Reececliff

Went for breakfast. Waited more than 45 minutes for our food. While we waited we observed other people being seated after us. They were served in about 20 minutes. The excuse? Pancakes were holding things up. Pancakes? We ended up leaving. Service was terrible. It was about medium busy. Not going back.

Okay so I’m a Salesman. That doesn’t mean I’m not human! Really judging by all these negative reviews they could use my service. Instead of a friendly smile, I was blatantly lied to. How can someone say that the owner isnt there when i just saw him walk in! Or that HE isnt interested when NIETHER knows what i was offering? Well i was offering a cleaner kitchen and better food quality… sounds to me based on all these reviews they could have used it. Guess they can afford to not care!

Waitress said pies homemade, frozen pies I’m sure! My coconut custard pie was too sweet, dried up & not fresh. Asked if I could get apple pie instead but manager told waitress the apple was also sweet, wouldn’t exchange! So I was stuck with dried out pie which I ended up taking to go & threw out when I got home!
My beef & noodles was lukewarm & onion rings extra doughy, not crunchy.
Poor management & not concerned about quality of food or customer satisfaction.

This is quite a wonderful breakfast place and a staple of Lakeland, Florida. But I recently went there with my family to get lunch and I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone seemed to be very happy with their meal. I ordered a double burger with fries and loved it. Most diners do not really have good burgers I have noticed, but Reececliff is an exception. It was cooked well, very juicy and tasty. All of the toppings blended well with the beef flavor. I got the works. The fries were good, pretty middle of the road what you’d expect. Try their lunch! You won’t be dissapointed!

The food was excellent and so was the service. The waitstaff was super friendly and helpful. Best food I’ve found in town so far!

This place has always been one of our favorites. It just gets better with age.
We hadn’t been in a while, and decided to have supper here, for a change of pace.
Delighted with the upgraded salad, much bigger and tastier than in the past, all the selections homemade, and delicious. Prices still a bargain, and service home-​town friendly. For a nice local eatery, give them a try. We always come out happy.

The food, when it gets to you, is usually pretty good, but the kitchen output is terrible. As I write this, we have waited nearly 45 minutes for breakfast. There are 2 of us and we ordered nothing that wasn’t a set menu item.
They really need to get the kithen sorted, because their customers and their servers are suffering because of it.

2 years ago I gave the Reece cliff one star.
I love diners and the hubs and I decided to give The Reececliff another chance. This review is based on the past 12 to 18 months.
What is that saying? The more things change the more they stay the same.
The standing joke in our house is this; when we go we know something will
We started out just coming for breakfast. Our 2^nd time back we sat at the counter. I noticed a guy giving direction to the servers. You know? Someone playing the part of a manager. Props to you buddy because it totally made a difference. I mean not with just us but for the other customers as well.
The servers are attentive and friendly. No longer is there a wait for a refill because they come to the table ready to provide more drinks. They also seem to function more as a team.
One weekend our best friends were in town and before they left for home on this particular Sunday morning we headed over for breakfast. On our way over the hubs couldn’t rave enough about how wonderful it was. Everything was going nicely. The food came and the guys were pleased with what we ordered. I ordered biscuits and gravy. The gravy was perfect. The biscuit had been cut in half and placed upside down on the plate and then covered in the really good gravy. How do you not put a biscuit on a plate with the soft middle ready to embrace the warm gravy bath? Upside down, really? I turned the biscuit over & said nothing to our server. Then The Suuz takes a bite of her bowl full of grits. They probably were hot at some point but I doubt it. Our server comes back, apologizes and we heard her yell at the kitchen staff the grits were cold. The cook did not scoop a new dish but put them in the microwave. Yes, you read that right… in the microwave! Needless to say the grits were left uneaten. No Bueno kitchen staff.
We chose to finally give dinner a try. I opted for a club sandwich and fries. I wanted a hot dinner. The turkey was sliced from the breast. It was moist & yummy. The bacon was nicely crisp– I love their bacon. The hubs went for the meatloaf. The meatloaf was moist and delicious. The vegetables were tender and cooked perfectly. I tasted his mashed potatoes first and just nodded. I waited for the hubs to try them before I spoke. You guessed it the potatoes were barely warm. Not worth mentioning to our friendly server.
We’ve returned for dinner a number of times. I love to people watch and sitting at the counter is usually quite entertaining. I stick with either a sandwich or one of their FANTASTIC burgers. I’m generally tired when we go and I just don’t feel up to a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ shot of all my food coming out piping hot. Seriously, their burgers are delightful and I love the fries.
Today we went for breakfast. The hubs said something along the lines of knowing something wouldn’t be hot but who cares?
Had a great server, good breakfast with their awesome bacon and barely warm grits. I love grits and just ate them since I knew ahead of time that would be the warm item amyway
How is it possible two key meal items are NEVER served hot. Never!
Listen, grits and mashed potatoes are two items that should always be served piping hot. They should be served with the steam coming off of them. How is it the kitchen staff doesn’t get this concept?
By the way, the pie still rocks!

Very nice décor, sat on the outdoor patio for lunch. Service was quite good. Had Ruben with killer Onion Rings — very tasty — kind of old fashioned way of doing things so very rich tasting. Most expensive lunch we had in a while. Just at the $$ limit of $ 30 per inc. 20% tip. Just sandwiches, iced tea and onion rings.

What an awesome place! I had not visited for a while but recently I got take out for lunch and remembered why I love this place so much. The food is like home cooked and you feel so at home with the atmosphere and the friendly staff. It’s so welcoming and the food is so comforting. We went back and got dinner for take out, the pot roast special. We ate two meals from the huge potion of tender meat that just fell apart with my fork. I’ll be going much more often!

Love this place. Been here since the ‘30s. The food is always great, affordable and service attentive. They also just remodeled the place a year or two ago and it looks great.

Reececliff is a Lakeland favorite! It needs a little pick-​me-​up. Faster service, fresher foods, or at least lower prices. I have been a number of times over the last 15 yrs and have had mixed experiences. Apparently Reececliff recently got a makeover that includes an outdoor seating area!
I have fond memories of Reececliff, but it’s a bit outdated.

Good local spot. Definitely country eating. You will walk out very full. The Reuben was good. I loved the corn pudding. The place gets very busy around noon but the service is pretty quick.
It isn’t a place that I could go to every week because the food is so heavy but it is a nice spot to go to when you want some comfort food.

My husband and I tried Reececliff’s this evening for the first time in the nearly ten years we’ve been in Polk county. Dinner was delicious and service was superb. Can’t wait to back!

The wife and I stopped in to get a quick bite and a ice tea. It was the first time we had ever been there. It was definitely a diner by all respects. It was clean and cozy. A good place to grab a bite without all the fuss.
I had a BLT and the wife had chicken fried steak. The food was hot and tasty. The ice tea was good. Service might seem to some a bit slow but you have to remember the food is made to order. It’s not like a large chain restaurant that cooks large vats of food to serve large groups at a time.
I recomend it. It was good.
Have a cup of coffee and a piece of pie I hear the apple pie is award winning.

A year or two ago, service and quality for breakfast were in sad shape. Now (⁷⁄₁₄) Reececliff has come back to exceed where it was 10 years ago. Fast friendly breakfast service, good breakfast at a good price, excellent redesign of the interior.
I ordered eggs with ham steak — the ham is BONE-​IN! This isn’t processed ham loaf, this is real dang ham! I can’t think of another breakfast place that would do that.
The Reececliff is a piece of Lakeland history that goes back most of a century. Two years ago I was afraid they would crash and burn. Now? I’ll go here over Fat Jack’s, and for a native, there’s no higher praise.

I gave this one star because no star isn’t an option. My husband and I went for breakfast this morning and it was disgusting. He ordered corned beef hash, scrambled eggs and hash browns. I had the biscuits and gravy. We have come here for breakfast a few times and this will be our last. This is why… the corned beef hash USED to be home made with real green peppers, onions, potatoes and corned beef in it, all cooked on the flat top to make it nice and crispy, yet tender. TODAY it was obviously from a can. It looked like it was dumped on the flat top and then flipped to make it brown on both sides, but it was a disgusting pile of mush in the middle. There were no potatoes, no onions, no peppers, and the beef looked like it as pureed. In short, it looked like poorly grilled cat puke. The scrambled «eggs» were from a powdered mix that cheap hotels use in their free breakfasts. The hash browns were cooked but barely. There was no crispy brown goodness at all, just shredded cooked potatoes from a bag.
Now my biscuits and gravy… biscuits were definitely from a bag of frozen biscuits that were bought at a warehouse store. They USED to be huge and fluffy and delicious. Now they’re half the size and fluffiness. The gravy was probably homemade, but my guess is it wasn’t because it was so white and salty and there were about 6 small pieces of sausage on my entire plate. So disappointing.
Now the service. It sucked. Pretty much what everyone else was saying is true to a «T». The waitress was nice but not helpful at all. She took our order, brought our drinks, brought our food and bill at the same time and said that she was leaving it «in case she got busy». I guess «busy» means standing at the counter and talking. We didn’t see another waitress the whole time we were eating. My husband ran out of coffee half way through forcing down his sorry excuse of a breakfast. A waitress walked by 3 times and asked everyone (all seniors, not judging, but young people like refills too)…if they were doing all right, needed a refill, etc.
I asked our waitress when we were paying at the register what happened to the hash and she gave me a bs reason of «oh it’s probably not the same person making it. They have a recipe book they all follow but sometimes they make it a little different. Bull %&@!. That crap was from a can and it was gross.
In short, we were extremely disappointed and will not return and we strongly recommend that this place be avoided. Go somewhere instead, you’ll be much better off.

I’ve lived in Lakeland for 30 plus years I’ve been here on and off throughout my life. I have never had a bad experience in this establishment as far as the food is concerned. The food has always been wonderfully prepared very tasty and will return each and every time I’m on this side of town. The wait staff however could use a sensitivity training or hospitality class. I understand what some of the other reviews are talking about when talking about the waitresses. This place is been around for 75 plus years you don’t stay in business that long by making bad food show my review stands as is food is wonderful

Having traveled here a few times, I’m not overly impressed yet. The service is pretty good. But some of the food leaves a bit to be desired in my opinion.
I, my mother, and my sister traveled here for sunday lunch. When our food was brought out, we found that our different meals had the commonality that the sides were hot, but the meats were fairly cold. The waitress had them reheated, but cold meat bothers me a bit. My own meal consisted of grilled pork chops, a side salad, macaroni and cheese and green beans. The mac n cheese and green beans were excellent. The side salad was of good quality. The pork chops, however, were a bit bland for my tastes. I don’t think there was any seasoning.
Overall, good side dishes and good service, but the meat seems to leave a bit to be desired.

Went here for Thursday dinner.
I had the meat loaf, it was excellent.
It comes with two sides.
I had cole slaw and fried okra. It comes with a cornbread role.
Everything was very good. the service was great and it was affordable.
This is a Lakeland institution since 1934.
Not the original owners but the quality is still very good.