Marie Callender’s

We came in at the end of the breakfast rush and the beginning of the early lunch rush, there were 2 other groups of 6 (besides us)…and they got us seated within seconds of walking through the door! We were offered the buffet and menu and they even gave us a rundown of what was available in the buffet to help us decide! Our drink order was taken within a minute and our waiter was super attentive. Even though he was running around from one side of the building to the other we weren’t neglected at all! If he couldn’t personally deliver the needed item he made sure someone did! We were checked on up until the last bite of pie (which was of course nothing short of amazing!!)
My hubby got the buffet and got a made to order omelet which was HUGE, and stuffed full of all the fixin’s and when it was done cooking they delivered it to our table!
The food was great and though they were busy it came quick and the service was great too. We usually aren’t one for big chain restaurants, but I can see us adding this one into the rotation.

Food is not cook and food is not cook probably. It is cold for the chicken and broccoli fettuccine and the meat loaf is like a piece of paper very upset and all the workers are texting can’t get anyone attention.

It’s packed for Sunday brunch. I ordered a half turkey bacon avocado (hold the bacon and mayo) sandwich and veggie soup. Took almost an hour to get my food. When it came it had bacon and mayo! And one tiny tomato and the smallest slice of an avocado I’ve ever seen! She offered to make the sandwich again but I didn’t have another hour to wait! And already watched my companion eat their full meal and dessert through the buffet. She brought me extra avocado and tomato. She took 20% off the bill. Don’t come here if your watching calories! We were on the road. Didn’t have many options and was starving.

Had the nacho appetizer. Should have known better. Not much flavor to it. One waitress handling 8 tables and the service was really slow. Don’t know if she is overwhelmed or just not into her job. either way, it made for a lousy experience.

The facility was clean and nicely decorated w rich wood interior. The staff was a bit light for the crowd size but even still Christine was a delightful waitress. Our fish tacos and pie slices were really perfect. A very nice date w two meals tip and tax for around $ 30.

The food wasn’t bad. Service wasn’t bad. It was noisy, due to the family in the middle of the room. The wine was not good. The menu had a lot of items to choose from. I had a Waldorf salad and my husband had a chicken pot pie. As I said they weren’t bad, they just weren’t wonderful. The waitress was nice. Some guy came at the end of everyone’s meals to ask them how things were, which was actually quite annoying. Wouldn’t eat there again.

Some pretty amazing servers too! If you happen to get Adam or Tara, then you’ll be treated well.

Service sucks (non-​existent), salad bar sucks (wilting), and food sucks (lackluster). Can’t even put CFLs in the ceiling of the same color rating. With all the details they miss, you know they are messing up the food.

Always delicious!

This morning my friend & I went this traditional and old (?) restaurant. Wanted to get somewhat decent meal.
They didn’t deliver food at the same time!
Man meal came without bread! Waited for 6 minutes. Later, the manager explained one of toasters was broken! Then, before the meal, the waitress served water and coffee. We almost finished our meal. The manager finally refilled the coffee. He did not say the coffee brewer was broken?
Busy! Not at all!

Had the special of the day, cheese ravioli with pesto, sun dried tomatoes, asparagus and grilled chicken. It came with a small but tasty Caesar salad. The food was hot and brimming with flavor. Only improvement would be getting served quicker. Food took 35 minutes to arrive at the table while the establishment was nearly empty. I would be willing to post as 5 stars if quicker turn around time.

Welcome to Redding, where should the family eat? It’s been awhile since I did anything but pie at «Marie Callender’s,» but my two check-​ins rekindles my interest all over again.
Did you know they have good breakfast and Sunday brunch for $ 15.99? At this particular location, I felt like I was at an old-​time Cheesecake Factory from North Carolina (this is free association talking here). Nice archaic dining room with polished oak and a foyer at the front. You just want to stuff your mouth with Blueberry Crumb Cake and Lemon Meringue Pie, and litter the floor with debris falling out of your mouth. Some important notes:
Fluffy pancakes, I know «fluffy» is a description cliché but so here they are. French Dip with thick layers of roast beef, it will fill you up for six hours. Turkey Club sandwich with small town deli fixings. The only skip is the blah French Toast, the bread comes from the Land of Bland. Finally, toast the body with sinfully dark Hot Chocolate, and I’m liking it better than the coffee. However, while the coffee is 2.5-star cups, you get refills on them that you can’t with Chocolate. Sometimes you go with mediocre coffee with endless refills. Not bad, I tell you. I’ve tasted plenty of 1 star coffee before so 2.5 stars for that, I’ll do.
#please-​do-​pie-​at-​the-​end

So I have always been a Marie Callender’s fan. Today I have decided to start eating elsewhere. Coffee was undrinkable, Belgian Waffle was more like a pound cake. They don’t do the red potatoes except on Sunday brunches either. The counter tops around our table was very dusty and dirty and the bathroom was worse than a blue room outhouse. Good by Marie Callenders.

They have good pancakes. And the blueberry bread is good. Their pies are also decent but only worth the price when they are on sale.
The bad part is that their menu is hot or miss with most of the non pancake bakery items being a miss a lot of the time.
That being said if you are looking for yummy fluffy pancakes this is a good place for them.

Mom and Dad like Marie Callenders a lot. So much so, that it is the go to place to meet up when we visit them from the East Bay area. It is a fairly consistent 3 hour drive for us, so if we leave at 9 am, we can be there in time to put our name in and then call Mom and Dad to meet us so Mom doesn’t have to stand around to wait. (She is 84. She should NOT have to stand and wait to be seated.)
This was all fine and good, and it worked. Mom and Dad drove up just as they were about to seat us. Except, because the waiting area was full, my husband waited outside, with all the other people who had to wait outside.
When Christine (I think that is her name– the hostess on Sunday, April 26, at noon) didn’t find him when she called… inside… she gave our table to another party. When we asked her about the wait time, she said, «Oh, I just gave your table away because you weren’t here.»
…Um?
She went to check on the time for another table.
She said it would be another ten minutes. And, «oh. I am sorry about the wait.»
There was no where for my mom to sit. And, if you know my mom, she will pretend all is well so she doesn’t cause a fuss, but pay for it the next day. My mom will never, ever, complain, but she will suffer the next day. So, for her, I complain.
So, this is what I want to say to Christine… if I have your name right. Being pretty is the least important part of customer service. It is even far less important than being kind. Many, many of your customers are old. They live for the few minutes they see their kids. And some of those kids drive three hours just to see their parents, and the meeting represents a great deal of sacrifice and commitment on their part. If you can’t walk outside to see if your next customer is waiting outside, especially when your waiting area is filled with a single party, you need to rethink your choice of vocation.
Once we were sat, we had the Redding Marie Callendar’s experience we usually have. Great service, above average food, and a good time with my aging parents. (I think it was Jessica who served us. She rocks.)

It’s a fancy Denny’s. Hostess told my boyfriend and I it would be a 10 minute wait. We waited 30 minutes, and when I followed up, the hostess said someone had scratched our name out on accident.
Ordered cream and sugar with my coffee. Our waitress only brought cream that had spilt all over its dish and made for a sticky situation.

Went for the brunch with about 10 family member’s. They were accommodating of our size and understanding as out amount of people was constantly fluctuating when we made the reservation.
The buffet was good. Bacon, hash browns, breakfast potatoes, French toast, cobbler, biscuits, pancakes, sausage, the whole nine. Food was fairly fresh and didn’t seem as though it had been sitting for an hour like some buffet food. They had an impressive omelette bar but the line was long. The kitchen manager came out and started assisting taking plates back to have them cooked in kitchen to speed up the line. Thought that was nice of her and was good service. Salad bar is also available during the brunch buffet.
We ordered champagne and made mimosas and it was fairly affordable to do so. There was no bottomless option, but they came and poured for the tab, e swiftly.
Our server was polite and quick, and made sure everyone was enjoying their food. We have had group meetings here before and have always reviewed better service than we expect.
I expected less than I received for the money and came away impressed. (That could be the mimosas talking though). Give it a shot!

We came for two reasons: first my girlfriend knew the frozen products and used to live in a part of the US where Marie Callender doesn’t own restaurants. Second reason was the proximity to our hotel on our stopover in Redding.
The place itself is what you would expect. Cheaper and a bit filthier than a Cheesecake Factory and as old fashioned as the Subway in your neighborhood. The lighting is not appealing and puts people to sleep rather than get them hungry.
The food was pretty good. The chicken pot pie trio was tasty. The salad was rather disappointing, because it had nothing to do with the picture. Who comes for the salad?
The salmon with rice and vegetables was very good. Basic, healthy food without any surprises.
The salad buffet is partially fresh.
The peach pie was very tasty. Sadly the ice cream they put on top of it was only mediocre.

My first time to Marie Callender. I was okay, not so impressive. I had a long trip driving from Seattle going to San Francisco. I stopped at Redding to stay overnight and stopped at Marie for dinner since it was next to the hotel.
The service was okay.

ohhhhh … so NOW I understand. Took me a bit of research here. …
I stayed at Oxford Suites in Redding (awesome place at a GREAT price for you business peeps). On one side is Logan’s Steakhouse and the other a Marie Callendar’s. For those of you in the know, Marie’s is dying but the owner of this one, Joe Wong of J&A Food Service, is building his own little «empire» in the area it would seem, but like many other franchise owners he blames others for his «lackluster» service (article in 2012:
) Wong owns a Chevy’s, Applebees, Callendar’s, Burger King, and Logan’s in the NoCal area but I can only review the Marie Callendar’s on Hilltop here.
I arrived at Oxford at about 5:30 pm on a Saturday. Their bar was dead (considering it was a Saturday that says a lot for the economy). The hotel itself was awesome. clean, easily accessible, and the room was just jaw dropping with a view of the pool and jacuzzi.
After driving for 10 hours I decided to just walk over to one of the two restaurants on either side. Logan’s or Marie’s. I chose the latter which was probably a mistake.
First, the sign in the front was ½ lit. The typical Marie Callendar entry was lacking. Usually dark woods, antiques, receptionist. Not this time. The front end was painted bright white, and each of the 6 fixtures had 100 watt bulbs. 6000 watts of screaming light … not good for the road weary.
I was seated and waited 15 minutes for a menu then another 10 minutes for my water and glass of wine. I actually finished that wine and ordered another one and my pot pie (my usual at Marie Callendar’s) about 10 minutes later. Got the food and the drink about 5 minutes after that. then nothing for 20 minutes. No follow up, no refill, zippo. I had to walk to the front desk, yell «hello» and get a dirty look from a very young person (guessing about 16 or so) who told me she’d «try» to find my waiter.
Ordered a third glass of wine and a dessert. never got either but was charged for them. Complained about it and it was taken off my tab.
The only reason for the 2 stars is Marie Callendar’s reputation but this location sucks. And, Mr. Wong, I suggest you go into a different career if this is all you have to offer Redding and NoCal.