The Embers

I SO badly want to like this place. But each time, there’s just something «off».
Today, I had the chicken fried steak scramble with home potatoes on the side.
Why am I tasting a sour flavor? Did they put buttermilk in the gravy or scrambled eggs?
The scrambled eggs were thin and kinda slimy. even the parts that had no country gravy on them. It’s so weird. Is it me?
The gravy was extremely thin and tasted like plain milk. There was a hint of sausage flavor, but nothing to say, «hey this is sausage gravy.»
I really have to remember to say LIGHT gravy or gravy on the side. they just put wayy too much on the top of the food.
I could barely taste the chicken fried steak because every mouthful was gravy. The 2 little pieces I did have would have been great on their own. Please get gravy on the side and put on as much as you want… do not let them determine the amount for you.
Anyway, something in the dish tasted a bit old and sour. I think it was the eggs! The potatoes on their own were good and so was the chic fried steak. and when I tasted the eggs, I think it was them that gave the dish an ick factor.
The wheat toast was good.
Also tried the french toast. Lightly browned on the outside and dry-​plain bread on the inside. This is a pass and I will not order that again.
I don’t even know if I’ll be back… maybe in a year or so.
Or, maybe I’m just ordering the wrong stuff. and ordering the wrong stuff to-​go. Maybe the food is better if you eat there?
I don’t know.

Finally came here after how many years of driving by this place. Needed breakfast and I was in the area so I decided to eat here instead of another place where I normally go. I walked in and it just felt comfortable. I was told to choose any table and the nice woman immediately gave me a menu and started me off with my drink. Shortly after, the server cheerfully took my order. The service was fast and she constantly checked on me which is a plus being the only server. She made sure that all of the tables are taken care of and I could tell that many of them are regulars.
I ordered the California Benedict (Canadian Bacon, Tomato & Avocado) and French Toast (I eat a lot). Couldn’t decide out of the two, so I got both. The hollandaise sauce was a bit bland but the consistency and the rest of the dish was good. The French toast was a good portion and soft but also lack of flavor. Everything was executed except that it could’ve used more flavor. The price is definitely affordable and I left satisfied so I can’t complain too much. I would come back in the future.

The Death of an Icon!
I have always been psychologically attached to this restaurant. It was my Mom’s favorite place. She would be 99 years old now… and it is from the era of the BBQ pits. We have been regulars for years, at least 20 YEARS, and for breakfast about 5 times a month since my retirement.
Today we were served our breakfast, and the waitress said she would be right back with the toast… we didn’t react… barley looked up and she asked my husband what was wrong with us… then claimed, «We didn’t deserve to be there!
We are your Grandparents Age!
She told us to get out and never come back again… But I’m so going to miss the Women’s restroom that hasn’t been cleaned in years. The tile is falling off the sinks, the sinks are old and rusted. About a year ago I told one of the waitress that there was an ant trail along the base board and lo and behold when I came back again they had place an artificial arrangement up against that area… that is now more filthy… then the ants. If you don’t believe me go in the Women’s Restroom look above the stool and see the spider web that has been there for two years?
Yes I believe that this manager/waitress…was correct… WE DON’T DESERVE TO BE THERE ANY MORE… Too bad though… it was an Icon in Pinole, FOR US!

All I can say is that when I asked for fresh fruit the waitress looked at me as if I asked for a dead person. «We only have canned peaches. «wrong place to go.

Excellent breakfast joint! Haven’t had a chance to try their lunch or dinner plates however their breakfast is off the hook!!!
Prices are on point, always parking, and their staff is great! Highly recommend «the embers»

Embers is my families go to for breakfast and lunch! The staff is always really nice and make sure you have a great experience right when you walk in! Love it here.

I give this place no stars worst everything ever the food looked like a train wreck the chicken was like leatther and dry the RI s were black and crunchy the waitress was horrible poor service.

Came to eat a late breakfast around 1pm on a Saturday. We were greeted and seated we ordered our drinks right away and waitress came to get our food order in a timely manner. I ordered the California egg Benedict which was delicious! The avocados were fresh and the sauce was tasty. My daughters had hash browns and chocolate chip pancakes which I’m guessing we’re very good since they ate all their food. My coffee cup was never empty. Overall service and staff here is great and attentive. Breakfast is great. I will be returning for dinner another day.

Good Food!!! I love the pit type roast beef. sometimes I order just the meat and save the carbs for a beer… just sayin

Spinach omelet was amazing and the service super friendly!
6 stars if I could
Top breakfast place :)

I’m going to have to dine here a few more times.
So far, so good. Came here for breakfast, which is not my favorite meal of the day.
It’s really hard to mess up breakfast, and this place did not mess up.
They have your basic breakfast fare (although I don’t see Portuguese linguica on menus too often — a plus in my book). And, I was tempted to get my Portugee linguica on. Actually, I wanted to order some of their BBQ stuff. But, I didn’t want to look like a total weirdo. So, I’ll be back to try some French dip at lunch, and some BBQ at dinner.
This place reminded me of a much better, local Denny’s. Not too fancy, not trying too hard.

First off, I will say that Ive only been for breakfast but I have yet to be disappointed, Never been especially crowded and I get a seat without too much of a wait. The menu is standard shit. omelets, pancakes, french toast etc. I always get an omelet. theres a jumbo jim that has ground beef, cheese and spinach. thats right up my alley. You can have your standard potatoes or maybe sub them out for fruit or cottage cheese. I usually have a biscuit. comes out warm and melts the butter. pretty damn tasty. The service isn’t to the point where theyre checking on you every 5 minutes I guess thats what some people look for. I take it for what it is, and Ive never had a bad time. If you go here, be nice, be local. you won’t be disappointed.

My iced tea was fresh and refreshing. Ordered a French dip with fries. It was perfect fries nice and hot. I loved the 1980’s telephone. Made me feel like I was a child again. My server was great. I recommend Embers to all my friends.

This is one of those lesser known places in the east bay that will keep you coming back for more. They have their own smoker and the steak in my opinion is one of the best I have had (and it ranks with Ruth Chris’s and House of Prime Rib).
They’ve always got local sports on and the service is excellent. I bring my family there all of the time and it doesn’t break the bank.
I would recommend that everyone try this place. It’s a diamond in the ruff :-)

The food is good the young host guy is a cool cat the guy that gets you you’re drinks is super cool… BUT the reason for the one star is the hostess… she is extremely rude and needs to either take a break or take a class on manners… do you get a smiling face when you walk in, nope just a sour puss on top of no personality… on my way out she almost ran me over because she wasn’t paying attention to anyone but herself and did I get an apology, nope… have a great day hostess go on break please (not to mix this horrible hostess with another I was here on Sunday sept 20^th from 10ish to 11) food today tasty as ever… but what a bad taste left in my mouth, customer service counts

I wish I could give this place no stars. It’s disgusting. The food quality is horrible. I never really take the time out to write reviews, but this place was definitely worth it. Yuck! Please don’t go here. I beg of you.

Normally the service is great. Today the service was crap! But food was good as normal. No soup and the server had an issue.

Have you ever desperately wanted a place to be good, but no matter how good your intentions are, it’s still a terrible experience? That’s what just happened to me at The Embers in Pinole.
Yes, olé Gabi is at it again. TRYING to find another place that serves decent food in my area. When the discussion arose of «where do we go tonight?» we decided to give this place a try AGAIN. Mind you, I first ate here back in 2012 when we moved to Pinole. It was pretty darned good then. A second visit a few weeks later was just OK. Then the last time we visited it was pretty terrible. I believe that was in 2014. I know. I’m slipping with my local reviews…
The general consensus was that time had passed and it MUST have gotten better. No. It has not. My complain that last time I was here was that the ribs were crappy. We asked to have a second rack brought out because the first was dry (it happens). That time the second rack was good. We figured it might just be an anomaly. Apparently it wasn’t.
Queue to tonight’s meal. My partner ordered a full rack and I ordered the tri-​tip steak. Our scheme was that at least ONE of the dishes would be good. Brace yourselves: acerbic words incoming:
The salad. I know. You don’t go to a meat place for the salad. I would rather them serve only oil and vinegar than Wishbone Italian dressing. You know the type. YELLOW is not a color of Italian dressing. It should have some red in it cuz vinegar yo. I give them a pass for not having it be entirely made up of iceberg lettuce. The tomato slice was delicious.
Our entrees were beyond the pale. I tried my partner’s ribs. HOLY MOLY. What did they do to them? Dry and without flavor. They were simply awful. We both tried one and figured that maybe we were victims of «Dry Rack Syndrome» again. While we waited for the server to come back around to get us a better selection of ribs, I started in on my tri-​tip steak. It was not medium rare as I requested. Both pieced of meat were grey inside. The server was at our table at this point and retreated with the bad meat in hand. Is it really that difficult to make a tri tip steak medium rare? I do it at home all the time folks.
My partner gave up on the ribs. He didn’t want to try for another rack so he ordered a gyro (how can you screw THAT up right?). I patiently waited for my trip tip to return. I munched on the garlic toast I was given in the mean time. It was interesting while it was warm and then it was not.
Finally our second try food came to the table. His gyro had the smallest amount of meat I have EVER seen in one of those things. Trust me, he used to order them all the time when we went to a place in Berkeley. This was the saddest excuse for a gyro EVER.
My tri-​tip was was barely medium rare. As for the taste: once again, WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE POOR MEAT? It tasted like when they would serve us steak night at the dorms. The lowest quality, driest meat they could find for a mass quantity of people. It barely tasted like tri-​tip does. I was longing for Buckhorn Grill by this time.
My partner barely finished his gyro. It’s usually not a problem for him to finish all of his food and some of mine. Not tonight. I have NEVER seen him complain about a meal like this. We just wanted to get out by now. I ate as much of my trip-​tip as I could stomach. I was hungry and I didn’t want to bring any of it home. I also felt bad for the server. She seemed very nice and she was certainly giving it her best shot. It’s not HER fault that the meat is being abused in the back.
Embers: your ribs are dry and your steaks are over cooked. I can no longer return. I can’t waste any more money on a location that isn’t improving. While I do my best to support local businesses, you have lost my patronage until I see your reviews improve.

The food is usually good. It seems all my favorite servers have quit. The last server we had was also the owner who was very rude and unpleasant. I have started going to other places spending my money where I am appreciated and feel welcome.

5 stars for food and service and TV. If I had my way tho, it would be no stars for the lie! Yes. They lie that they are a greasy spoon diner. They lie their food will be sub par. You all know what I mean, you want dried cakey hash browns but oh know, they serve practically whole shredded potatoes! How am I gonna use my perfectly cooked eggs on that! Or the steak! Don’t get me started. I wanna drown that thing in A-​1 sauce but once again I am foiled by the straight taste of the delicious morsel. I ordered steak and eggs by the way.
I’ve been here later in the day as well and people just order their meat to go. Oh. The décor is something to be desired but that’s a lie to keep people away from good food.
Good times in all