Red Mountain Cafe

This is a great diner– the breakfasts are so great! Love the breakfast burrito– so big though you can share it!
Prices are great too– several weekly specials, and they are very family/​customer service driven

This is your average, small town atmosphere kind of café. They have them all over the south. Being from the south, it’s my kind of place. The blueberry pancakes were very good and real blueberries inside. Coffee is good. There are some rough around the edges wait staff, but that’s what is to be expected in this type of establishment. Get over yourself if you’re too sensitive. I’ve read the other reviews and basically it’s just perception. If this is your kind of place, you’ll like it.

We were there for breakfast and found the food good. Normal breakfast fare. Service was awesome. Food ok. Not gonna write home about it and it’s not good enough to make you want to slap your mama.

Nothing special. Waitresses who don’t want to be there and run of the mill shamrock pee made food.

There should be a minus rating. We just walked out after being there for over an hour and never got our food. All the tables that came in after us (6 of them) ordered after us an were already done eating and paying their checks! Never again.

My family and I here for brunch on a Sunday morning over our week of vacation. It took forever to get our food. I ordered the mini breakfast, and all the food was cold. At least the coffee was hot.

Let’s see… Mom and I out for the day… decide to have dinner on the way home. We agreed to support a local café/​rest. vs a franchise, so we actually turned around to go to a café where in the past has, she has had a great home made cinnamon roll… so my Mom is 82… we turn around. Get to the café: Special Today: Prime Rib 16.99… My mother loves prime rib. So we ordered it.
Salad out of a sack… The dressing is good… and I’m ok with that… it’s a kind of hole in the wall café… I get the vibe. String beans… tiny serving… I’m ok with that… but out of a can? Ok… still no complaining. But when I see my mother cutting (or shall I say attempting to «saw thought the meat» I mention that it looks tough and offer some of my dinner. She accepts and as a loving mother would do, she puts a piece of the meat on a platter for me… Sweet. So, before I say any more, I try to stick my fork it in… Not happening. The majority of her meat is TOUGH AS LEATHER. When a waitress did come by, I mentioned that, «We were not looking for anything», but wanted to let her know the meat is really tough. When she returns, she said something to the effect, «I don’t know what to do, but the owner isn’t going to do anything about it, she says if you want to have it cooked more we can do that»… My answer… As I took a STAB at a piece and asked her to send it back to the owner, was, «It isn’t how the meat is cooked, It’s simply a bad/​tough piece of meat». just thought someone would want to know… Well. fast forward… All we were trying to do was to let the cook/​owner/​staff… anyone that might be interested… that the meat was tough. Take it off the menu… talk to your vendor… a tough meat does not get more tender if you toss it back on the Barbie. Bad review? You bet. My first bad review. Yes. and I hope to never have another… We are ranchers… not beggers… all anyone had to say was… «Thank you for bringing it to our attention… we’ll take it into consideration… something… not…“There is nothing wrong with the meat… let’s try cooking it again.» The owner refused to come out to speak with us… Bad idea. Franchise or local… you still need to care about your customers… I felt bad for the servers. Seems it was an awkward position for them… and I don’t think it was the first time. Good thing is: We left a nice JUICY tip… the only thing juicy regarding that dinner. The end.

The first time I came here the service was amazing and the food was too. Just left and I am so upset. The waitress was extremely slow (as in she should find something else to do). I kept having to ask another waitress for things because ours would disappear. Then my food came out less than luke warm. By time our «waitress» got back to us it was cold. They took it in the back and nuked it. Management did nothing to resolve. I am so very disappointed! The 3 stars is for the food and my first time here otherwise a one star would have been given.

My husband and I stopped today for a late lunch. The place was still busy, and we soon knew why. The food was brought to us piping hot, and everything tasted like it was made from scratch and was very flavorful. We’ll definitely return for another meal soon!

This place made top of the list for this weeks dirty dinning 6 HEALTH CODE VIOLATIONS!!! Nasty

I really don’t understand all of the 5 star reviews — I suppose much of the clientele that frequent this place are elderly and probably would also leave raving reviews about their local Denny’s. Which is basically what this place tastes like…
I couldn’t finish my skillet because it just tasted so canned — as if the gravy came out of a packet. The toast I got came buttered but it was just oil they brushed on making the bread soggy. I actually ended up with a terrible stomach ache from all the grease.
Maybe I just prefer places that source food locally and actually cook their items from scratch, but my grandpa seems to love this place. Who knows, maybe you will too.

Wow! This is THE BEST breakfast in Mesa, and I would put it up against anything in Phoenix as well. All the reviews I read were accurate, service is fantastic and food is amazing.
I had the country fried steak and the gravy they make is one the best I’ve had in awhile. The pancakes were amazing as well, nice and fluffy, not too thin.
After a long search of finding a breakfast spot I finally found my breakfast diner near my house.

Great for Breakfast. Haven’t tried lunch yet but the service and breakfast items are always good and the service is great.
Mostly regulars in the morning.
Would recommend this place for early risers in east mesa.

Yuck! Not a dinner place. Chicken fried steak not edible. Gravy tasted like spackle. Depressing atmosphere. Friendly server.

I got the philly steak and it was great! They put a lot of cheese on it. Lots of places go cheap on the cheese.

So glad we found this place! One of our new favorites! Service is outstanding and the food taste like down home country goodness.

Great place for a great, reasonably priced breakfast. The only down side, which is really an upside for them, is waiting for a table. They are always PACKED! It’s truly worth the wait though. This isn’t just general diner/​café food, they step up the breakfast régime for sure!

Nice, little spot for breakfast. Polite waitresses, strong coffee, and realistic food portions. They open at 5AM, and it’s generally SLAMMED with adorable elderly clientele. Not much to say! Just a solid little spot!

I’ve been here for lunch a handful of times over the past 5 or 6 years. I usually get their chicken schwarma, and I enjoy it. I’ve never been for breakfast, although I went for dinner for the first time yesterday evening. The thing about this place is that it’s exactly what you should expect — homestyle food. Mom and pop place frequented by a lot of locals/​regulars. Waitstaff has always been friendly. The food is neither fancy nor gourmet. Side salads consist of iceburg lettuce with some chopped tomatoes on top. For dinner I got the Chicken Parmesan. The chicken was nice and crispy, although the flavor of the tomato sauce was nothing to write home about, and the was only a small amount of cheese sprinkled on top. The rest of the guests with me for dinner (from Michigan, I might add) enjoyed their meals. And the taco salad that one of them ordered looked amazing!
I guess what I’m trying to say is that no, the food here isn’t fantastic. It’s okay, and the décor and prices are appropriate for the quality of their food. Fellow yeplers, please keep in mind, this is a small place with down-​home cooking, and a basic menu and flavors. When you see 3 or 4 stars, it’s 3 or 4 stars for the type of restaurant that this is. You can’t compare it to 3 or 4 stars at some fancy, high-​priced eatery.

Oh Unilocal you steered me wrong! Before I begin it should be known that I AM a yooper from the upper peninsula in Michigan and grew up with nothing but small «ma and pa» diners. Stick to your rib, no frills, just good hearty food was the norm for me, so I was excited to try this place. Moreover a restaurant owned by people from my neck of the woods was so appealing to me, and being a bit homesick, I dragged my hubby there this morning. What a disappointment.
They were a little busy as to be expected on a Sunday, and we ignored the fact that a gentleman who came after us was seated first, but I think it struck a subconscious cord with us. Again, to be fair, there was a huddle of people by the register, how were they to know? We were seated pretty quickly which was nice, but we had about four different waitresses throughout, none particularly pleasant because they were so quick and rushed. And I was disappointed that my attempt for small talk with our main waitress was rebutted. Damn, wanted to talk about Michigan but she had no clue where the owners were from (though there were «yooper» flags all over.
Now the food. Corned beef hash was from a can (we were warned by our waitress) and my biscuits and gravy were dry with meatless gravy. Wonderbread toast, undercooked scrambled eggs and just weak coffee just made this breakfast heartbreaking.
I really really hate to post this review. I am nowhere near a food snob or picky for that matter, but this was sad. Even the canned hash would be forgiven if there was flavor added (hell I grew up on the stuff). But we were left with upset tummies and even worse, wasted time. At least it was less that 30 bucks, but I would’ve paid double for a good meal and nice time.