Gillespie Field Cafe

Always excellent food and premium service. Our favorite is to sit at the bar… You will not be disappointed!

Really good food. Fun to see the aircrafts. Indoor and outdoor dining. Friendly staff and surprisingly quiet for being an airport.

A hidden gem in East County! The staff is amazingly sweet! You can tell this is a place that cares about their customers and their employees. I had the pancake breakfast– first of all the pancakes are huge! And so fluffy! Some of the best I’ve had. My friend had the chicken fried steak and that was equally as great. The fruit was fresh and sweet, and the atmosphere is hard to beat! Will be back!

This is the most peaceful place to eat breakfast or brunch on a nice day. They have an outdoor patio with a beautiful breeze that has the most amazing view of East County and the airport. As you eat you can watch planes land & fly. Very cool experience, will be back! Thank you for the amazing service as well.

Janet’s used to be our favorite breakfast place in Santee, but now it is this place. OK, so this place is technically in EC, but close enough.
About the same food quality, selection and price as Janet’s but easier to park, less crowed and more outside seatings. Services also just as friendly.
I highly recommend patrons of Janet’s to come check out this place.

First of all, it took FOREVER to get our mediocre food. When they did finally bring it, it had an eyelash AND a hair on my plate. I informed our waitress about it and she took it back and had the cooks make me a new plate. My wife was done with her food by the time they brought me a new plate. The waitress didnt take my toast back so it was cold. Upon checkout the mgr asked how everything was, so we told her. She then asked if WE wanted them to take something off our ticket. Are you kidding me… we shouldnt have had to ask… they should have offered to take it off right away. I told her no, we will pay full price but we should have to. Fuck this place, never again!

It’s a small hole in the wall location and can be a bit challenging to find. Just find the control tower and its right there. Its laid back and fun watching the planes take off and land while you eat. Its the best breakfast we’ve had in recent memory. I had the waffle breakfast with some pretty tasty link sausage (and a diet Coke).You’ll leave stuffed and set up for the day. It’s delicious, rich, and very filling. It was Sunday morning and crowded, but the lovely waitresses who could easily step into modeling careers were great, and checked back on us frequently. We returned weeks later for the lunch menu and it was just as good; delicious and filling. Try the HAND CUT onion rings which are the best any where. Take it from an onion ring expert.

My fiancé and I came here last weekend for brunch. We walked in around 11am and sat down immediately outside on the patio over looking the airport without a wait! It was a cool experience to watch the planes taking off and landing while we looked over the menu and ordered our food. I ended up getting the California Omelette and my fiancé had a sandwich, both were delicious and arrived VERY shortly after we ordered. We also shared a blueberry muffin. But not just any blueberry muffin, THE BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFIN either of us have ever had, we have been craving it ever since. Overall, the service was fast, attentive and very friendly. We will definitely be back!

Definitely my new favorite breakfast spot! My husband and I enjoy breakfast here. The food is great and if you are lucky you can see the planes take off. They do have indoor and outdoor seating which is nice because inside is a bit small and can get crowded at times but definitely not the case if you choose to sit outside. I have only tried the eggs benedict which are now my second favorite of all time. The hollandaise sauce is just perfect tasting. I always get it with a side of fruit which is always sweet and great. Overall my experience here was better then I expected since my husband picked out the spot. I highly recommend it.

It took me a long time to get here after I first found out this place existed but we’ve now been coming here for 3 or 4 years I think and have always enjoyed it. We’ve often gotten the breakfast and it’s always wonderful no matter what we get. We’ve also gotten sandwiches on occasion. I think today was the first time I ordered the soup and I couldn’t have been happier. The split pea soup was about as homemade as could be and really hit the spot. I certainly couldn’t have made it better myself and I’m a pretty good soup maker. The half BLT was top quality and chock full of good quality bacon.
Some of the prices initially seemed kind of high but when you take into consideration the great view of the planes taking off and landing plus the good quality food they consistently serve then it is well worth the price. They are only open for breakfast and lunch and the prices range from $ 8 – 9 up to $ 16 for steak and eggs. The Waitresses have always been nice and the place always seems quite clean.
Today’s visit had the added excitement of a power outage, something the waitress said never happens. It may have been caused by the gusty winds today and only lasted about 15 minutes fortunately.
This is a place we will definitely be back to. If you’re thinking about coming here, do it. And bring the kids because they’ll have a great time watching the planes too!

Good food nice people and fairly priced. They are very friendly and provided me with good service.

Great family environment. Seems like everyone brings their kids to watch the planes take off and land. The food was great; your classic breakfast diner options. It was nice not having any kind of wait on a Sunday morning, most likely because its pretty hidden. The staff is super sweet as well.

The food here is OUTSTANDING! The people are very friendly. The service some times lags, but always with a smile.
Their Club Sandwich is the very best ever.

Golden French toast with eggs, sub meat for fruit. Pretty good! The restaurant itself is a little hidden if it’s your first time. It’s located right next to the flight school. Perfect place to bring kids and let them enjoy the airplanes landing and taking off!

Back again 12 of us this time. Always good food and the services is tops
The King Pins car club
Thank You
To faraway to check in?
I’m less the 15 miles from the place Unilocal
Still fun breakfast place

I have searched for a long time, 20+ years, for a really good breakfast place.
Today I found it. Thanks to my friend Jill who recommended this place
.
The food was so dang delicious.
The severs were friendly and fast.
And watching the planes take off on the shaded patio was over the top.
I will definitely be coming here as a regular.

I have been to a few airport cafes in California and Idaho, and I like Gillespie Field Café better. People are very friendly, which I find in most others, however, their food is surprisingly much better. It’s an airport café so I don’t normally expect much, but you can here.
Give it a go, you won’t be disappointed!

We ordered a sandwich and omelet. Unfortunately the sandwich order included not only 1, but 2 pieces of some plastic. It also came with the wrong cheese.
The waitress was apologetic and did acknowledge that the kitchen had done more mistakes than usual.
As for the omelet, it was good. But my dining companion lost his appetite completely.
Sorry, but I can’t rate it better than 1 star today.

Came in here from work for lunch, definitely sit outside and enjoy the view of planes coming in and out of the airfield. You get a nice scenery of moutain ranges and people working in their planes. It can be a little noisy at times because of the engines, but ai didnt mind it at all.
They close at 3:00 so this would be ideal for breakfeast or lunch.
They are a little understaffed for servers but the customers service was good and they were very friendly.
The pastrami sandwich toast was buttery and crispy. The pastrami meat had a lot of flavor and it worked great together. Loved the home made potatoe salad.
Would definitely come back again.

I ordered the Mediterranean omelette with feta cheese olives spinach and yummy-​ness! I was curious about the omelette and was pleasantly surprised.
The atmosphere cannot be topped! Outside watching airplanes fly by… Kid friendly so the kids can wander along the fence and watch the airplanes safely.
I have been going to this place for over 10 years and the current owners have done such a great job! The quality of the food is so much better… it is a little more expensive now but definitely worth it.