Cafe 50’s

It was just ok. Stopped in for a quick lunch last week. Place was pretty empty so seating wasnt an issue. I ordered a bbq bacon chicken sandwich. Comes with a side of coleslaw, fries are extra. Waitress was friendly and took my order. Food came out about 10 min later and was decent. Only problem is that she never came back to check on me until I was done eating. Surprising since it was so empty inside. Total came to about $ 12 for the sandwich and a side of fries. I might come back, but chances are I will hit up the Subway next door.
Oh and plenty of parking in the back lot.

I actually ordered food to go from Living Social, so I can only rate the food.
My sig other ordered the BBQ Bacon cheeseburger and fries, while I ordered the Italian Sub with seasoned fries. Time, time, and again, I end up wanting HIS meal instead of mine. My sub sandwich was pretty good. I am disappointed they put mayo AND mustard on an Italian sandwich, but that is forgiveable. But HIS burger was pretty darn good. I think it was really the bacon that put the cherry on top, and the BBQ sauce was the hot fudge. There wasn’t anything hugely special or amazing about the burger, but somehow the combo of flavors sat just right on my taste buds.
This place is good for a quick bite to eat to go, when you don’t feel like going out. I would, though, like to give this place a try. It looks pretty 50s, so maybe next time we will stay.

For the first time in many MANY years, I had to send my food back. Café 50’s on Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks is a travesty and an affront to all that is good and decent in the world.
I ordered a Country Scrambler, which is supposed to be scrambled eggs, ground turkey, spinach, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes, but what I got looked like a cat vomited on my plate. And it tasted even worse… Bland, no flavor, everything was overcooked and mushy. The hashbrowns were crispy on the outside and cold and pasty mush on the inside. Nothing had been seasoned — no salt, no pepper, just bland mush.
I was so disappointed, I sent it all back. Even the biscuits and gravy I had on the side were frozen premade biscuits and canned gravy. Disgusting and disappointing.
The manager on duty was very apologetic and quickly got me a short stack of pancakes to replace the cat puke, but the pancakes were rubbery and chewy like the cook had overbeaten the batter. They also had a weird aftertaste which I could not place, something like the flour they used (OK, let’s be real here — the premixed pancake batter they used) was old or had been left in a damp area too long. I’m counting the days until this disgusting place is closed forever.
Of course after I sent my Catpuke Scrambler back, the service went downhill. No one checked on my table anymore, my coffee cup went dry, and I sat and waited for 15 minutes to get my check.
The biggest insult? When I finally checked out, the disgusting «Country Scrambler» I sent back was STILL on my ticket. I had no desire left to argue anymore, so I paid $ 8.99 for a terrible egg mess which I didn’t eat, instead of the $ 6.50 short stack of pancakes which I did eat.
Save yourself the time and avoid a disgusting meal by walking 4 blocks east to Mel’s Diner.

Not bad since it moved to Ventura Blvd. The hamburgers are so so and are huge with huge buns. The Italian Sub is quite good. There is an outdoor seating as well. I just can’t get the feeling though they just painted over the old Carl’s Jr. signs and that was it.

I’m totally bumping Café 50’s up one star for one MAJOR reason. While in this afternoon I so humbly requested/​suggested they order «Circus Animal Cookie» Thrifty ice-​cream since they now serve Thrifty ice-​cream and this is like the best flavor EVER!!! Not only did the very kind gentleman I ask say he’d order it — he called right then and there while we were dining and ordered it. So those of you who know just how much I’ve been raving about this stuff and how disappointed I am when certain Rite Aids here and there don’t have it — «a couple tubs» will be making a very special appearance here. If you see me checking in here every single day — we’ll all know why. Happy Summer!

My ANgUS is on fire –_​_​–
*minus the «G»
I rarely start off a review so disheartening but well… it’s the truth. So I went to CAFE 50’s once about 5 years ago when it was on Van Nuys… can’t remember the food (never a good thing) but the ambience of the place was awesome. Also one of my ex’s and her sister used to LOVE Café 50’s and always rave about it years ago.
Fast forward to 3 hours ago. I’m in the school of reviewers here who used a Groupon and still ended up paying an additional $ 20.
First off the place itself… it’s not like the old Café 50’s… it took over the Carls Jr. that used to be here when it went out of business. The place here a weird vibe to it… it was TRYING to be a 50’s diner but wasn’t. The pictures and décor were a minimal lackadaisical effort.
—–
Now onto the food… which one hour after consumption was in the Los Angeles sewer system. We got the 3 eggs + 3 bacon + hash brown + English Muffin combo. I added mushrooms and cheese to my scrambled eggs (+$ 2.50) and also decided to try one of their Milk Shakes since quite a few people said they were good on here.
I knew I shoulda passed when I saw it was «THRIFTY’s» ice cream. The OREO SHAKE was simply a scoop or two of ice cream and milk and tasted pretty bland. Next up the English Muffin. I’m not expecting much from an English Muffin but it was honestly the nastiest English Muffin I’d ever tasted. I’ve only had McDonalds, Thomas’s and a Trader Joes english muffin before and this was shitacularily nasty. I only ate ½.
Moving on… theres the Hash Browns… I had that toward the end of the meal. It’s pretty hard to f*ck up Hash Browns… but they did… not cooked all the way (no crispiness at all) no flavor… just bland and fell apart as soon as my fork hit it.
The eggs were pretty bad. They were nasty by themselves… massive quantities of salt and pepper could not save these creatures. The cheese and ‘shrooms helped a bit but I made it through ½ way before I realized «WHY AM I FORCING MYSELF TO EAT THIS???»
Ironically my stomach started to rumble about 10 mins later and I bore the upset-​stomach feeling for about 15 additional minutes before I asked for to-​go boxes and the bill and we left early.
Last up was the bacon.
Bacon is the hardest thing to screw up but they didn’t. However the bacon was so-​so… like a 7 out of 10. When your bacon is the best part of the meal… you have failed.
I literally firebombed the toilet about 5 mins after getting home as did my sister who didn’t finish her meal as well. Stomach hurts… an extra $ 16 was spent on (mushroom, cheese, shake, hot chocolate, French Toast) and with tip $ 23 on top of the Groupon Price.
Avoid this place like the plague… I’m not a fan of Mels BUT the Mels across the street is NOWHERE near as bad as this place. Mels is like a 6/​10, this place was honestly a ¹⁄₁₀.
I recommend TWAIN’s on Ventura+Coldwater about 5-​mins away on Ventura or IHOP on Ventura+Haskell 3 mins in the other direction.
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update: my sister is laying in bed in agony and would like to add…
«it smells like bathroom there. the French Toast is horrible. you’re better off going to McDonalds and the Oreo Shake is better at Carls Jr. it gave me diarreah.»
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update II: It’s been atleast 90-​mins since and my stomach hurts so bad that I can’t even get up to drive from my moms apt (here in Sherman Oaks) to my apt in Encino. :-(

While it does not really compare to the previous location on Van Nuys, I’m surprised to read all of the negative reviews here. I went to the Ventura Blvd. Café 50s recently and had a very good cheeseburger & sweet potato fries. My server was attentive and friendly, and there seemed to be a lot of regulars in the place.
I also think that people are being a bit too critical of the location and décor. The truth is that not all 50s restaurants looked stuffed to the max (like the locations on Vermont and Santa Monica) and there are plenty of golden oldies playing with lots of pictures to get you in the mood to drink a milkshake. The dining room is flooded with light and there are even tables outside! I sometimes don’t think Californians know how good they have it.
And they have TONS of stuff on the menu — some of it even healthy!

Gross and cold — Both the atmosphere and the service. Fries were funky. We asked for a cappuccino, they’re machine was broken. Asked for a cinnamon roll, they didn’t have any. Asked what kind of fruit pies they had, only had apple. We asked for the bill, it didn’t come until we asked again.
Just a pathetic dive café without class or taste. Seemed sketchy, and they didn’t want us there. Go to Mel’s Drive In across the street instead.

Breakfast for lunch? Why Not! Café 50’s Sherman Oaks is a Fun Fifties diner that has great food at reasonable prices. I ordered the 3 eggs any style plate which came with a choice of home fries or hash browns and a choice of Ham, bacon, or sausage and a side of toast all for $ 6.55. The food was plentiful, the menu has a variety of options, and the service was friendly. I enjoyed my meal and would come back again.

Meh!

The first thing anyone visiting this restaurant must realize is that this establishment is NOT part of the other Café 50s locations. Also, using a
coupon will not save you much here, as everything is overpriced.
I ate here this past Saturday night to expose someone to the Café 50s food and atmosphere. When we walked in there were not many other customers. There was little 50s ambiance as well. The juke box and pictures on the wall looked as if they had been placed there as an afterthought. However, I was more interested in a typical 50s era meal… a burger, fries, salad, and a chocolate malt.
I ordered the burger combo and malt. My dinner guest ordered a vanilla coke, chicken wrap, and chili cheese fries… all in all, everything seemed good so far
.
First my tiny salad arrived along with the vanilla coke for the other person. A few minutes later, my plain hamburger and fries arrived on a small plate. The chlil cheese fries and chicken wrap came next.
The burger was dry, but the fries were not too bad. The chili cheese fries had about ½ cup of chili and a couple of tablespoons of cheese. We asked for a side of sour cream. Everything seemed just mediocre and we continued to eat. I realized that I never received my chocolate malt and the waitress was nowhere to be seen. There were only 2 other tables and some teenage girls up near the counter. My friend noticed that the waitress was chatting with the girls and they all appeared to be friends.
We finished our meal and the waitress came by to ask about dessert. I mentioned my chocolate malt. She said that it should be ready in a minute (even though I had ordered it about 20 mins. earlier). I told her to cancel it if hadn’t already been prepared. She came back with the bill; no mention of the malt or an apology for not bringing it.
The shock came when we looked at the bill. With a $ 10.00 discount, the bill was still almost $ 20.00. The most surprising thing is that our small side of chili chesse fries was almost the same price as a regular order… not to mention 75 cents for a side of sour cream. Even more appauling was the «suggested tip» of $ 6.00. It was more than the 18% that was to be included to the bill. I guess the tip was added before the the chocolate malt had been deducted.
Since the waitress took a long time to return so that we could pay, we decided to go to the cash register, where the «suggested tip» was automatically added onto my credit card receipt.
Next time, I will go down the street to Mel’s Drive in or around the corner to the authentic Café 50s on Van Nuys Blvd.

So the hubby’s been gone all week, so I’ve been left to fend for myself. I can only do so much cooking for one, so I was passing by, and the sweeth tooth in me decided to step in for a shake. Just a shake :).
Snickers shake, why yes, please! Chocolate ice cream, peanut butter and butterscotch… topped with a little bit of peanuts. It almost… almost…tastes like a snickers bar. Mmm…
I would have given it a pure ⁴⁄₅ stars, but seriously folks, I came in for a shake. The food that I saw passed by didn’t look anything amazing.

I had a fixin for a high calorie meal the other day and was thinking burgers. So, I decided to just drive down Ventura Blvd and figure it out and landed at Café’ 50’s. To sum it up, it was an OK experience.
Service was great. The wait staff was attentive and really nice but, the food took a long time to come out. The owner was really nice and eager to please which made it pleasant but, the food was just alright. I ordered a chili cheese burger with seasoned fries (I wasn’t kidding when I said I was on the hunt for a high calorie meal). I didn’t really care for the grilled onions on the burger and the fries just didn’t do it for me. They were the big steak fries and didn’t have any crispiness to them.
Will I go back? Maybe to try breakfast.

You know those instant Groupons? The ones you buy and use the same day. Café 50’s offered one today. i spent $ 8.00 and got a $ 15.00 Groupon.
I was excited because i saw on their website that they offered cheese blintzes. So I show up and learn that they discontinued the blintzes and are going to take it off the menu. So I order a chorizo quesadilla instead. It was a large tortilla with enough chorizo but surprisingly little cheese.
Even though chorizo is normally a little runny, I found the quesadilla to be especially greasy. The rice and beans were both excellent though. It came with a side of guacamole, a side of salsa and a side of sour cream; all in little portion dishes. I think the list price of $ 10.40 would have been too high, but I had the groupon to mitigate that. The coffee was especially low-​end and tasted like it was sitting awhile. My refill with a fresh pot was passable though.
Now if you don’t like me going off on rants, this is a good place to stop reading; but for the rest of you— WTF were they thinking?
What kind of moron thinks selling candy cigarettes is a good idea? They don’t sell other kinds of candy. You can’t buy Tic Tac or Altoids or a Snickers bar for that matter. The only confectionery product at the counter is candy fucking cigarettes. I don’t even think I even know anyone who thinks this is a an acceptable concept. But I guess there are families out there who would buy little Johnnie the Fisher-​Price Crack Pipe and get sister Susie the Easy-​Bake Meth Lab too.
I don’t care to hang put where people like that congregate though. I won’t be back.

What happened to this place. They took a very cool idea and moved from a very well done location to a location that has never been successful, even for fast food.
I’m not sure if these are new owners or not but they do not have a clue on how to deliver an experience. The old location was decorated with tons of great eye candy, memorabilia from days gone by and toys and candy from the 50’s and 60’s. The new location is drab and listless! It looks like it’s owners «threw in» a few old icons just to make the name make sense. No creativity, no thought beyond what was absolutely necessary. They should have taken lessons from the folks that own the West LA and Vermont Café 50’s locations. They truly know how to bring it.
The food was not bad but you can get a good omelet anywhere. The waitress was cute and extremely friendly, by far the best part of the whole experience.
I don’t have one reason to recommend this place to anybody for anything. In my opinion, Café 50’s in Sherman Oaks is gone. What’s left is a sad shell trying to pass a so-​so coffee shop off as something special. Don’t waste your time.

Driving down Ventura Blvd, we haphazardly stopped here for breakfast yesterday am. The menu had so many choices, I couldn’t even read them all! I had the shredded beef with eggs (it had a mexican name but I can’t remember!) and my friend ordered the chorizo with eggs. Both plates were delicious and contained enough food for an army! If I’m ever in the neighborhood, I would definitely stop in again!

Their menu is huge! The place is cute, kind of small, but but it looks a lot nicer than when it was a Carl’s Jr. I never visited the last location, but I think they did the best they could with this one.
The boytoy ordered the Café 50’s pancake stack and I went with the 3−3−3 (3 bacon or sausages, 3 pancakes and 3 eggs). We also got an order of bacon cheese fries to start.
Yes, it was heart attack food, but it was good for heart attack food.
The Café 50’s pancake was really good but very heavy. I liked the oreo and chocolate chip combo, the pecans not so much. My order was fine, nothing hard to mess up with really. The fries were really good. They didn’t skimp on the bacon.
They’re also open late which is good for those of us who crave diner food at odd hours
I definitely would come back to try other items.
Side note– some of the breakfast items are only available Saturdays and Sundays

They have a lot to do if they want to carry the reputation of the old spot into the new one. It was my first time eating here since they moved.
Very friendly and prompt service and the food was good. It’s priced for Ventura Blvd so it’s not gonna be as cheap as the Carl’s Jr that was there before! We paid $ 25 for a burger, sandwich and 2 drinks.
The only thing that stuck with me is that there isn’t a 50’s feel like there was in the old location. I’m assuming that either they are toning it down or they couldn’t stick the memorabilia in the new spot. Also, there was no music. If you want it to be a 50’s style spot, play some music!
Needs more ‘old fee’ to the décor. Otherwise, good spot to eat and chill.

This place is quite new to the location. Café 50s moved here from their old location about half a mile away from here. However, my girl and I come here at least 2 or 3 times a month, we always get our usual which is the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger. By far, it’s one of the best tasting burgers that I’ve ever had. The BBQ sauce is nice and tangy, the Bacon is thick and tasty, and the beef patty is yummy too. It comes with fries, a side of coleslaw, and a pickle. Very delicious meal. After our meal, my girl and I usually share a warm Brownie with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, yummmm!
As far as the new restaurant location that Café 50s is in, the environment is not the same as the previous location, I wish they would bring back their more «50s» theme. They used to have old movie posters of the 40s and 50s, pictures of Hollywood superstars and musicians of that era, and even an old bike and an old pinball machine hanging from the ceiling. It was nice to see every detail.
My girl and I love this place and we love Oldies music as well. Their jukebox has a wide variety of oldies music. The staff is very friendly as well.
Over all, the place is nice, the food is great, the only thing that is lacking is the look of what the place used to look like. If they brought back that same theme from before, then this place would be a big hit especially with people that appreciate the 50s theme.

Apparently different than the rest this café 50’s wasn’t as friendly, then again it was 11:30PM, but hey they’re open 24 hours so be happy you have customers. Gimme a smile or somethin’.
The food was the staple of goodness at every Café 50’s, and the menu, which I forgot, is HUGE! anything you want from good ol’ fashion americana and it’s there. They even have huevos rancheros.
Still good eats especially late late at night. So if this isn’t what you’re in the mood for and Mel’s is too far, then you might as well go home ’cause these places are begging for diners to come in.
But I still think the Café 50’s on Santa Monica is the best. But I had to ask before I walked out, «when is the pajama party?», «The Last Wednesday». I know some of you know what I’m talkin about ;)
Enjoy.