Mr George’s Restaurant

This is a good place to meet a friend for breakfast or lunch. The place looks a little worn, but the salad was fresh, the catfish was good and the service was very polite. A lot of other people were meeting here to have a well-​priced lunch, good atmosphere for conversations and to enjoy a great piece of small town Americana. All the meats are processed in house, so you know that is is fresh.
I was a little puzzled that I needed to checkout at the grocery store register after eating, but that was just part of the experience and it gave me an excuse to go buy some of the great sausage and bacon from Stanton’s.
With all its quirks, this place should be crawling with hipsters who want locally produced produce, meats and cheeses.

I wanted to like Mr George’s better than I could. By a lot.
When a café in a small-​town grocery says «Mr George’s Restaurant — Owned and Operated by the Stanton Family since 1922,» well, I’m hoping for a gem. When I walked in and a dozen codgers in gimme caps were sitting on soda-​fountain-​style stools at the counter, my hopes went up. Sadly to be dashed…
Mr George’s is the restaurant inside Stanton’s shopping center, which includes a meat market, a grocery store, a hardware store and lumberyard. The place looks like it got a facelift around 1972 and they haven’t done a whole lot with it since. It’s down at the heels — the vinyl on on the stools is cracked and duct-​taped. Half the formica tables are missing their side-​strips, showing the pressboard beneath. The menu has a photo of the place and the tables and chairs look dilapidated in the photo, too. A lot of things hinted that they didn’t take great pride in the restaurant. But it could still have good food, right? Well, they had Parade brand ketchup on the tables — not a propitious sign.
I ordered the coffee and the Ultimate Omelet. Menu said: «Cheese, bacon, ham, sausage, onion, bell pepper, picante sauce, topped with homemade chili ***NOT FOR WIMPS***» The coffee, when it came, was weak. I looked around, waiting for my order. There’s a 3’x2’ photo of «Our Founder, George Stanton, in his Office in 1949.»
My omelet came. It was huge. It was not hot in any sense. I tasted no picante in it. I asked for some salsa, the waitress told me it was on the side bar. There was some pretty good pico de guyo there, but no salsa. «Oh, it must not be made yet.» She got a Tabasco bottle that only had 5 drops left in it. But the omelet wasn’t at a hot temperature either; the shredded cheese on top hadn’t melted at all. I don’t think the ingredients were hot when the cook folded them into the omelet. Could they nuke it for me? «We don’t have a microwave. I’ll put it in the oven, but it will take a few minutes.» 5 min later she brought it back with the cheese now melted, but the thing would have been improved by another 25 degf of heating. The bacon, sausage and chili were … meh.
When I went to pay, the waitress wouldn’t take my money. «You’ve got to go over to the grocery to pay.» There was only one cashier working and I stood behind 3 elderly women with large grocery purchases. Eventually the manager opened another register and I managed to pay. Using the men’s room on the way out I noticed that the toilet tank had no lid.
I usually save my 1-​star ratings for truly horrid experiences and Mr. George’s doesn’t go that low. The food wasn’t disgusting, the waitress wasn’t rude, they didn’t charge me for things I’d not ordered nor short my change. But there was just nothing redeeming about the place, save that it’s nostalgic because it’s been there 87 years.
They also sell Mexican food; maybe somebody else will have better luck with the tacos. Not me.