and gravy which were fresh and tasty. My wife had a scramble which looked great, and appeared to taste the same as it was gone in short order. I did particularly enjoy the "home style potatoes" they had as they were a cross between hash browns and home fries...Definitely home made and a bit on the crispy side as I like them. The waitress was friendly and even playful with out daughter. She was nice enough to get us a single pancake for my daughter to eat, but it ended up as a toy as most things do.
Great setting, Great Service, Good food....What more can you ask for!
:-
Wow. What a tourist trap.
We stopped off here on our way to Warner Springs Ranch.
I ordered the Buffalo Beef Hamburger with cheese.
I was expecting something pretty tasty and greasy spoon country tasting.
I got a regular burger with pickles, tomato and onions -- medium well.
I ordered rare. :-(
2 Woofs. I'm sure you'd find what your looking for elsewhere.
This place is nothing to write home about.
Sitting on the grass outside the restaurant after a nice meal on a sunny summer afternoon. 4 for lunch includes chili - good and spicy, Blt with lots of actual bacon,
Fresh turkey sandwich, and a buffalo burger - taste better and is better for you than beef. One plus is the delicious apple cider, and the apple crisp ala mode for desert. Scrumptious ! The service was friendly and efficient. Would suggest you stop by sometime ...will not disappoint.
I've eaten here probably 30 times as this is along one of my well traveled motorcycle ride routes. Â They do some things exceptionally well and other things well. Â
They make about the best club sandwich one could ask for and their Reuben is truly delicious. Â My wife and I typically split the club sandwich and we do not leave hungry. Â
Service is generally good. Â The staff is very friendly and accommodating of large groups (15-20) who are all on separate checks. Â I'm a fan.
Had late brunch buffet here with hubby & my in laws on Sunday July 27 2008. Â The adult buffet cost $10.50 each. Â Country feel when we sat indoors. Â The food was A-OK though you can request to have your Omelet to be done as how you want it.
Our first time here. Â My first time drinking Apple Cider. Â The Apple Cider have a unique taste for me. Â All in all we spend about $52.00. Â A little ouch for my pockets I feel.
CLOSED on Tuesday.
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