Plaza Cafe

Wow what a find I love these kinda joints! The Green Verde sauce is some of the best I’ve ever had but beware very spicy the way I like it! no amateurs allowed

Perfect «no-​frills» diner on historic Route 66! Friendly waitress, great chili burrito, and classic eggs/​hash browns, as the train rolls by!

My first time here in years and I should have stuck with the breakfast burrito. However, I decided to try their biscuits and gravy special. The gravy tasted sweet like the cook used heavy cream to make it. There was no seasoning added to the gravy as well. It was gross. The place was empty so I am guessing the location we are at doesn’t get busy. I won’t be coming here again.

Should have listened to the reviewer who got a rash from one of the barstools. Well ate biscuits and gravy. Not good. Got sick for four days. If you need to get skinny from food poisoning this is where u go. Biscuits were hard not fluffy. Potatoes lackluster. Gross. Obviously not clean. Will not support local restaurants in Gallup.

This is a difficult place to rate because my husband would give it a solid 4 and i would give it a weak 3. So call it 3 ½ for the following reasons. My husband loves burritos so he ordered the sausage and egg burrito with green sauce. He loved it. The green sauce had an unexpected but welcome kick and was deliciously flavorful. The whole beans on the side were also pretty good. Unfortunately the biscuits and gravy were not. The biscuits were very dense and did not seem to be fully cooked. The gravy had no real flavor. The hashbrowns were undercooked. Service was good but the prices were a little high, probably because this place is on Historic Route 66. By the amount of attention the waitress gave the other customers, all male, I would say this place had many regulars so hopefully my meal was an aberration.

Driving through on a long road trip from L.A. to Oklahoma and needed to stop for gas and breakfast. This place had the best Unilocal reviews, so we thought we’d give it a try.
We laughed hysterically when we pulled up to this tiny house that looks like an old trailer and figured they’re better at cooking than decorating. We love an experience!
We were seated very quickly by a most friendly server. The coffee arrived quickly and piping hot. The place was packed with who seemed to be neighborhood locals – that’s when you KNOW it’s good!
I had read that their biscuits and gravy were bomb so we both ordered that, with eggs and bacon. It took a little longer than I wanted for the food to arrive, but hey, they kept my coffee cup full and acknowledged that our order would be up soon. It was well worth the wait. The portions were huge but that didn’t stop us from soaking up every bite of food on the plates.
On a side note, I saw one review from ¹²⁄₁₅ saying this place had just been renovated. That’s hard for me to believe because this diner looked like it hadn’t seen changes since the 60s. Just goes to show you, never judge a book by the cover. If I’m ever in Gallup at breakfast time again, I will definitely return.

When I first went to this place they were remodeling and we went in for lunch my food was ok no problem there the service was average the interior kinda felt unorganized. The problem was my wife had got her food and before she ate it she found a longggggg black hair in it which immediately made us not want to come back to this place. But other then that i wouldve rated this place a steady three stars.

Family and I stopped here on our trip along Route 66. Food was fabulous easily the best french toast I’ve ever had. the kids loved it too.

We went in for breakfast while on a road trip– if we’re coming through this area again, we WILL stop and eat again!
We had the sausage burrito special with green sauce– fantastic! And of course, had to try the famous French toast– do NOT miss it!!!
The service was friendly and attentive! Thanks for a great start to our day!

Excellent! The portions are huge! I had a half order of French toast with two eggs and bacon. I eat like I bird, but I almost finished it. My boyfriend had a full order with French toast and eggs and cleaned his plate. Plenty of regulars, too, which is always a good sign. The service was quick and ultra friendly. I definitely recommend this place!

This is such a great place! Whenever we come through and stay in Gallup we always make a point of coming to THE PLAZA!
It still doesn’t look like much even after three years, but it does have an open sign in the window now :) I was the first one to check in and write a review and post pictures. I am so happy to be back enjoying another wonderful breakfast meal with my family! Gallup is super friendly and this place is so worth the stop!!! So stop!!! You’ll love it!

Must try. Excellent red and green chile. I had enchiladas but my nephew had the French toast and we agree it’s the best ever. We passed this place with an old trailer fused to an old building. My dad made a joke about eating here and I said absolutely not! Then I checked Unilocal and decided we had to try it. So a few days later we did, and everyone loved it! It’s a small little diner with fantastic food. Such a funny little place. Who knew it would feed you so well?

Wanted to eat the «best French toast» that everyone was raving about. But we went a little after 11am and missed the breakfast menu by a few min.
I got the cheese & onion enchiladas w red chili sauce ($ 6.95). It came with beans & a small portion of iceberg lettuce mix, both on the same plate. It also came w some homemade tortillas, which were very good. i had in mind bigger enchiladas but what I got were dinky. The food overall was pretty good. Nothing different or special about it. I can heat up the corn tortillas with cheddar cheese in it, throw some chopped onions on top, and get the same results at home.
My husband got the Mexican chicken fried steak w green chili sauce ($ 8.95). It also came w beans on the side and some tortillas. The steak had cheddar cheese on top, which i thought looked «different.» But he said it was good. In fact, to my surprise, he said everything was excellent. (and he doesn’t even like beans!)
But we’re both not sure about giving them 5 stars bc 5 stars should be reserved for the best of the best. And while finding a place like this on a road trip is probably worth it (compared to eating fast food meal after meal), I’m not sure if I feel inclined to go back again. I would probably try other local restaurants just for the sake of trying new things and giving them a chance that other faithful Unilocalers have not been to.
Friendly waitress.
Dirty stained chairs.
No a la carte, so says the menu.
Small, i-don’t-want-to-use-this-bathroom kind of bathroom.
Accepts AmEx.

Y’all.
This french toast is the shit.
Seriously.
Get some.

First off the new address is 820 W Maloney. We tried both the red and green chile. Both were nice and spicy and delicious! Beans are homemade and awesome! We want to come back and try lunch!

Great local breakfast stop. Several breakfasts with ½ biscuits & gravy which is huge.
Ask for aside of green chile. It is amazing.
Typical dive diner with tasty cheap food.

While I was doing some research for my trip, I saw this place and a lot of Unilocalers seemed to like it. I think I was probably the furthest from their usual crowd.
It was interesting to see all the stores along the road. I’ve seen a lot of small towns that just give up and Gallup seems to be trying things.
The restaurant didn’t have much parking and there isn’t really much street parking, either.
I kinda grinned when I saw the place because it looks a bit worn, and I wondered if my relatives would have gone inside it. I took a seat at the counter and the waitress, who was crazy busy, brought me a menu. (It’s funny, many places, I’ll wait to be seated, and they’re not like that, but I felt comfortable in just sitting at the counter.)
They had some good specials but everything seemed like so much food. I ended up with the green chiles & cheese omelet, plus a home made flour tortilla, buttered, instead of toast.
The waitress asked if everything was okay and I replied that I was going to have to move to town. :-D It was good. The breakfast came with home fries and they really weren’t all that fried, but they weren’t soggy, either, so that was okay. The omelet made up for it. She said that the green chiles («today!») were kind of spicy, but I eat a lot of Korean food, so they weren’t all that spicy to me.
I’m glad I stopped… twice. I would never believe that I’d drive two hours for breakfast. I think I drove from Moriarty, NM on the trip out and from Flagstaff, AZ on the return trip. The food was definitely worth it.
I think on the return trip, I was too late for breakfast, so I got a taco and enchilada with some really good sauce, although I never expected the taco to be submerged in the sauce. Since the trip, I’ve been a few places for breakfast, and I keep looking for that green chile pepper omelet, but I doubt I’ll ever find another.

As we made our way back from Santa Fe to LA, somehow we started talking about steak and eggs. I guess we do talk about food a lot. Anyhow, we were coming up on Gallup just in time for breakfast so we stopped at this dive of a diner. There’s no website and no one wrote about steak and eggs as far as we could see, but we were keeping our fingers crossed that a café located on Route 66 would have this quintessential road trip grub. And it did!
Actually they offer a 6 oz. steak and eggs ($ 10.95) on their menu, but the on the dry erase board behind the counter was a special combo of NY STEAK, EGGS, HASHBROWNS, TOAST AND COFFEE for $ 12.95! We all ended up ordering this. The steak was cooked well (didn’t matter that we asked for it differently), the eggs were buttery and the hashbrowns were underdone.
Our server was raving about their freshly-​made FLOUR TORTILLA, so we got one. Not sure why folks are so excited about this thick, flatbread-​like «tortilla». It was soft and barely warm. We were told to spread butter on it and enjoy. Meh.

Road trip through 5 states, means Unilocal must be consulted for wonderful stops — and this was a big win — THANK YOU, Unilocalers.
I never would have stopped here based on curb appeal, and at first wasn’t even sure it was open at all. Thankfully, it was, and we stopped — knowing Unilocalers are never wrong.
DELICIOUS!!! That sums it up.
I am a huge huervos rancheros fan. The choice of red or green sauce only stumped me for a second. I always take the spiciest path. What a great kick the green had! These were my favorite huervos I have ever had anywhere. I recommend them fully.
Because of the rave reviews of french toast — my daughter had them. She got the small portion, which overflowed a large plate. She loved them. She is not a lover of syrup, and found they simply needed none. Beautiful, as well.
My other daughter had the pancakes and sausage — no way could she eat it all. She was happy with it, but it was nothing special — typical and what you expect. I wouldn’t waste time on them, with amazing other choices.
I fell madly in love with the FAT home made tortilla that filled a plate. I could only make it through a small amount of my meal — but no way was going to leave that tortilla behind. It travelled through 2 more states with me, and served as a wonderful snack.
Our service was friendly, and café typical. The décor is train themed — which is well suited for the area, as trains continually passed by. The worlds smallest bathroom, with the worlds largest roll of toilet paper is how we summed up the facilities. It served us well, so that was no issue.
The décor and curb appeal can’t be what drives you, if you want to stop at Plaza Café — it has to be the delicious food that you are after. If the rest is of no importance, you will leave extremely happy and ready to take on another 500 miles.
Now, if you are a local — I will understand if you turn your kitchen into a game room and dine here every time you are hungry.

Left the big city early morning before dawn, heading home, and figured we’d find a good place to stop for breakfast along the way.
Well, Gallup is a small little town and we decided to stop and find the local hangout. This was it, looks like a couple of trailers stuck together, very small and when we walked in, had a few tables with the electric crew and a few town folk.
I got the green chili omelet and it was really good, a bit of spice, the cheese was thick and gooey. It was served with hash browns and toast.
So even though it was breakfast, it was very good and added that New Mexico flavor I’d expect.