Sod Busters

Family dining, your standard restaurant among limited options for this small town. Decent food for the money, just wish they offered premium coffe

Slow service, only 2 couples dining. Ordered a Monti Cristo sandwich and the bread was prepared like French toast, oddly included powdered sugar on top. The real treat was the mad dash to the restroom an hour later.

This is where my girls like me to take them for their birthdays or on a Saturday morning. I love eating breakfast food any time of the day, and Sodbusters’ chicken fried steak does not disappoint. In fact, all of their breakfast food that I’ve tasted (standard café fare, with a couple of unique menu items) is pretty good; unfortunately, the dinner sides and salad were bad enough to ruin two meals (one mine, one my wife’s)… I just stay away from the dinner menu altogether now, having learned my lesson. Dessert is okay, as long as you’re fine with Marie Callender pies. There’s plenty of seating, and the establishment is fairly clean, except in the overflow seating, which could use a bit of cleanup. The wait staff are super friendly (like everyone else in Goldendale) and the short order cook gets the food out pretty quickly. I’m a sucker for a greasy spoon diner, and I would have rated this place four stars, except for one thing: every time I go there, a fly will inevitably buzz around the table for the entire visit. I don’t see folks batting at flies at other tables, so either I’m lucky or maybe I just need to shower more often.

Delicious breakfast food, friendly service, good prices. I especially enjoyed the French toast. Nice small town feel. Fast service.
Happy to support a local stop!

This review is difficult. There are some positives to this place, it is large and great space for groups or a private conversation. But over the years the service and quality of food has drifted. As other reviews said, it is much like a Denny’s with different decorations and less to choose from. The burgers aren’t bad, and I always like the Monte Carlo Sandwich. Depending on what is going on, you will either get quick service with a smile, or very slow (agonizingly so) service with a smile (so at least you get a smile).

We ended up here for breakfast on a Saturday morning at about 8 am. I say ended up because, based on other reviews from this site it was not our first choice. I would say that other reviews are probably fairly accurate.
This restaurant serves fairly basic diner food. After we were finished we decided it is essentially a Denny’s, only the menu is much more limited.
The food did come out hot, only it took it a pretty long to to arrive. My dad’s pancakes were good, but other than that, nothing was remarkably good.
I doont think well ever visit this one again. Not when there are other places within driving distance

Pretty disappointed for a small diner in a small town doesn’t freshly make anything. Ordered hot chocolate to warm up after driving thru a hail storm and it was probably swiss miss mixed with hot water — this I knew because the powder was still on the brim of my mug.
We were told an array of pie choices — at least 10 choices to pick from. When asked is there a bakery here or near by to have so many choices and we were told it was all ordered via Sysco Food Company as well as the ice cream. It was just mediocre foods and drinks just microwaved and served.
On top of that we sat outside in the atrium and the seats was covered with cobwebs and bird poop. Not the cleanest place to eat. I’d only give it a full 2 stars because the service was friendly and rather fast.

We stopped here for a late lunch on our way south. I had the «homemade» chicken soup and a salad. The chicken soup tasted like it was started with chicken bouillon cubes, yuck. It was nice and hot, though. The salad came out of a bag with a couple of slices of red onion, cucumber, and tomato. Husband had a TexMex burger which was supposed to have a Poblana pepper on it. It had chopped canned chilies on it, a poor substitute. He also had bacon added which tasted like it was left over from early this morning. He commented that the burger was pretty much tasteless. Fries weren’t all that hot. All in all Mediocre diner fare.

Good hearty breakfast. Did enjoy the chicken fried steak as it was freshly prepared and the gravy was very tasty. Coffee was mediocre diner coffee, but stronger than most, so that’s a point in its favor. Décor was basic and comfy if not a bit sparse. Definitely a good breakfast place and about the only one in town it seemed. I drove down Main Street and most places were lunch/​dinner places save one coffee joint. I’d definitely go back.

Typical small-​town diner type joint. Fries were perfectly crispy, monte cristo was pretty bland and used gross processed cheese slice. Coffee was hot and plentiful. Service was prompt but curt, no friendly faces for us «out of towners.» I did notice they had pie, though sadly not until I was heading out the door. Maybe there will be a next time.

Slow service, small menu, food is mediocre to poor.

I have to say I never got as far as actually eating there because the person taking our order at the counter was so rude and patronizing that we cancelled our order and walked out. Don’t know if this is the owner or not, if it is, he deserves no business what so ever. Plus it’s like going to a take out restaurant and if you forget to grab a menu on the way in and walk directly to the ordering area, there won’t be a menu and the rude, beligerant owner will let you know how stupid you are for not grabbing one. Go figure. Wouldn’t go back there again for anything!!!

The only reason we went on that Thursday evening was that my in-​laws has been raving about their chicken fried steak (they stopped by there once a year) and they claimed to never have a bad experience there so we decided to take them there for dinner this time around.
I was a little hesitant reading some negative reviews from another website, but we decided to go anyway and I had to admit that I’m so glad we went.
Sod Busters café is a charming, cozy, clean lil’ ‘diner’. It was well-​lit, nicely decorated, clean, rather kitschy too (by the cashier, you can find locally printed funny/​humor books for sale, and after skimming through them, they’re funny as hell) and the staffs– the waitresses – were great. We got the same waitress who waited on my in-​laws last year too. She was awesome. She was nothing but friendly, helpful and accommodating.
And at one point, another waitress who wasn’t waiting on our table even would fill up our drinks when our waitress isn’t around. And it was rather busy evening, what with the crowd coming in after a junior-​high football game, but the service remained great regardless.
My m-​i-​l ordered the Chef salad, while hub, myself and father-​in-​law settled on the chicken fried steak. Our son got fish and chips. The portion was BIG, and it came either with soup and salad (and beautiful huge dinner toast). The salad was fresh, the fried steak was great (fluffy mashed potatoes, delicious white gravy – and the portion was so big that we had to have doggie bags); the coffee is excellent and the kiddo even insisted on cherry pie ala mode after dinner. I had a taste of the pie too, I must admit although I normally dislike cherry pies, but this one was freshly made and delicious!
Overall, it was very very good experience. Next year, we’d make sure to stop by again when we went camping by Goldendale.

Good food. Nice service. We stopped here while road tripping. Go on in.

heading back from 2 nights @ the Gorge to PDX and had a hankering for biscuits and gravy. Found this spot while stopping for gas. Classic american diner food… think omelettes, pancakes, and biscuits and gravy. grabbed an order to go and it hit the spot. lots of gravy… mmm gravy. prices are middle of the road.

Have eaten here before about 2 yrs ago and it was good, but now the service was the worst I have ever had at a restaurant. If I where u I would eat at Mcdonalds down the road.

I was several hours into a road trip hoping to stumble upon something edible and saw a Dairy Queen sign just off the freeway and figured, sure, that’ll do. Luckily I saw a bunch of cars parking and people wandering into Sod Busters just a little ways further along. I figured with such brisk business from the locals it was worth a shot, so I swung on in.
It was brunch time when we got there. Coffee was very good and obviously fresh brewed. I had a scramble and pancakes, my wife had the chicken fried steak and biscuits. Both were very well executed and priced well.
Service was prompt and friendly. The atmosphere is very much relaxed and conducive to larger groups with many 4 person booths and several large tables that were sitting parties of 8.
If I’m ever nearby again, I’d surely stop in again.

Classic small town America, homey, comfort-​food, non-​greasy spoon with all the greatest hits and some simple tasty extras. The type of food many people call «diner», but in the rural «country farm» setting rather than a slick hopping diner.
Just stopped once, but the bright clean atmosphere and friendly people suggest my experience was not unusual. Very friendly, attentive, accommodating wait staff, excellent food for this category of eating places.
I’m a real coffee snob (to me, Starbucks is in the same league as Folger’s) and the coffee was fantastic with generous refills.
There weren’t times listed on the menu, so it’s possible they might offer everything all day as similar places do. My simple scrambled eggs and pancakes were excellent (I’ve not enjoyed a pancake, period, in more years than I can count). The German Sausage is delicious, and my companion’s meaty omelette was gigantic. However, in delivering large portions they don’t do like many places do: replace quality with quantity.
So if you’re passing through this quaint little town, don’t be drawn in by the comfortable familiar Subway and Dairy Queen: take the time to make a stop at Sod Buster’s (I hear they do to-​go orders as well), and have a real meal on the road.