| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
|
| HOME | INTRO | SAMPLER | REVIEWS | VIEWER | TROPHY | FEEDBACK |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| HOME | INTRO | SAMPLER | REVIEWS | VIEWER | TROPHY | FEEDBACK |
| 
| 
|
| ||
| ||
[
AL |
AK |
AZ |
AR |
CA |
CO |
CT |
DE |
FL |
GA |
HI |
ID |
IL |
IN |
IA |
KS |
KY |
LA |
ME |
MD |
MA |
MI |
MN |
MS |
MO |
MT |
NB |
NV |
NH |
NJ |
NM |
NY |
NC |
OH |
OK |
OR |
PA |
RI |
SC |
SD |
TN |
TX |
UT |
VT |
VA |
WA |
WV |
WI |
Australia |
Canada |
Costa Rica |
Curacao |
Guam |
Japan |
Mexico |
New Zealand |
Puerto Rico |
Singapore |
South Korea |
Thailand |
United Kingdom
]
[ Previous | Index | Next | Send Your Own ]
Agoura, California
- "I really miss Denny's in Agoura, CA where we often went after the Santa Monica Rocky on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings." - written prior to September, 1999
- Vika Zafrin
- "I also see that someone wrote that they miss the Agoura Denny's. Is that the one high on a hilll overlooking U.S. 101? Is it long gone? I remember in the 60's and 70's driving up to Camarillo to visit my aunt when that was just about the only place to stop and eat for miles. In later years, massive development made it hard to see the restaurant in the jumble of road signs for competing fast food places and all sorts of other places." - written prior to September, 1999
- Joe Gattuso
- December 31, 2000 - "Ah, what a wonderful forum to share with you my many Denny's memories! Well, my most exciting memory of them all occurred in the Agoura Denny's, some years ago! I was sitting there very late at night having a bite with three of my close friends, Brent, Danielle, and Philip! We were just sitting there eating and minding our own business, when the staff decided to stage a floor show for us! Oh, boy! We sat back and watched the drama unfold: it seems that one of the waitresses had a drunken boyfriend who stormed in there demanding to know why she was flirting with a customer! "But I'm not," she protested. "I'm serving him a cup of coffee!" Not to be swayed by her protestations, the drunken boyfriend became enraged, and did his impersonation of a maniac, screaming, and shoving his girlfriend aside! For a grand finale to his act, he stormed out of the front door, slamming it shut with such violence, that the entire front window shattered into a million pieces! And it just so happened that my friends and I were sitting underneath that very window! The glass fell into our food! Philip cut his hand! WOW OH WOW! What a wonderful performance! We all applauded (except for Philip) and the waitresses replaced our food for free. All in all, just one of the many delightful memories I have of my dining experiences in the wonderful world of Denny's!"
- David Banuelos
- "I'm amazed that no-one is prepared to admit that they have been to the Denny's in Anaheim, California, across the road from Disneyland (I think on Harbor Blvd). I have been there several times and have always enjoyed the opportunity to get away from hamburger and eat a real steak. Never have I found reason to complain about anything." - written prior to September, 1999
- Graham DODD
- "Graham Dodd says he's amazed no one admits to visiting the Anaheim Denny's. Well, I'll admit it. I stopped there for breakfast one year while attending an Anime Convention. Everything was fine and the waiter was nice, but I was a bit frightened by an ambulatory corpse which shambled about the restaurant (an elderly female customer). Didn't see any WAY, though our waiter was kinda lanky and geeky" - written prior to September, 1999
- Dan Harkless
- "The Denny's accross the street from Disneyland is an enjoyable experience if you had just spent the day at Disneyland. After waiting in line to go on Roger Rabit's Car Toon Spin for forty-five minutes, (the ride lasts about forty seconds), and walking all over the place, it was nice to wash the day down with a French Slam, and a bottle of Bud. The walls are decorated with posters of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, etc. One Mickey poster was flanked by a neon Budweiser sign on the left, and a neon Bud Light sign on the right. I thought that was funny. This one also had something I had never seen in a Denny's before, and that was an ice cream bar, which at the time of my visit was not open. The downside of this Denny's is that being in California, you cannot smoke inside. This was made up for though, with one of those machines where you try to pick up various pluch toys with those claw things. That was the best five bucks I ever spent....roughly one minute of mediocre fun, and nothing to show for it. What was I thinking? A note to any Canadians, if you buy Denny's gift certificates in Canada for $5, there are good in the US, for $5. What a great deal! And if you get chagne it is obviously in US funds. I figure if I buy $100,000 worth of gift certificates, load it into a U-Haul, drive to a Denny's in the States, and buy 20,000 coffees using one gift certificate for each one, get back four bucks change each time, switch it back to Canadian funds, I'll come home with an extra $12,000!!! What a perfect scheme." - written prior to September, 1999
- Bryan Wright (Calgary Denny's Team)
- "The Denny's accross the street from Disneyland is an enjoyable experience if you had just spent the day at Disneyland. After waiting in line to go on Roger Rabit's Car Toon Spin for forty-five minutes, (the ride lasts about forty seconds), and walking all over the place, it was nice to wash the day down with a French Slam, and a bottle of Bud. The walls are decorated with posters of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, etc. One Mickey poster was flanked by a neon Budweiser sign on the left, and a neon Bud Light sign on the right. I thought that was funny. This one also had something I had never seen in a Denny's before, and that was an ice cream bar, which at the time of my visit was not open. The downside of this Denny's is that being in California, you cannot smoke inside. This was made up for though, with one of those machines where you try to pick up various pluch toys with those claw things. That was the best five bucks I ever spent....roughly one minute of mediocre fun, and nothing to show for it. What was I thinking? A note to any Canadians, if you buy Denny's gift certificates in Canada for $5, there are good in the US, for $5. What a great deal! And if you get chagne it is obviously in US funds. I figure if I buy $100,000 worth of gift certificates, load it into a U-Haul, drive to a Denny's in the States, and buy 20,000 coffees using one gift certificate for each one, get back four bucks change each time, switch it back to Canadian funds, I'll come home with an extra $12,000!!! What a perfect scheme." - written prior to September, 1999
- Bryan Wright (Calgary Denny's Team)
- "My *last* (and it will be my last, if I can help it) experience at Denny's was horrible -- they served me rancid hashed browns, and then were mock-apologetic about it:
On the morning of 10-26-97 a friend and I stopped by the Denny's in Anaheim (the one in front of the Day's Inn/Maingate Motel).
The first thing I noticed was that whoever had sat at the table across from us had left most of their food. In retrospect, I wonder whether they had also been served poor fare.
After that table had been cleared, the next people who sat there put a dollar bill on the edge of the table near the aisle, very conspicuously. I think that that might have been an attempt to get better service. We should have tried it.
Our waitress was Michelle. She was extremely slow, forgot the toast, and only offered one refill of coffee, long after we had finished eating what we *could* eat.
I had ordered a chicken-fried steak breakfast. The 'chicken' was square and overcooked, the gravy was gray and cool. The hash browns were the worst - they were brown and stiff, and RANCID. Even worse, on one edge of the hash browns was a small cluster of what looked like insect eggs - shaped like small grains of rice set on edge, but smaller. In comparing my hash browns to the ones served to my friend, his were much paler, it looked as if someone had given me leftover hashbrowns that had been refried -- they might even have gotten them out of the slops bin -- I can't think of any other reason for the fact they were rancid.
When the waitress asked "Is everything all right?" I told her 'no', the hash browns were rancid, and she had forgotten our toast. Her "I'm so sorry, can I get you some more?" was so obviously rote that I started to get mad, but I just said "No thank you."
My friend was embarrassed, but admitted later that I was right to speak up. He & I have been reviewing restaurants, in a minor way, in San Diego, but he'd never seen me complain before. Frankly, I was furious, because it seemed like this Denny's was just set up to rake in the tourist dollar (the booths were jammed together for maximum capacity) with the knowledge that they didn't have to worry about repeat customers.
My primary complaint with Denny's has been that they are all alike, and the food is predictable - you can order a meal in Denny's and it will be the same, coast to coast. But some armchair travelers like that, and it makes them feel safe and comfortable, so I can't fault that, but I *can* complain when their food and service is substandard." - written prior to September, 1999
- Stephanie Mortimer
- January 7, 2000 - "As I'm English, I never heard of Denny's until my parents and I first took a trip to the USA when I was 7. We must have visited loads of Denny's restaurants in that first holiday alone, and I thought they were brilliant - is there a more satisfying eating experience than ordering the chicken strips with dip at any time of the day that i feel like? Ten years and four trips to America later ( well technically five but the fifth was to New York and there were no Denny's restaurants on Manhattan), breakfast and lunch stops at Denny's remain an integral part of our trips to the USA. Although we've been to lots of Denny's in San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and other little towns where we've stopped when driving, my favourite has to be the one in Anaheim opposite Disneyland. The chicken strips are really cool, and when I was little they gave me free toys of 'The Flintstones' and 'The Jetsons', some of which I have kept as souvenirs of my childhood holidays. Denny's are the ultimate family dining experience - I wish there was something like it in England, but the closest we come is Burger King!"
- Laura Gould
- November 19, 2000 - "The Anaheim, California, Denny's on Katella is pretty mucked with all of the Disneyland California Adventure construction going on. The City is redoing all the major thoroughfares in the area, as well, which makes many of the businesses difficult to access. Some folks may find it easier to head around the corner to the Harbor Blvd. Bakers' Square."
- Kali Pappas
- "If you ever get a chance to visit the Denny's in Arcadia, CA., it would be well worth the trip as it's probably the only Denny's with a windmill on the top. The building used to be an old VanDeKamp's Bakery, so to go with the Dutch theme, they have a 50-ft in diameter spinning windmill. When the Denny's moved in, the windmill stayed, and has endured as an Arcadia landmark for years." - written prior to September, 1999
- Big John
- August 13, 2002 - "The Denny's sign off of the 91 Freeway is a welcome ornament to an otherwise unnoteworthy patch Artesia, California. Hemmed in by graffiti ridden signs, blank foliage straight out of Starry Night (and no offense to Van Gogh for mentioning his work in the same sentence as graffiti), and billboards in espanol--the Denny's signature emanates a glowing allure of red, and gold hope to those destined to clogged arteries, and au de pimpley skin. I've eaten here at least five times, and despite the fact that it's next to one of those "swanky" motels with a dried out pool, and an ice machine that burps every fifteen minutes, the place is virtually empty around the clock. Although I would've doubted that anyone could get rapid fire service anywhere on this planet on Sunday at high noon, this is one restaurant that defies the odds. Perhaps because the town is squeaky clean of religious zealots, or the guy on Artesia Boulevard has finally convinced folks to say no to church, and sell tulips at LAX instead? There's no crowd like the post sermon bunch! I'm thinking of locusts, and wheat fields. Nonetheless, as happy as I am to not wait, as my brother noted, there's a bit of disappointment in not having to crowd the "claw" machines, or crunch stale gum as a preface to service. I reckon it's the way Billy the Kid felt when he showed up for a gunfight only to be the only guy in the center of town--relieved, but disappointed too. The food tends toward lukewarm, and the service is not as fast as it should be according to statistics like the 5-1 staff/customer ratio, but there's an inevitable delight in "owning" a Denny's, and that's exactly what you can do here. The servers don't speak a lot of English, but the menu doesn't require advanced linguistics, and you won't mind a wild gesticulation here, and there. It all adds to the ambience, which given how pristine the nearly unused Denny's booths, and tables are...can only improve the setting. The food looks bland, but is greasy-yum-good. Just ask for the big bottle of Tabasco!"
- Brandy Price
- "My name is Leslie Richard Arrowood, and I live in Yuma Az. Today May 31, 1997 we was over in Redlands Ca. and on the way back home, we had to go thrugh Banning Ca, so we stoped at Denny's just off I-10 on Ramsey. And it was the worst Denny's we ever stoped at Befor. The service was real bad!!!!!! we all ordered brekfest, the 4 of us, and we wated for 45 minutes befor it came, and when it came, My grandson's food had a fly on it, and it was alive, and flying around, and our food was cold so everyone began to eat, and I did'nt have my toast yet, so after about 10 min.s I ask the watress, and she said it would be a short time. so after every one was though eating, she came back and I asked again, could I please have some toast????? so she went back to the cook's and about 5 min. later I got it, eggs like Ice, and as I said, all my family was all done. And had to wate on me to get though. And as for the other people in the place, it was just as bad!!!!! if not worse? some of them was leaving, without eating, and some, was like us, on the road and trying to get home, and just trying to eat something, befor we get sick!!! I paid over $30.00 for the 4 of us, for the worst food We've ever had.... So if you can, help me???? send this to the right people, so thay can jump someone's A?? over this... I hope you never come upon a place like this. Thank you very much." - written prior to September, 1999
- Les Arrowood
- November 12, 2000 - "I can't believe no one has reviewed what has to be the worst Denny's on the face of the planet, but perhaps my wife and I are the only ones who have survived eating there.
For anyone who's never heard of Barstow, allow me to give a brief description. Barstow is God's armpit. It sits smack in the middle of the desert. It gets hot there. REAL hot, but that's not the point. Barstow is right on the freeway you take to drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. It sits about that point your knees are starting to cramp and your back teeth are floating, so it gets a lot of rather unwilling visitors.
The Denny's is right off the freeway - there's a big sign that sits way up on a pole, and can be seen for miles. It's also the only thing open at two o'clock in the morning, at least in Barstow. So my wife and I decided to pull off and grab some coffee and eggs before heading back to LA. Bad move.
The staff appeared the sort of brain-damaged zombies you see teen slasher movies - I swear you could have added up all their IQ's and not reached three digits. And the food . . . (shudder) . . . if it can even be called food . . . nah, it's just too awful to even think about, let alone write a proper description. Let's just say that you have to be particularly talentless and inept to screw up eggs and toast, but these guys managed.
So check it out, but make sure you take plenty of Alka-Seltzer - you'll need it."
- Dave and Julie
- "Round about the middle of our holiday. We'd had a very long drive that day from Bryce Canyon, Utah and were delighted to find a Denny's right opposite our Motel. As my son wanted to watch Star Trek DS9 (which wasn't showing in the UK at that time) we opted for a take away which my daughter and I went for. We sat at the bar and watched with admiration all the cooking and activity - it felt like being in a movie! Again the food was great and the portions huge - mind you by this time we were getting used to that! Our only problem came when we tried to cross the road back to the hotel when some local "good ol boys" decided to have some fun at the tourist's expense by stopping at the crossing and waving us across and then driving straight at us! Still - maybe there's little else to do there! Anyway the food was just as good eaten sitting on the floor of the motel watching TV and listening to the live combo playing for the group of middle aged men and their bimbos in the pool outside!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Pam Sheard
- "There's a Dennys off the 57 Freeway in Brea, CA that I frequent often, usually post-hangover or before school hours. The fact that it's the only place in Brea open 24 hours makes it a perfect after-dance, after-choir-competition, after-arrest, etc., hangout for the youth of today, and there's a group of about twenty or so that I'm a part of who frequent the establishment. While the food is adequate and the coffee hot and nourishing, there are several waitresses who I will not name (but I'd like to mention that English is NOT their native language) that seem to delight in taking as long as they possibly can to serve EVERYTHING. I know this is a problem with Dennys the world over, but I've been to other Dennys restaurants, and this one is the worst. However, the lack of speedy service has been cause for not only mucho bonding time for me and the 19 guys that I hang out with, but also grounds for an almost-lawsuit at one point: my friend's sister Emily was served a "chicken salad" that consisted of a large leaf of lettuce with a piece of chicken on it (you think I'm kidding but I'm not) and she pitched a fit at about 90 decibels for a good fifteen minutes until she got her meal for free. It was good quality entertainment the likes of which I haven't seen since The Love Boat went off the air. =)" - written prior to September, 1999
- Jessica Schlenz
- "If you ever make it out to California, make sure to visit Satan Denny's, on Beach Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue, in Buena Park. It's original address was 666 Beach Blvd, but they shifted it to an Orangethorpe address because of it. It's also a neat site because the cast of Knott's Berry Farm (right down the street) goes there after close." - written prior to September, 1999
- Seamus MacLeod
- "This Denny's is a great stop off I5 and is one of the few business establishments in the desolate desert town of Buttonwillow. I always stop there to refuel for the last push on the drive from SF to LA, pound coffee and chow down a grand slam while watching the sun rise. Service is friendly (hell, what other jobs are there in Buttonwillow??) and there's always a checkered crowd of passers-through. So, if you're doing the California road trip, don't forget to stop!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Meg
- November 13, 2000 - "Ahh, sweet sweet Buttonwillow. The Denny's there was discovered by my friends and I in 1997 on a road trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas. There were eleven of us traveling in three different cars, driving all through the night to avoid the harsh desert sun. About 4am, we were driving through Buttonwillow when the car I was in pulled off to the side of the road to reconnect the portable CD player that got unplugged. The other two cars followed suit and pulled over to the side of the road, and everybody got out to stretch and urinate and grab a breath of fresh air. Once people were ready to take off, we discovered that the alternator in one of the cars was busted and it wouldn't start again. So we all crossed the freeway on foot and ran towards the nearest Denny's to wait until a mechanic and a rental car agency were open. The staff there was certainly willing to let a dozen punk hacker kids monopolize an entire section of the restaurant for a few hours, and friendly to boot. Once the vehicular situation was straightened out we were on our way, but every trip since, we've stopped in Buttonwillow for old time's sake.
Free stuff: a pad of order slips, complete with the "Hello, welcome to Denny's. May I suggest a caraffe of fresh Orange Juice" banter the waitstaff is supposed to say."
- Victor Andersen
- March 6, 2000 - "I went on a road trip this weekend with my friends Matt and Rachel......from L.A. to Joshua Tree......we listened to some Phish from Florida `96.....and visited Denny's #295 on the way there.....Great new Denny's......This Denny's had a 50s theme, friendly staff, brand new everything and a great chef. The All American Slam was delicious....A bit too much butter on the wheat toast, but I masked that with the raspberry jelly. A scary family was having a fight at the table next to us, but they left before we were served, which was nice.......We talked about you during our meal and purposely took photos with the staff so we can keep you in the loop! As I've said before, this is a brilliant web page.....and I'm sure you'll be a great architect, but you're missing a career in writing! "
- Marc Luber
- November 13, 2000 - "Located just two or three miles away from the Pleasant Hill location, the Concord CA Denny's offers, in addition to more attractive employees, a lounge. Both are plusses in my book, however the attractive waitstaff are far less charismatic than the ugly ones at the Pleasant Hill restaurant. The waitstaff in Concord are also not amused by my friend and I making eccentric hats out of ZOOB toys."
- Victor Andersen
- "The Denny's in Corona, California on McKinley St. has a waitress that stands 6'4" and weighs a good 260lbs. This has to be a record!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Anonymous
- "WE Just had a late night snack at Denny's located at 1833 W. 6th Street in Corona,Ca. MY SON WAS SERVED WITH A HAIR IN IS FRENCH SLAM and WHEN WE BROUGHT THIS UP TO THE MANAGER JAY"S ATTENTION HIS REPLY WAS THIS HAPPENS TO EVERYBODY all the time, NO BIG DEAL !!!!!!!!!. Eventhough they served my son with another set of French toasts he lost his appetiet cause of the bad food and MANAGERS bad ATTITUDE.
I HOPE YOU WILL FIND THE COURAGE TO PUT THIS AS AN HONEST FEEDBACK OF YOUR DISSERVICE to customers and expose yourself to the unhygenic cooking practices at DENNY'S. " - written prior to September, 1999
- Dinesh
- "At the Corte Madera Denny's, there's this awesome waiter named Lloyd who is on speed or something. He was really in a hurry one night and my friend Dan was trying to ask him a question about the menu, so he was holding it out of Lloyd's grasp. Lloyd got frustrated and turned to walk away so Dan threw the menu at him. It went whizzing by Lloyd's head and landed in the lap of this big scary guy who was with his girlfriend about 15 feet away. Lloyd got so mad he wouldn't talk to us anymore, so Laura, who's my second favorite, had to be or waitress instead. We felt horrible, but, hey, it's Denny's, they're used to it, right?" - written prior to September, 1999
- Katie Petersen
- "Well, this was a long time ago so I've probably forgotten some of the good details, but here goes.
In 1984, the Denny's in Corte Madera was THE late night social spot for freaks. We spent the wee hours of most weekends there and were well loved by the staff because we ate a lot and tipped well.
It was a classic 60's Denny's with Pink and Orange asterisks and vynil and a giant display case full of weird unappetizing pies and odd dessrts that no one ever ate. (Well, I always got the tapioca)
It was best known for having a cook who murdered his mother and lived in the house with her for a couple of weeks or something.
Too bad, he was one of the best cooks they had.
But, by FAR thebest thing was it had NO lock on the door!
It hadn't closed for a minute since it was built!
Until one horrible fateful day...
We were holding court at our usual large booth with about eight regulars when Arlee (our usual wait-victim) came by and said, "What the hell are you kids gonna do when we close?"
WHAT!?! Whaddaya MEAN close?
She said they were closing the next week for remodeling.
REMODELING!?! We LIKE pink and orange! We like it the way it IS!
We demanded the mangers presence so we could voice our great displeasure. He told us that he had only found out recently himself.
And I piped in with, "Well you're gonna have an awful hard time closing with no LOCK on the door!"
He looked baffled.
He had no idea there was no lock on the door. Just a hole where you would usually install one.
Anyways they installed a lock a couple of days later. We pulled a 24 hour shift on the last night and took a few souveniers. (I had a tabletop that I picked up while the were gutting the place, now sadly lost.)
They remodeled it into a horrible, bland place that soon lost its charm for us, and we moved over to Zim's, because they had orange sugar crystals and Jello squares, and mostly because Arlee moved there too. But there was nothing like the Corte Madera Denny's." - written prior to September, 1999
- Wally
- "I think the last time I visited the Denny's in my home town was when they were still running the thankfully defunct "Lenny's" "Denny's!" campaign. This is a typical Denny's -- you might think that Southern California Denny's would be different from Denny's in the rest of the country, but they aren't, in my limited experience. You're pretty much screwed if you're a vegetarian, and if you're a vegan, forget it! I actually prefer the SoCal-only Norm's "We Never Close". There's more vegetarian food there, and the quality seems better than Denny's. Norm's even has a unique menu for each of its restaurants." - written prior to September, 1999
- Dan Harkless
- "Corner of Bristol and Redhill. This Dennys which is hidden away from the South Coast Shopping Center food establishments in the area. In fact it usually is nice and quiet on the weekends compared to the loud and noisy rucous of shoppers yacking about the latest sale and trying to quiet down their uncontrollable kids. In the past year the restraunt went into a remodeling spree and it looks kinda funky with pink neon signs commemorating its merging with Baskin Robbins. I like the fact that you can order a variety of desserts and shakes along with your food. I sometimes found myself studying/reading there and the waiters and waitresses do not mind that you are taking up a table for a while since there is plenty of room." - written prior to September, 1999
- Jason Savlov
- "Location: Harbor Blvd at 405 freeway
I ate here a while ago, 1995 or 1996 maybe. I recall it having been fairly good food, but I can't say much about the service except that they can withstand anything, including my 34-year old uncle's constant flirtations with the female waitresses." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- "This is one of those wierd, old designs... I love 'em!!! Complete lack of symetry!!! The waitress on the night shift plays "he said she said", Bullshit (the card game), and "catapult-the-creams-at-the-fucking-tourists-across-the-room" with us!!! It's one of those Dennys where you always end up with "YOUR parking space" every time, regardless of how packed it is!! It's just a magical place! Coffee rating - ***************etc.etc.etc. - A fuckload of stars!!.... Folgers Instant Crystals have never tasted so good!! This is the good, pure, uncut, straight-from-the-jar shit, man!! 15-20 cups goes down smooth!!...of course, I've slowly built up my tolerance level...." - written prior to September, 1999
- Oran Davis
- "The Dennys with the most/biggest freaks working in it is the one in Crescent City, Calif. Entirely staffed by genetic mutants. The kid playing the banjo in "Deliverance" would look normal here." - written prior to September, 1999
- Joe D'Errico
- March 18, 2004 - "there is one in culver city, near my current home. and it's one of those that has a "lounge" in back; basically a glorified "bar"/"banquet room" that they probably rent out for parties, wedding receptions, and such (like all the old Masonic temples around southern California do).
for some reason, I could NOT bring myself to go back there. first of all, it looked very dark (which I suppose is to be expected in a REAL bar, but hey, this is DENNY'S for god's sake!!), and I had a very uncomfortable feeling about buying a drink at Denny's, which I associate, on a gut level, with going to AFTER or BEFORE you've been drinking.
my friend, who has gone back there, said the drinks were overpriced, and that it was always empty and creepy.
as for the food in the culver city one (this one is on Centinela; there is another one in culver city on Overland), it's as consistently good as 95% of the ones I have been to in my life, which I think is a plus for them. when in doubt, anywhere in the country, go to a Denny's. I've been lucky to not have any bad gripes with any of them. the service was friendly and quick.
The one on Overland is about the same size, just as good service and food (and the same creepy dark backroom "bar" situation I refuse to go into), usually more crowded because it's in a mini-mall next door to a supermarket and across the street from a massive condo/apartment/townhouse complex site that goes on for blocks and blocks. Captive Denny's audience right there, pal!
this particular location on Centinela, though is always uncrowded, day or night; I think perhaps it is because it is on the other side of a big freeway onramp, and on the other side of it is a big shopping mall and other restaurants, including a very very crowded Sizzler. frankly, if my friend had not told me it was there, I'd never had known it was there.
it's not a good location, but they are still in business to this very day, and they have been there about 20 years that I know of. the location on overland has been there at least ten. when I was a kid, it was something like a Copper Penny restaurant."
- Rosenda E. Moore
- "The Denny's we go to is in Cupertino Ca on De Anza Blvd. The only thing that stands out about our Denny's is the incredibly courteous night staff. A particular incedent comes to mind. It was about 2:00am and my friends Sean, Joe, and Danny(female) went in to grab some food. We were greeted by a waiter who did not speak a word of english and had no idea what was on a Denny's menu. So after 15 minutes of him going back and forth into the kitchen we thought we had an order. I order a grand slam and had asked that the meat be replaced with hashbrowns. About a half an hour later we got our meal. I got a Grand Slam with no meat and no hashbrowns. I asked the waiter for my hashbrowns and he brought them. When the bill came there was a charge($1.49) for the hashbrowns. We asked kindly that the charge be removed from the tab. At this point the manager, three waiters and the cook surrounded our table. After about a minute of explaining the situation to the manager he started yelling at us and calling us liars. About ten minutes later when we had finished yelling back and forth with the manager he finally took the charge off of our bill. By this time we were so pissed off that we threw the money(exact change) on the pay counter and left. As we walked away from the building the manager comes out and says," Someday I'll see you again when we are alone."
My buddy turns around and says, "you wanna kick my ass come kick my ass."
The manager came back with, "I'll kick your ass you little punk but I can't while I am at work. We just turned and started to our car. When we walked around the corner the cook threw his apron on the floor and said, "I ain't working now. You can't talk to us like that. We turned around and every employee of that Denny's was outside ready to back this guy up. We figured that 13 - 4 were not good odds and walked right back into Denny's and used the payphone to call the police. The police came and yelled at the manager for a couple of minute about how you can not treat your customers like we had been treated. I don't remember what else we did that night but we left about five minutes after the cops talked to the manager. I figure that ought to make the top 10 list of Denny's stories. " - written prior to September, 1999
- Matt Price
- "Location: Camino Tassajara at the 680 freeway
In April 1998, my friends from Southern California came up to visit me here at UC Berkeley. One night we were a little bored and so we took a drive over the bridges of the Bay Area. While in Marin County, we passed the Corte Madera Denny's off 101, and we got the craving for one of Denny's milkshakes. They were strangers to the Bay Area, and I'd only been up there for about 7 months, so we had no idea where we could find a Denny's. I reasoned that the suburban areas inland might be a good bet, so we drove towards Walnut Creek (unbeknownst to us, was the Emeryville Denny's, right off the 80). My friend, though, missed the Walnut Creek exit off the 24, so I told him to drive south on 680, hoping that we'd find one somewhere off the freeway. We weren't having luck, and it was nearly 1 AM, so we pulled off the freeway in San Ramon and found a phone book, which told us there was one back up 680 in Danville. We drove back and found it, attached to the Danville Inn. It was a cozy little Denny's, quiet, not busy, with nice friendly waiters and great food. We were somewhat loud, typical for our group, but nobody minded, and left us alone. A great Denny's experience, if you ask me." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- "Here in Davis where I go to school at The University of California at Davis, by which is known as an Agriculture school, we have a Dennys owned by a nice Indian family. I always go with my friend Anirban because he is Indian and I get superior service when there with Anirban. But the other night Anirban ordered what he thought was going to be a "triple scoop sundae", the Spanish waiter Carlos, replied in a hushed town "Chicken Strips", to the perfect beat that Anirban had said "triple scoop sundae". Anirban was sitting a seat away from the waiter, and replied yes to what he thought the waiter had said. So, in fact, Anirban got Chicken Strips... I explained to him what happened and he still denied ordering the strips, although I had heard Carlos reply, "chicken strips". I think it was Carlos's fault, in fact later on he came to our table to presuambly check on those free refills, but it turns out that he was there to ask "What day of the week is it?" and we replied "Saturday". Anyways, I had Anirban complain to his fellow countryman and owner of this otherwise fine establishment, and he got his Chicken Strips removed from the bill and our sodas for free. I commend him the owner for taking action!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Chad Cooper
- October 2, 2002 - "Denny's #1, corner of Magnolia & Naranca Streets:
This Denny's is small, but quick. Located in the same building as some wacko sports bar, various and sundry drunk, agitated, proud, humbled, depressed or otherwise not-emotionally-normal individuals often stagger into Denny's after their team (or wallet) has won/lost. There are also a fair amount of homeless types hanging around as El Cajon seems to be San Diego County's homeless capital. At any rate, on someone's prom night (not my own mind you, though that would have epitomized my white trashness) some teeneagers were hanging out very late, obviously with no better place to go, the poor bastards! They were all decked out in their fancy garb and looked weary from a night of, ahem, dancing. One of the girls, in a lime green poofy hideous sparkly dress, appeared to be getting to go to the bathroom. One of the aforementioned homeless types was situated at the bar and addressed a comment to her, which she and her compatriots chose to ignore. On her way back from powdering her nose, the man at the bar grew a little more insistent. He lurched at her as she casually stepped out of harms way, only this time her date noticed and hastily came to her aide. "What did you say?" he sneered at the man who could only reply in garbled, mumbled words then proceeded to vomit all over the poor dressed up youth. Luckily for the homeless man, two El Cajon police officers happened to be having their break and were walking in at the exact moment vomit was spewing from his gob. They grabbed him and yanked him away to the patrol car before the soiled youth could retaliate, though he followed them shouting profanity and wanting the homeless vomiter to be brought up on assualt charges. Lucky for us we were done with our meal and ready to leave. ;o)
Denny's #2: West Main Street & Interstate Highway 8 This story is not nearly as fun as the last, but it serves its purpose. While visiting this Denny's on a Saturday morning while our car was being serviced (lots of car dealers within walking distance to this one), my wife and I were pleasantly enjoying our plates of grease when from out of nowhere a horrendus screeching of tires and revving of motors pierced the otherwise still morning air. Two jackasses were involved in an illegal street race! They came barrelling from down the hill and just when it looked like the brand new, shiny Mustang was going to win, he spun out and smacked into a telephone pole narrowly missing yet another homeless lady who had stopped to witness the race. The 'Stang was totalled and the fellow race simply drove off, probably laughing all the way at his "good" fortune. The Mustang driver, seemingly unharmed, exited his vehicle to inspect the damage, which was quite extensive.
The poor souls of El Cajon have now been immortalized on your Denny's Fan Site. This is one of my proudest moments! ;o) Thanks for reading!"
- Mr. Overturf
- June 28, 2002 - "How could you miss this one? I dunno the address but it is right across the St. from the Los Angeles Air Force Base. Although there are no aircraft at the base, only satellite antennas, this Denny's is notable for its intermittantly flickering interior lights. There must be something going on at the base that's draining the electricity in the area. Anyhow, the food is mediocre as always, but it is good to have a 24 hour rest. around in an area where constant robberies keep most others places dark after 8pm. Like your site."
- David
- "You know how Denny's is supposed to always be open. A beacon of light in the darkest of nights (and national holidays)? Well, this is the only one I ever tried to go to -- AND IT WAS CLOSED!!! I'm sure you're wondering "How? How could this be?" Pest control, baby. Yep, the locks on the 24-7-365 restaurant (always a mystery) aren't for civil unrest. Nope -- they are for WHOLESALE COCKROACH SLAUGHTER!!!!!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Shawn Roberts
- "i had the bad luck to be there in april. i guess our first clue should have been that we were seated by an armed guard. bad vibes there. i'm pretty sure there were approximately 40,000 customers in the restaurant, 2 servers and 1 manager. one of the servers appeared to be comatose. after sitting at our table for 10-15 minutes with absolutely no sign of a denny's employee, i got up and asked the manager if getting a glass of water would be too much to ask. she made irvin do it! irvin was the poor waiter who got stuck doing everything. we asked him later what the purpose of the bus staff and the other server was, and he honestly couldn't answer us. although it took a good hour and a half to get through the meal, the food was all wrong, and the service was horrible, irvin got a good tip, because he really was doing his best, under the circumstances." - written prior to September, 1999
- Anonymous
- July 5, 2001 - "The Denny's in Eureka is on Highway 101 North, which is also a one-way street called 5th Street in that part of town. The last time I ate there it was okay, but maybe a little greasy (I like my food really light on the grease, which may be asking a bit much at Denny's.) That was about a month ago. I had a grand slam. Right now the slugger slam is a better deal, by the way. The service is pretty consistent there, and I've never had terrible food. It's a standard Denny's: not a great one, not a bad one. However, I have a history of eating there that keeps bringing me back. A long time ago I went there with Kevin and his friend who was on his way to spend a month in the Humboldt County jail for fighting right. He almost got in another fight in Denny's because some drunk rednecks started throwing french fries at him. I don't know what it was with that guy. Also a long time ago a friend of mine worked at that Denny's and it was sort of a goth/pre-goth hang out. It was pre-goth because goths weren't called goths yet, but people had started saying “that's goth” as a compliment. But I digress. I drank about 10 cups of coffee in there one night and I put 4 sugars in each cup and then I went to work (I worked the graveyard shift at the CCC back then.) My hands shook until the next day. Never again. I'm trying to remember who was there, I think it was Scott Pechel (he was a bus boy), Scott Baker, Rainy, and Noel. Possibly someone else was there, too. I might not have spelled those names right either. We used to go there a lot because we could hang out for hours and then give Scott P a ride home after work."
- Tiffany
- "6-21-98-- This is the longest day of the year. Well it definately was felt by the people in Denny's No. 275 on 1360 Holliday Lane, in Fairfield, CA. At 8:00 pm on the Father's day evening I stepped into the Denny's at 2980 Travis Blvd. (same city). The place did not have but two people working the floor (at a very slow pace) and about 8 customers per server. I was seated and given a menu, as I waited for a considerable time there were two other groups of customers waiting longer than me, with thier orders not taken. This is a large Denny's and I would have thought it to be much more filled and had a larger staff on the perticular day. The Manager came up to me and told me that he was going to shut the restuarant down for two hours (maybe shift change) because he didn't have adequite kitchen help.
I left and went one block to the one at 1360 Holliday Lane. Although smaller they had 6 servers on the floor, with about 14 customers per server. With more people pilling in by the minute (from the overflow of the other place), the manager was in the kitchen helping the cook, with the rest of the employees working their "buns" off. I was impressed. These people knew how to work hard. They had a team spirit and continuity. I praised my server, "Brenda." When my meal arrived (quickly) I stated, "if I were at the other place right now I would still be looking at my menu, or at locked doors.
I hope that Denny's upper management reads this. I think they need to reward one franchise and investigate the other." - written prior to September, 1999
- Mike Meahan
- March 6, 2002 - "Friend of mine lives up in Fairfield and one time when I was up there after bumming around re-living the teenage years we never had playing shitty videogames and whatnot, we decided to get a late night bite to eat. Being Fairfield, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot open after 10pm, so Denny's was an obvious choice. Then came the bigger choice... which Denny's? The one on the left side of the street, or the one on the right side of the street. I shit you not, there are two Denny's locations practically across the street from each other. I've now been to both of them but forgot to ask the waitstaff, well... why there are two of them less than a mile apart?"
- Ian Kasley
- "Life comes to a crawl as you enter Fort Bragg, CA. The highway is spattered with street signs and traffic controls. But at the end of town there is a ray of hope. The denny's, though small, has James....When the scraggly, unkempt hair and the large oogling glasses approach you, you are hard pressed to refrain from yelling, "YES, YES PLEASE MORE SPICY FRIES". Just beat it they say if you come in without shirt and shoes. But the beer stains are allowed." - written prior to September, 1999
- Simon Foster
- July 5, 2001 - "Hey dude. I'm so beyond bored at work, figured I'd submit a review of the Denny's that's off my street.
Location: Denny's on Mission Boulevard in Fremont, California (zip code: 94539)
Now i've been to a few Denny's in my lifetime, so really all I have is to compare it to OTHER Denny's that I've been to. This one is MUCH quiter than others. I'm not even sure why they have this HUGE waiting area, maybe they thought they'd be so jam packed they needed to be SURE there was enough room.
This location is extremely clean, once again probably 'cause it's much quieter and there's barely any traffic that goes through. I have to visit the bathrooms (since my apartment is nearby and obviously I would much rather use my OWN bathroom than a public one) so maybe all the nastiness is accumulated in there. I have yet to sit down and have the table be not-properly wiped or sticky, although once I think someone else's bill was still there and last week my napkin was rumpled.
Their hot chocolate is kinda crappy, but that vanilla capuccino stuff KICKS ASS. I wouldn't recommend spending $$ on salad (I think they run over to a local grocery store and use the bagged stuff) especially since a salad costs MORE than an actual meal.
The last time I went, I asked the waiter what the thin strips of potato were called in a menu picture (I was having a debate as to whether they were hash browns or home fries). THe teen waiter told me hash browns. I asked him what home fries are. He told me that home fries are thinner. So I asked him what could possibly be thinner than the shredded potatoes in teh picture. He simply told me he didn't want to argue and walked away.
Lesson learned: the waiters at this location are not knowledgealbe on the subject of breakfast potatoes.
Other than that, it's a typical denny's (the waiters speak better english though)."
- F. Sabina Ahmed
- "Like many of our sister stores we offer the "SLAMS" and Value for your dollar but, I think that our Denny's offers a little more. We have a friendly staff and we are always happy to give our guests a smile, a great meal, and a little conversation. I hope that you will include Galt on your page--It's the Great American Little Town and I hope that people will stop in and say HI--We are right off of Highway 99 between Stockton and Sacramento! Thanks--have a great day" - written prior to September, 1999
- Anonymous
- "Welcome to Grass Valley, California, heart of the Gold Country. We boast of senic mountain beauty and colorfull history. And, a Denny's that is home to waitresses with most bizzare hair doos ever seen on the human head. Some locals believe that these seemingly normal women are actually alien warlards who pile tremedous amounts of human gray-silver hair to conceal there enormous brainy craniumns. Really." - written prior to September, 1999
- Darin Barry
- March 18, 2004 - "Well, the food was damn good (EXCELLENT pancakes and EXCELLENT spicy buffalo chicken sandwich and EXCELLENT fries AND damn good coffee, even at 4pm in the afternoon); but that has got to be, architecturally speaking, the SMALLEST Denny's I have ever been too. Hell, even the Denny's in Barstow and the one off the Las Vegas Strip are BIGGER than this one, in terms of floor space. Even smaller than Rocker Denny's. However, the service is good, the decor sad and tired and dark, but clean, everybody is smiling that works there and they are quick and thorough. The clientele....well, being that Hawthorne is considered sort of the suburbs, there is the usual mix of churchgoers over the age of 50 dressed in their sunday best church suits and hats (mostly women), the so-called "white trash" family groups (mostly women under 30 with a couple of screaming kids in tow who curse a lot and smell like smoke), the young latinas with kids (who are usually better behaved than their mothers, who tend to smell like cigarettes too, and are always dressed in their cha-cha tops and tight jeans and platform shoes), and to my amusement the last time I was there, I saw this older biker dude wearing a really fly black porkpie hat, shiny satin baseball jacket, jeans and cowboy boots with his wife and kids; that guy I SWEAR is some character actor we've all seen on dozens of tv shows and films, but I have NO idea what his name is. He was very entertaining and loud, with a heavy New York accent. Guess he lives in the area. Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope it was helpful. Keep up the good work and I hope you enjoy further Denny's adventures!"
- Rosenda E. Moore
- "The restaurant during my visit started to become very busy. I observed the restaurant's manager (Mr. Jesse Duckett) assisted the waitresses in taking orders, cleaning tables, and greeting patrons.
It is hard to find management in any business nows days willing to help by physically taking part and doing the job he or she has asked others to do.
I feel that this you man should at the very least have someone say "keep up the good work".
(Note: The Denney's is located at Lyons & Flordia, Hemet, Calif.)" - written prior to September, 1999
- Anonymous
- "This was referred to in the KUCI (local college radio station) Program Guide as the "Goth Denny's". Apparently the Weird Al Yankovic factor is not the only Unexplained Denny's Phenomenon! The Denny's in Albuquerque, NM is also staffed exclusively with young vampiric women! Please see that entry for more information." - written prior to September, 1999
- Dan Harkless
- "To whom it may concern, Our local Denny's is in Huntington Beach, CA, off of Brrokhurst and Adams. It is staffed by the most irrate, freakish, generally pissed-off people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting in my life. The winner of the "20-foot-stick-up- the-a$$" award has to be Donna. Everytime I would go in, Donna would always greet our band with the middle finger and a pile of menus thrown in our general direction. After that, the only time we would see Donna was when she would come over to yell at us about bothering the other customers (the masses of people crowding Denny's at 1:30 AM were generally some punkers and a fat guy eating ice cream sundaes like they were going out of style). Donna was thankfully transfered to a Denny's in another part of the city, but her mark has been left on all of us. The last time we were there, our official band dumba$$ almost got us permanently banned. I don't know why we keep going back there, it's just tradition to go to Denny's after the games for some bad food and abuse." - written prior to September, 1999
- Jo-Jo Siddiq
- October 16, 2001 - "Been a while since I have mailed, but always intrigued at your site. Seems almost everyone I know on the web has heard of you now, bravo! I too live in Arizona and spend so much time on the road to Calif, that I almost always eat at the Denny's just off of the Ramon Rd exit if I am headed back in the morning. (In and Out burger if around lunch or dinner!) My last experience was great the other day, as there were no other customers there. We both had the 2.99 Grand Slam Specials and were back on the road again. Bathrooms were clean and service was great.
ps: going to the midwest next spring. Ill make sure to take the dig camera and get some shots to go along with subsequent reviews."
- Jeff Dorgay
- "They've just built a new Denny's across the street from the University of California in Irvine, near where I live (actually, it used to be a Hamburger Hamlet), and I had the worst French toast I've ever experienced. It was cold, tasteless and made my stomach hurt. And this was after waiting 20 minutes for someone to take our order. I think the waiter actually knew a little English." - written prior to September, 1999
- Michael Kirchhoff
- "Irvine is a small planned community with the worst night service. Always slow and apathetic, they really know how to let you know what a favor they are doing by waiting on you :) On an up note they do ahve the best waitress ever on the dayshift and ONE good night server, though I only saw him once, maybe he moved onto bigger better things. There buffelo wings are fabulous and the food is always pretty good, if a little late in coming. NEVER order anything from the ice cream counter it will be 45 min. in coming because the servers have to get it. I guess it cant be too bad I keep going back
." - written prior to September, 1999
- Jennifer Filson
- " Location: UCI Marketplace (Campus at Bridge)
This is a fairly new Denny's, having opened about a year ago and replacing a "Hamburger Hamlet". It's an OK Denny's, but is located right next to a trendy dance club, Metropolis. There's always a fight or two going on outside the club, right in front of Denny's, and inside the restaurant there's always big groups of people engaged in loud conversation. The demands of the club's problems keep the servers' attention focused on quelling riots and not on service itself, so you usually have to wait for that refill on your coke. If, for some ungodly reason, you find yourself at UC Irvine, it's not a bad place to go during the day, but I'd stay away at night. It's safe, but not worth the trouble. " - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- " Location: Culver Blvd at 5 freeway
This is a great Denny's, though not as good as the Santa Ana location. It's fairly large and somewhat busy, yet you usually don't have to wait long to be seated. The atmosphere is a good one, with lots of young couples quietly enjoying a coffee. The food is fairly good, but again it isn't great. Service is so-so, the fairly large amount of people this Denny's gets lowers the quality of the service somewhat." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- April 7, 2004 - "When I lived in Irvine for college we would actually drive 6 miles out of our way to the one on 14160 Culver Drive off of the 5 freeway. We never went to the one in the University Marketplace on Campus Drive and it has since shut down. About the Culver one: it is excellent. We always would go for late night study nights. They never would ask us to leave even after sitting at a booth for 3 hours one time. The waiters/waitress aren't the friendliest just doing their job but when we could get the 2.99 Grand Slam anytime, it didn't matter. Once we tried to use a coupon from a website and this 40ish year old man who was the manager would not allow us. Ridiculous!! Oh well, it has been great. The night before my boyfriend's birthday at midnight, they gave us a free dessert (we were studying for a final exam). Sorry no WAY here but maybe some day. The Grand Slam is great! I especially love the Buffalo Chicken strips. Wish I could be there now."
- Crissy Daniel
- "There are two Denny's in La Mesa (a suburb of San Diego). One is a someone quiet place, not too crowded, and is pretty much your typical Denny's, except for the notable absence of anyone resembling Weird Al Yankovich. The other Denny's is always more crowded and frenetic, being next to the freeway and close to San Diego State University. There is this one guy who works there (he doesn't look like St. Al, either--this Denny's is also Al-free), who I first saw during lunch. He was rather enthusiastic in trying to please me and Sara, and certainly seemed to have totally thrown himself into the job, and I remarked to Sara, "That man will be night manager someday." And sure enough, every time I have been to that Denny's since then, at night (90% of the time, I go to Denny's at night), that man is always working there, and is always enthusiastic and outgoing.
The other interesting story I can think of is one time, the Hot Chocolate machine wasn't working, and some man, whose two kids wanted hot chocolate, caused quite a ruckus trying to get some hot chocolate. Some people are stupid." - written prior to September, 1999
- Mike Myers
- "I have fond memories from the Denny's I knew growing up in California. Is anyone familiar with the Denny's in La Mirada right off the Santa Ana Fwy (I-5)? Is it still there? I remember that one because it was right next to (I think) what was or is Denny's world headquarters. I'm not sure I ever actually ate at that one, but I remember it especially because, before they built the 91 Fwy, it was on the route we took to Disneyland." - written prior to September, 1999
- Joe Gattuso
- "Location: El Toro Rd, about 1 mile north of the 5 freeway
We've only been to this Denny's once, and it didn't leave any spectacular impression in our minds. It has a bar attached to it with live music, which is fine if that's what you are looking for, but is somewhat annoying if you've just come from a party and are looking for a quite place to enjoy that chocolate shake of yours." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- "everyday I have lunch with my daughter and there is this nice dennys on carson, in lakewood california.. and he food is good and the new things they come out with is really very good. besides the price is right,,, keep up the good work. I think denny's is the heart beat of America..." - written prior to September, 1999
- Dr. Nan Mackay
- March 20, 2005 - "I ran into the owner of this (and many other Southern California Denny's Restaruants). He runs a tight ship and I know any time I step into one of his it's going to be clean with good quality. LaVerne, CA. is one of my favorite Denny's to frequent. Servers are (mostly) friendly and the food just tastes better here. I used to eat at the corporate stores but found them to be too run-down and a bit dirty. This was different. Clean restrooms and booths. Food looked like the pictures in the menu. All in all it was a good experience and I go a bit out of my way (I pass 2 other Denny's in my area) to dine at this one. It's got that old Diner feel to it. And a little history... it sits at the only place where Baseline and Route 66 meet. They just need more parking space!!"
- Jenny McQuown
- July 26, 2002 - "Hi there ! My name is Jenny. My husband James and I live in Brussels (Belgium). (Yeah, well, not our fault !) We visit the U.S. almost every year (we have relatives in Lompoc, CA) and we just LOOOOOVE to eat at Denny's (especially breakfast). I am a big Moon over my Hammy's fan and James is more into the skillet thing (Meat Lovers, ...), but we also love the slams and the steak'n'eggs and ... and ... EVERYTHING !!! We are coming to the States again in about four weeks and we are already going over the Denny's menu to make our first selection. Needless to say that Denny's doesn't exist over here but even worse, the whole concept of a "family restaurant" is unknown here (can you imagine our agony ?!). The only thing we can do to survive is make ourselves a real home style brunch on Sunday mornings, with bacon, sausage, hashed browns, etc... which we then eat with our eyes closed, dreaming ourselves in a Denny' (it gets kind of messy from time to time, but that's the price to pay). Anyway, I must say that I'm kind of envious of your job, but some guys just have all the luck. Keep up the good thing !"
- Jenny
- "Your web page on Denny's is a real find for me. You see, my son and I are reconverting a coffee shop in the Brentwood area of LA to a Denny's. We are very near to the UCLA campus, on Wilshire Boulevard between Barrington and Bundy. We plan to be open around the first of November, and the feedback you have gotten from others will certainly help us to give as good service and food as we can. We want this to be a "class" Denny's, and we certainly invite you to visit us once we are open." - written prior to September, 1999
- Mike Leviton
- "The founder of Denny's aint the only one who died. The Denny's in Brentwood that I opened in November of 1996 folded on October 13, 1997 for lack of sufficient interest and what turned out to be an onerous lease. Despite the fact that would have done close to a million in sales had we stayed open for a year, the break even point was probably more like a million two fifty or more. While we were busy on Sunday and when UCLA students were in town, especially for mid terms and finals when they came in and studied and ate, ate, ate, the place sometimes looked like the Sahara Desert. I understand it is now a Coco's. Meanwhile the landlord lost close to a hundred grand by not renegotiating his lease with me, and I am sure the new tenant is not paying anything like what I was. So I am sorry we had to close before you got a chance to see the most beautiful Denny's in the system go down the toilet." - written prior to September, 1999
- Mike Leviton
- "I frequent the Denny's known as "Rock and Roll Denny's" on Sunset Blvd. in the heart of Hollywood California (the actual address slips my mind at the moment). It's quite fun to go late at night past 11pm to watch the Freaks come out. Freaks consist of Hookers,transvestites and other freaks that tend to think they are cool just because they are living the 'HOLLYWOOD' life....stupid mortals. Anyway...it's fun to go with a group of people and laugh at others. " - written prior to September, 1999
- Mike D
- "Bless you for what you're trying to do. I don't think you can possibly realize what this project means to so many people, all around the world. I hope my contribution will add to the joy that your site brings to people. I live in Germany, which has no Denny's restaurants at all. So, last year when I visited the States with a friend of mine from England, I couldn't wait to get to a Denny's. Since we were on the road visiting L.A. and didn't know anyone at all, we spent Thanksgiving Day '95 in the Denny's restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. It was excellent. It was also the only place we could really hang out. I was pleased to realize that Denny's in California can serve alcoholic beverages, and we took advantage of that situation as soon as the scrumptious Triple Slam Breakfasts were out of the way. We spent the whole day in the bar at that Denny's and enjoyed watching all the Thanksgiving NFL action; seeing Dallas beat up on some poor AFC squad particularly sticks out in my mind. I have ACTUAL PHOTOS of myself out front of the Denny's by the Denny's sign, and with the Hollywood hills in the background. If I can find an address to send them to so that you can scan them in to this page, I will. Anyway, thanks again for offering us global Denny's fans the chance to express our support for their fine restaurants. " - written prior to September, 1999
- Harry West
- "Wow, it's been over a year since I was last in a Denny's but let me tell you the Denny's in North Hollywood (Lankershim Blvd), California is damn fine. Even after that massive earthquake - they were open. The people in there are usually just the right mix of elderly couples, bikers and those just stopping for some quick eats. I live in London now, and it's the one thing that makes me homesick the most!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Alice Heywood
- "There is a Dennys on the corner of Sunset and Gowar, in the heart of tinsel town, that I don't think you can pass by. Hollywood is the ideal location for Dennys, and while we can't promise you the same fine food and racial discrimination the chain is known for, it's our bet that this will still be a fine Dennys experience. Try it late at night when all the rock and roller dudes and dudesses come out of their coffins. There is also a Dennys in North Hollywood with that certain "south of the border" flair. Ole'." - written prior to September, 1999
- Tom Flynn
- "try the one at sunset and bronson (?) in hollywierd. it's not too far from the scientology place. there's one in noho (north hollywood) that's kinda fun if ya like eating in seedy neighborhoods during drug busts. there's also the one's close to malibu that serve booze and have chili with onion rings and mozarella sticks. yes, it's an atual menu item!." - written prior to September, 1999
- Anonymous
- "For years I went to the Denny's on Sunset and Gower in Hollywood, CA, once a week for breakfast, and occasionally for "nourishment" in the late evening/early morning hours. The clientele at those times in Hollywood must be seen to be believed (think of a zoo), but what really got me was the Night Manager, who had the highest forehead of any human being I have ever seen. If, in fact, it was a human being. Think back to the David Macullum(?) episode of The Outer Limits TV show. Imagine eating breakfast at 2 a.m. lookin' at that guy." - written prior to September, 1999
- Martin B.
- "Location: Centinela Blvd at the San Diego freeway (405)
We actually didn't eat here at this Denny's, we simply took advantage of its restroom and parking facilities. It was January 1998, and we were on a quest, a quest to get into all the Hollywood studios and get discovered, becoming the next big stars. This Denny's is located just down the street from the Dreamworks "studios", which is actually an abandoned military base with a few hangars that have been converted into studios. We got onto the lot without any problem, but there wasn't any filming going on so we remain unknown talent." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- "As a poor, sometimes homeless, oftentimes broke, most usually affected by some substance or another fellow, I have come to view Denny's restaraunts as havens; a place of peace in an otherwise cold and uncaring world (IE when I don't have any money or a place to sleep, and am far away from home, I can be assured of relative safety and comfort for the price of a bottomless cup of coffee). Of course, I fit right in with all the other middle-of-the-night freaks at my local Denny's (Santa Cruz, CA)... Or I used to.. My lifestyle and appearance both suffer from a sudden influx of money, due to a JOB, and my Denny's pilgramiges have been decreased in frequency, as far as long distance goes... Denny's holds a special place in my heart.. My formative years as an adolescent, consuming copious amounts of LSD, were spent mainly in corner booths in Denny's at 3AM tripping balls with other poor, giggling, substance abusing, weird looking white kids. But my Denny's tale is not a "Fear and Lothing"esque road trip with the glowing crazed letters of cheap coffee serving as beacons along a psychedelic journey.. No, my story takes place in a moment of full sobriety... it was a result of a poorly conceived semi road trip that entailed hitchhiking from Santa Cruz to Los Angeles with my then runaway girlfriend and my friend who has a thing for transexuals.. Now, I have NO idea if you are from the "Early-morning-going-to-work" school of Denny's thought, or the "7-day-methamphetamine-binge" club of Denny's customers.. However, even if you are not amused, and do not see fit to add my comments to your Denny's project, at least the seedy underbelly of disreputable Denny's patrons will have spoken it's peace. Now, we had a very interesting trip to LA, but that is of no consequence except in relation to Denny's.. As we arrived in Hollywood, expecting to see movie stars and all that stuff, we were confronted with grim reality.. The first person we saw was a hooker, who commented on my hair in a friendly manner (At that time it was in bright green dreadlocks), and the second was a homeless man who exposed himself to my girlfriend. We were not stoked. By this time, it was neearing 2AM, and we had to find a safe haven.. Police helicopters would fly overhead with searchlights scanning for perpetrators of unknown crimes constantly, gangbangers were laughing at us and asking us if we wanted some of their blunt, LAPD officers (Whom we feared as a result of TV and Rodney King) were patrolling, arresting black people left and right... This place was obviously insane. And just when we thought hope was lost, familiar letters were before our eyes, promising warmth and comfort and $1.99 Grand Slams in 4 hours. With haste we projected ourselves toward the only bastion of sanity in a world gone mad, and entered Denny's.. Aah.. formica tables and booths with seats patched by electrical tape have never been so luxurious.. We were suprised that Denny's had it's own security guard, but we decided to look like we wanted to get something to eat and not the vagrant travellers we were. Shortly after our arrival and 6 cups of coffee, we noticed commotion outside.. A man was bleeding from a massive wound, and was stumbling into Denny's.. The staff quickly came to his aid and called the cops.. now this is really the point of my story.. in the midst of the extreme apathy that we had been witness to in our few hours in the city of angels, these minimum wage earning, strung out waitresses and immigrant cooks took the time and care to make sure this man was alright.. the cops and an ambulance came, and the man was escorted to the hospital.. Our thoughts were with him, and we knew that should anything befall us, Denny's would help us in our time of need, as indeed it was at the moment, giving us shelter in an alien place where we had not a friend for 400 miles. We stayed until 6AM when the Grand Slam special started, and ate our runny eggs with all the gusto of condemned men.. We chatted with the staff, became friendly with the security guard, (In fact, the guard drew a portrait of me, with the crayons Denny's gives to kids, on the back of a placemat.. And I still have it) And we left with the feeling of hope that there were still decent human beings left in this bombed out shell of Hollywood. And, in fact, they were present at the bottom rung of the service industry, the graveyard shift workers at Denny's. We visited 4 more Denny's locations before the trip was over, but none left as strong an impression as that of the one I have mentioned. I would like to extend a thanks to the night crew and security of the Hollywood Denny's, and to you for hearing me out." - written prior to September, 1999
- Sedusa
- "Hey! My name's Tracy, and I live in the heart of ol' L.A., Mid-Wilshire. I dig my neighborhood - parts of it could use a face lift, but it's cool place if you know where to look (and where not to, if you get my drift). So I hereby recommend the Denny's just east of the the corner of Wilshire and Western, same building as the glorious old Wiltern Theatre. I eat there frequently (the Denny's, not the Wiltern), and am either well-taken care of (daytime hours) or heartily amused (late-night, weirdos-and-fucked-up-partiers-are-out hours). Either way, you can't go wrong." - written prior to September, 1999
- Tracy
- November 16, 2000 - "A few friends of mine and I are planning a Hollywood, California, Denny's Hat Trick - in one day, we managed to hit the Sunset & Bronson and Sunset & Gower restaurants...but there's one left! ACK! At any rate, we had most fun at the Bronson restaurant, because they had tv's all over the place showing those gossippy rock star documentaries on VH1 or whatever. This is why I associate Lief Garret with Denny's. ;o) The food and service at both restaurants were excellent...the five of us were quite happy!"
- Kali Pappas
- January 12, 2001 - "I actually saw a big drug bust go down outside one of the 3 or 4 Denny's (I've forgotten how many exactly) on Sunset Blvd awhile ago too. Haha it was pretty amusing. It was at the Denny's which is referred to by us locals as "Rocker Denny's", given its close proximity to, and patronization by, the rocker type fellows who hang out at the nearby Sunset Strip nightclubs like the Rainbow and such. We were in a long line waiting to get in at about 2:30 a.m, after the clubs had closed, and we all stood there looking in a rather jaded manner, I must admit. "Oh wow, look how those cops are ripping up that old Volkswagen...ooooh.", "Boy, those girls must be awful uncomfortable lying face down in the street with their arms handcuffed behind their backs. Poor things." Etc.etc."
- Rosenda Moore
- December 29, 2001 - "My husband 2 kids and I (7 months pregnant) went to this place on colousa highway in marysville for dinner 1 night. The smallest denny's you've ever been in, the only one in the area, and TERRIBLE!!!! Our waitress was wonderful (an older lady that usually worked graves, but was called in last minute and agreed to work after only sleeping for like 20 min.). there was a manager there (or a wannabe manager) who came out of the bathroom wiping his hands (did he wash or didn't he?) and said "how many?" my husband said, "um 4" he sat us at a table that was so small I had to squish my belly in. This man reminded me of Richard simmons with red hair if you catch my drift. the food took soooooo long that I swear my baby was going to be born at any minute! typical denny's food. there was a young waitress there who had 3 customers (she was all of 21 or so) and this older lady that was like 50 or so and the young lady took my husbands salad after the old lady made it and gave it to one of her customers. when the waitress returned to grab it and hand it to my husband she screamed, "WHO THE HELL TOOK MY SALAD?" we couldn't believe that she even did that and then yelled at the older lady!!! THE NERVE!!! We would have complained to the Richard wannabe, but we figured that the young waitress and him were sharing make up so what was the point? Anyway to end it, our waitress (bless that woman's soul for putting up with these people's shit....even though she should go to applebee's that just opened up in yuba city.....she'd rock there) asked us if we wanted anything else, we replied, " NO", she replied "SMART MOVE!!!" :)"
- Renee
- November 30, 2002 - "Just gotta re-inforce your previous correspondant on the local Denny's. The worst. I no longer go there under any circumstance (even when every other restaurant in the area is closed, and that does happen).
As a diabetic, I must eat on a fairly regular schedule, and since I am using insulin, I must inject myself prior to eating, and must eat within about 15 minutes of the injection. On the night in question, last summer, I entered Denny's (alone) and found it about one-third occupied. I went to the restroom to test my blood and take my injection (I don't even want to go into the concept of using my stuff in a typical Denny's bathroom -- it's scary!).
I then took my seat, ordered a slam of some sort, and waited. Coffee came soon. Nothing else. After 20 minutes, I asked the waitress to check on the order. She proceeded to the passthrough...nothing. After another coffee or three, again I sent her to check. About this time, the crowd from the local ampitheater had just ended a concert and started to file into the restaurant. Soon all tables were filled, there was a waiting line, and most of the newcomers were getting served.
Finally, exactly 55 minutes after I took my shot (I write down the time in my little logbook), as my blood sugar was tumbling like an avalanche, I left the table and proceeded to the cash register, told the manager I was leaving, and offered to pay for the coffee. At that point, the original waitress grabbed a plate off the passthrough and said I could have that breakfast. However, it was not the one I ordered; they were willing to let another customer get screwed so I would stick around for my lousy six bucks or so. I declined their generous offer and again offered to pay for the coffee. In what was the only decent gesture of the evening, the refused to accept the buck whatever.
As a sidenote, I was eating in the Taco Bell across the street about a month later when a guy walked in with his family, totally torked off about not getting served after more than 30 minutes at Denny's. I completely understood.
We've got Lyons, Coco's, Perko's and Applebees here in the Twin Cities of Marysville and Yuba City as well as a few independent coffee shop style joints, and Denny's will just have to live without me in perpetuity. (The above story is only the last straw in 30 plus years of disappointments at that spot... but I have only myself to blame, because I kept trying trying again.
By the way, I look a little like Wierd Al, only older, fatter and shorter."
- Mike Blachman
- "Dear Denny's Dude:
After I wrote a message to you about a Denny's that truly bit (see Ocean City, MD), I looked around to see what people had written about other Denny's I've been to. Lots of negativity out there! I've decided to write to you about the Denny's in Merced, California.
I think small town Denny's end up being the best. The people who run the Merced, California Denny's are a case in point! You get a little conversation with your meal, and if you're a regular, you might be in on a few inside jokes. Biggest side salads than any other Denny's and the most fun and polite servers anywhere. We lived in Merced for five years, and any time we went on a long road trip we'd eat at this Denny's before we left.
All Hail Denny's Merced!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Rasha Kowalewski
- January 17, 2004 - "The denny's in Merced, CA, is one of the better ones I've been to over the years, but it does have a few problems.... Since it's a franchised location, it's their choice whether or not to participate in national promotions (like the $1.99 grand slam). This Denny's location instead creates their own grand slam promotions with very restricted hours (like 7AM-10AM). Also, when they remodeled a few years ago, they installed a light-blue neon light that goes across the top of the counter that is so bright & such a weird shade of blue that it seems to burn into your brain... it's very distracting! You can actually see these blue lights glowing through the front windows from the freeway (even in broad daylight!) as you're driving by. It's the same shde of blue that's used in those bug-zapper lights...lol! Anyway, their service is good, their food is usually served just the way you ordered it, they do their chocolate milkshakes just right; All-in-all it rates around an 8 on a scale of 1-10. If you're in the Merced area of California's Central Valley and want a Denny's that participates in the nationally advertised promotions, it's worth going about 5 miles down the road to Atwater, CA to a 2-year old Denny's that's very clean and very consistant on food quality. The Atwater Denny's is a little slower on service (2-5 minutes slower), but if you want a $1.99 grand slam, that's your best bet in Merced County, CA. PS: I'm a nightclub DJ, so I've eaten hundreds, if not thousands, of late night meals at many different Denny's round the state of CA...."
- Ken S
- August 24, 2000 - "Many good times have occured at the Denny's known as "D on A" (denny's on alicia). The crowd varies at night from the usual Orange County sleazewhores to wannabe punk rock and skater kids, but it's all pretty entertaining. I haven't been there ever during daylight, but why would one go to a Denny's during such odd hours?? One comforting fact about this Denny's is that our waitress Melissa always knows just what to order (fries and a side of ranch, a super bird for my friend, and lots of cherry coke). It's almost scary to think that in the time my friends and I have been going there, Melissa has somehow managed to become impregnated and have a child who is probably almost a year old now. Also, there is never a shortage of the neat little gameboy things (go penguin game!)."
- jessalyn
- "Modesto ,California has three of them. I used to think they were ok, but now my good friend works at one of them and I am finding out all kinds of stuff. They are running the grand slam for $1.99, if you order one of them the waitress considers you white trash. The company is cutting hours to cancel the workers insurance. I will be going back to Lyon's" - written prior to September, 1999
- Billy Jo
- September 16, 2001 - "please take note! i live in california and i go to corona and norco dennys where they give you great service.......today i took 10 people to a dennys in montclair ca. on 4th street......service was poor food was ,bad or dis colored.........didnt get the orders right......food was cold we canceled 4 food orders...................the waitress had a bad additued...................the manger told us they dont put up the health ratings as you can buy them now.......i dont beleive that is true.......now i no why only 6 or 8 people came and went while we was there.............i cannot beleive this was dennys..............thanks for litening but this is very poor business............."
- Joan Hamilton
- "Towards the end of the holiday - getting weary. Had a bigger meal this time. I think I had some seafood - which again was great. I loved the atmosphere here. It was busy but friendly - lots of family groups. We got free holographic baseball cards which meant absolutely nothing to us, but looked good!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Pam Sheard
- "If you're interested in getting the worst service of your life, being served by people incapable of finishing a sentence, and getting your food cold, then by all means bop on up to Monterey, California. You might get better service since you're male and you're not a student (are you?), but don't count on it. And yes, I processed your disclaimer, or whatever you call it, but I still find it odd that when I try and track Denny's down on the internet, your page comes up before anything else. Is it because they at Denny's *know* that people like me are pissed off? Just curious..." - written prior to September, 1999
- Naomi
- November 9, 2003 - "This Denny's has average service but a very friendly wait-staff. This is the only Denny's that I've visited which has its own Tavern. The Tavern serves alcohol, like any other bar, and also hosts a weekly karaoke night. I think this is about the most ingenious Denny's idea ever - as one can go get drunk then walk through a door and sober up with some coffee and an All American Slam."
- Cody Sharp
- "My name is Pho Leat, and I just love the Denny's here in Moreno Valley California, USA. It is like a community landmark. I think its been in our city for over 15 years at least but im not sure on that. Its right next to the Home of the Whopper and right acress the street from the old Bobs Big Boy, turned Coco's. You can see it from the 60 Freeway so its not too hard to locate.
What more can I say? There are too many fond memories of first dates, prom nights, and post football game team meals to list. And if yer getting the munchies like me right now then its a deal you cant miss." - written prior to September, 1999
- Pho Leat
- "Though lacking in full Weird Al ambience, Morro Bay denies makes up for it in sheer service style. The great majority of service people get on their knees when taking your order. A closer, friendlier environment than nearby Madonna Dennys in SLO, CA a must visit if you have the chance." - written prior to September, 1999
- Simon Foster
- "This one sucks. It's one of those "non-participating" Dennys which jacks up all of its prices. Once got stuck there for eight hours when our bus to LA broke down, and they were kind enough to let us take over their conference room or ball room or whatever its called for a good six hours, though." - written prior to September, 1999
- Tom Flamson
- "First of all, the Denny's in Napa is very strange! Built in some sort of a warehouse or something. Strange tubes and shit running all over the ceiling, the service is usually nothing to write home about, and you have to be quiet outside due to it being built into a hotel. Coffee Rating - *** - Three stars... Nothin' special, but not too bad." - written prior to September, 1999
- Oran Davis
- "I used to hang out at this one a lot the summer after graduating highschool. One of the waitresses was really old and bitchy. She was really wrinkled and got mad when she couldn't remember your order. All the local kids who hung out there referred to her as Moses. I wonder if she still works there or if she's still alive even. There was also a nice manager and an evil manager. My mom bought a mug off of the nice manager for $5 (more than its value I think) and gave it to me for Christmas one year as a joke. I had stolen one of the silver milkshake cups from there in highschool and she made me return it. This Denny's has a fireplace which they "turn on" in winter - its one of those gas ones. I guess those are all the distinguishing features. The staff at the Lyon's in Napa were always much cooler.
I forgot until reading some of the Napa Denny's comments on your page that there are two Denny's in Napa. One (which the guy talks about being surreal and having to be quiet because its in a hotel) is the newer one at the end of Imola Ave, opened about 6 years ago. The other which I was talking about has been there for ages and is off Hwy 29 near Trower Ave. The Imola Ave one is lame." - written prior to September, 1999
- Meg Sharkey
- "Normally I wouldnt say anything bad about somebody, however= Mothers Day at Denny's in Napa ,CA was something else! My wife and I frequent Denny's alot. On this visit we were shocked! The hostess told us they were running 30 to 45 minutes for seating (no problem, we waited) But on going to use the restroom I counted 12 tables within sight that were set and no one sitting there. We had given my name to the hostess who wrote it down at the very top of the page (1st name on the list!) yet when I checked about 30 minutes later I found 2 names had been written in above mine (squeezed in on the margin!). I was shocked and said so. the hostess said evidently we were not 1st as there was names above ours. I pointed out that the other names were not on any lines and where squeezed in above ours, she basically said at that point "to bad and if we were not happy there is alot of other places that would be happy to serve us" Well, we where finally seated and the waiter took our order ( very nice and polite) the section we where seated in had a total of 6 tables yet the table next to us and ours was the only tables filled (even though the waiting line was long by that time). The food is usually good at this particular Denny's yet that day it was way undercooked. All in all we would have to rate our visit to Denny's in NAPA, CALIFORNIA as the worst restaurant experience in a long time. Thanks for letting us sound off on your web page, and we would like to say usually we have a good experience at Denny's but after this time I think we will think twice about going there." - written prior to September, 1999
- William & Paula LePage
- August 4, 2000 - "I have dined at many Denny's and have found all of them great-except for the one mentioned above. I have never seen such a dirty filthy and disqusting restraunt in all my life. Scum drooling down the seats, walls and ceilings. GROSS, GROSS, GROSS. Nasty and gross wait staff. To make matters worst. I asked for extra tomatoes on my western omlet and I was charged for it, .99 when I told the manager Cyrus that I disputed this charge and he gave me 2 options I can either pay for the tomatoes or not pay the entire bill which the Napa police will be waiting for me outside. I paid the bill and called the guests relations office at the corporite headquarters office. I was told that the Denny's is independantly owned and that there was nothing they could do except contact them and forwards my complaints. I was also told that if the owners chose to contact me they would, or maybe ignore my complaints. This made be beleive that Denny's doesn't care what kind of filthy place donned their name on the sign out front. I am totally disgusted at the entire experiance with this company. I will never enter another Denny's I will find another place to eat. I will also share this "LOVELY" with anyone who will listen. SHAME ON DENNY'S....."
- Dorreen Longo
- "I indulged in the motzerella sticks and my sister had a hamburger with a side of hash browns. I can't recall any WAY's in the place, although there were a lot of cute guys in tight jeans. Another benefit of this Denny's - it was in the motel 6 parking lot. The bus boys were great for bumming smokes. Ate breakfast there the next morning and it was edible. Note: in Needles they don't seem to think that thermals underneath men's boxer shorts and mickey mouse high tops are a fashion statement." - written prior to September, 1999
- Jennifer Rosevear
- "Location: Newport Blvd at 17th Blvd
This Denny's is usually really busy, and thus the service suffers. The food is of passable quality, though it's not something I would go out of my way for. Its proximity to the beach and Triangle Square, two busy areas, means there's usually a lot of people here and a long wait, and in the end it's not really worth it. We've only been here once, and it didn't go well--it was just after a church dance, and three girls of questionable appearance followed us there and insisted upon flirting with us. One of them thought I looked like George Harrison. Usually this would have flattered me, but coming from her it was just plain annoying." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- February 6, 2000 - "I ate at the Denny's in Norco, California last night after a night of drinking. I have noticed that they seem to have an "After Midnight and Too Drunk to Care How Much The Food Costs" menu that they start using late at night. It seems like the prices are higher on these menus. Is this some form of "Drunk Tax"? Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? I can't believe I have been coming to see this page for 4 years, is there something wrong with me?"
- Joe D'Errico
- "When I was younger my family would always eat at Denny's on road trips. I hated it. I always associated it with the Flintstones for some reason. Anyway, the Novato Denny's is the best. I have no idea why, butduring the spring, a whole big group of my friends started meeting there. It started out as a meeting place before camping trips or whatever, but now it's where we go at night. We don't always go in, we just mostly hang out in the parking lot and chill. It must really scare people, a group of 20 or so youngins hanging out in a parking lot. But it's fun, and I call it my second home. i have a theory about that place- if you wait there long enough you'll see at least 20 people you know. And I'm right! The food's not bad either. There's 1 kick ass waitress who makes the best sundaes. You should definately include the Novato Denny's on your list of visited Denny's! (and the n's on the signs look like 12s.)" - written prior to September, 1999
- David Bedar
- October 2, 2002 - "Okay this is about the Novato Denny's. It's true it WAS the best Denny's I've ever been too. All my friends and I would go hang out there after the rodeo or whatever and there was one kick ass waitress that did make the best sunday's BUT that Denny' was independantly owned by a grocery store or something like that. Anyways to make a long story short they closed it and that really sucked. Where the hell are people supposed to go? Especially late at night. If you've ever been to Novato you'd know there's not much else to do. And on top of that now there's only one Denny's in ALL of Marin county and it's all the way in quartamedera. That's about 20 min away from Novato. To top it all off that Denny's is the only place in all of Marin that people under 21 can go after midnight. It's sad really. When our Denny's closed it was like the end of an era. Thank God I moved anyways just thought I'd let ya know Tootles."
- DixieBubbles66
- " Dude... I can't believe no one said anything about one of the ones in Oakland, California! The one i'm thinking of is really close to the Oakland Coliseium. It's oh-so convenient after a Raiders, A's, or a Warriors game to stop by and munch. It's also close to the DMV (I guess to console yourself over a cup of coffee if you fail your driving test) and it's right off the 880 Freeway. Across the freeway is a movie theater and a rollerhockey rink! I love all that conveneice. I've also been to the one in Emeryville. That's in the middle of a shopping complex and is a short drive from batting cages, an arcade, a movie theater, a nice CD/movies/book store, a bar and a cool club. Anyway, thanks for letting me rant!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Hopper James Amn Det8
- "This was our first meal in the US. We were driving down to San Diego from LA - first day of the holiday when everything was very new to us. Denny's was great! We were served by a lovely lady who was very kind and patient with us. We were gobsmacked (old english saying!) by the size of the sandwiches and the free refills of coffee and coke." - written prior to September, 1999
- Pam Sheard
- "The Denny's in Orange, California on Tustin Ave by the Orange Mall is pretty standard as far as Denny's goes. It's fairly busy at night but they have a few older waitresses whose sassiness make it all worth while. Unfortunately, they have a Mother Butler's ice cream counter at the front of the store, which makes the ice cream more expensive and the shakes aren't near as big. In addition, every time I have been there they have had the section of the restaurant that is usually the designated smoking area (you can't smoke in Orange County in any restaurant) closed. Last but not least, they charged me 50 cents for a stupid side of ranch dressing. Needless to say I was appauled. But overall, it's a decent Denny's experience." - written prior to September, 1999
- Anonymous
- "I have been dining at many different Denny's restaurants and was very happy with the serves. However, once a week I go out to lunch with my girlfriend to the Denny's about 1:30 p.m., located on Chapman Avenue in Orange, CA and have terrible service the three times we have been there. The time period to set us was at least 15 minutes and there where plenty of empty seats. Not to say that when I asked for a kid's meal menu I didn't receive it until I asked two more times. Then when ordering drinks the waitress did not ask my daughters what they wanted to drink and tossed the kid's menu on the table and walked away mumbling. I was very upset by this time and walked out because this has not only happened once but on the three times we have been there. It's not like someone was having a bad day or something, this is continuous. I don't know what can be done about this but I would sure like a response from someone. I have alway found Denny's to be a nice place to dine but now I am having some doubt." - written prior to September, 1999
- Dawn Fields
- "Location: Chapman Avenue at the 5 Freeway, by the Cinedome
This Denny's isn't all that great, for the service really is bad. This was reviewed by another person who complained about bad service here and I must say that she is right--just keep heading down the 5 to either the Redhill or the Culver exits, where decent service awaits." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- May 15, 2001 - "Nice to know that I'm not the only person with such high regards for Denny's. My review is of the Denny's at the Chapman off ramp of the 57 Fwy in Orange Ca. What a crew they have, I stop for breakfast usually 3 days a week on my way to the office and sometimes that is where I get my morning laughs. The 2 ladies who are usually there provide lot's of reasons for anyone to HATE DENNY'S. They spend more time girl gabbing than taking care of the paying customers, I have tried several ways to let them know that if just once they actually acted like a waitress of the past, they might even get a decent tip out of ME! Wrong thought, they will just be your average dumb *#@&^ for life. FYI The blonde is about a 4.5 on the scale --5 being average, but her license plate say's FN UNBELIEVABLE --unbelievable what ?????? The Spanish brunette is an average 5, and her plate say's-- I've had 31 flavor's do you want to be # 32 ??? may-be on a Friday night at 1:58am."
- Morgan, Jeff
- "Seeing your site brought back a bunch of teen years memories for me. Denny's was the ONLY restaurant we would go to during my junior year summer of high school (and still go to quite frequently). Originally being from the small town of Pacifica (a few minutes from San Francisco), there would be nothing for a young kid to do but sit at Denny's on massive quantities of acid for 10 or 11 hours at a time, picking up all the surrealness that can possibly be packed into a small family restaurant. They did not have an employee that looked like Weird Al... but one of the waitresses' boyfriend looked exactly like him minus the poofy hair. The fact that this Denny's was right next to a cowboy bar called Cheers (to which all the cowpokes would come late on weekends after hours of boot-scooting and Jack Daniels) added to the surrealism.
Imagine if you will: Being on three tabs of highly potent drugs when 75 hungry hicks come waltzing in and stare at you because you have a mohawk. And then there's always the cops, stopping by for a Super Bird and a coffee. But the Surrealism Prize goes to a woman named Rose (who can still be seen at this Denny's... hurry up, she's old). Rose sits at the counter near the bathrooms every single night, and will talk to anyone who gets within earshot. She owns about 500 cats, her hair is falling out, she smokes too much, and she claims to have her sister in her purse and that she is good friends with Honest Abe Lincoln. Once a waitress jokingly asked Rose to take our order, and all of us refused because we were frying hard and we didn't want Rose to screw our orders up. My friend Shawn is still traumatized by it.
Being a writer/director of surrealist films, I feel like Denny's has influenced me greatly and I plan to write a script based on that summer's drug-soaked insanity (Hunter Thompson's got nothin' on me). So, if you have a chance to visit up near San Francisco, I suggest rolling on down to that Denny's in Pacifica and give Rose a nice wave... she just might put you in her purse, too." - written prior to September, 1999
- Justin Sane
- November 12, 2000 - "While you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, please do not miss dining at the Denny's in Pacifica. ÊOur grandchildren insist that we have breakfast there everytime we visit and it has always been an amazing experience. ÊLike the time that we asked for additional cutlery for the six people that did not have any. ÊA very strange young woman came to our booth and proceeded to slap down Êplace settings for at least Ê20 people before we stopped her. ÊAnother time, a very hyper young male wait person spilled milk on the top of a baby's head a couple of tables over. ÊAnyways, not a Denny's to be missed."
- Ellen Kantola
- "The old rundown Palmdale Dennys was the site of weekly AA pigouts after making one's soul naked and vulnerable in meetings. In place of alcohol, one could regularly see that chocolate became the new drug of choice. Once located just off the 14 freeway on the East side of town, it tried to upgrade its image by moving a block West to the West side of town just on the OTHER side of the freeway. The AA crowd STILL managed to find it after only one week of confusion. HEY! What happened to Dennys?!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Deborah Hines
- "Location: Ramon Rd at Interstate 10
Like the Banning Denny's just 20 miles down the freeway, this one is simply atrocious. If you ever find yourself out this way on I-10, just keep on driving until you hit a decent fast-food place or something. This Denny's is fairly busy, as it's located on the main route from LA to Phoenix, but it doesn't have anything in the way of quality food--in fact, when we got home to Tustin a few hours later, I threw up. I also recall the service having been less than stellar, as we waited a long time to be seated." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- January 27, 2003 - "The Denny's on the east side of Pasadena was an excellent example of authentic coffee shop architecture until 2001 or so, when some genius decided to re-do it in a phoney diner style. The interior and exterior natural rock walls were painted (two different colors!), the full width windows were narrowed and a bunch of chrome was added. The food has never been very good here (it gives me the runs about half the time) and now the decor matches the meals. The Denny's Diner concept should be reserved for newer shopping mall locations, not authentic original coffee shops. Why can't they get it right?"
- Hal Carter
- "You should definitely get the word out on our own wonderful Denny's here in Paso Robles, right smack-dab in the middle of California cattle ranch country!! It's right off of Highway 101, which is the scenic north-south route of California (and used to be the main route).Ê It's convenient because it's right in town with easy on/off ramps.Ê Plus there are gas stations, convenience stores, motels and other restaurants (though who would need one?) right next to it.Ê Since it's a long way in either direction to any such convenient stopping-off place for travelers, this Danny's, with it's friendly hometown waitresses and great service, is a very important one.Ê Also, if you have a little while during your stop, after your meal at Denny's, you might want to stop by the fantastic Pioneer Museum, right up the street, next to the Mid-State Fairgrounds.Ê The Museum's open 1-4PM, Thursday - Sunday (admission free) and has a great collection of wagons, coaches, buggies, farm machinery, and all types of items connected with cowboys and farm living.Ê Keep up the good work--I even took my friends >from Scotland to Denny's when they came over recently (the Denny's in Mission Valley on Friars Road in San Diego)." - written prior to September, 1999
- Gary McMaster
- "I have a friend who constantly slags Denny's because of a Bad Experience at a BC location. I never understood what she was on about, since the various Denny's I went to in the Sacramento, CA area, particularly Roseville, CA and the Denny's just off Howe Avenue near the 50 were always just fine by me. Then I stopped at the Paso Robles, CA Denny's and discovered that, alas, not all Denny's are created alike. The food was terrible, the service was downright surly, and there was not a WAY in sight. Not even close. I'm just glad it wasn't the first Denny's I'd ever been to, because then it would have been the last. This was in May of 1997, so maybe things are better now. If there's more than one in town, I'm talking about the one just off the 101 near the junction of the route that goes to Kettlemen City, 41 or 46 I think." - written prior to September, 1999
- Emily Gifford
- December 31, 2000 - "Hi. I travel between the San Francisco area and Fresno, Ca. on a regular basis. I have been stopping in at the Denny's in both Patterson and in Los Banos. They are at a good half-way point for a nice stop. However, the Denny's in Los Banos seems to be the better choice. The Patterson Denny's always has very slow service, and once got a bad chicken salad that made me sick. Also, being in an agricultural area, there a re a lot of insets crawling around outside that usually make there way indoors at the Patterson location. I've since stopped going to the Patterson location unless I can't help it."
- David Banuelos
- "My most "memorable" experience at a Denny's restaurant was when my husband (of 6 1/2 years) first asked me to marry him in the Denny's parking lot in Perris, California (in So. Cal.). Who knew you could find true love at Denny's? It ranks right up there with that rooty tooty fresh and fruity breakfast!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Mrs. Kimberly C. Dahl
- "This is one of the Denny's my wife and I eat at the most now. The others in Santa Rosa are already covered. There is nothing special about this Denny's. It's one of the origional (based on my first contact in Merritt Island) designs, which I prefer over the Dennys that attempt to be more fashionable. The more open Denny's are not as comfortable to be in. Anyway, the spees here of service is about average, and the food is always good (of course, all Dennys food is made with Denny number 5)" - written prior to September, 1999
- Rod Cook
- "Only in a dire emergency must one attend this Dennys. Though still offering the scrumptious bacon-swiss burger and all amenities, including spicy fries, this Dennys completely lacks Weird ALness. The first time I attempted to enter this 24/7 restaurant it was closed. I had driven the hard 10 miles from the nearest Denny's in SLO, CA as The Bear Denny was closed for cleaning. This was tragic as the four Denny's in greater non-101 SLO county were all closed for cleaning. They are owned by the same company, so all is tragic when the cleaning signs go up." - written prior to September, 1999
- Simon Foster
- "After the Walnut Creek, CA Denny's closed last year, our little group of Denny's devotees have migrated to the Pleasant Hill location. Although it is a bit further from most of our homes, and does not have as many good memories and emotional attachments that the Walnut Creek location held, it is still a great place to eat. They keep their prices low, and the service is great. We have gotten to know the service persons quite well over the past few months, and our group of 10+ friends is always welcome, and usually assured our table in the back. If you are ever in the area, check out the Pleasant Hill Denny's, located on Contra Costa Blvd, right next to Toys R Us." - written prior to September, 1999
- Victor Andersen
- September 17, 2003 - "That Denny's actually kicks ass. The food is decent, the service great, the people nice, etc. And they get SLAMMED with customers on some weekends, they deserve a medal! It's still Denny's food but they do the best with what they have. And they're a 24-hour one like they're supposed to be too. By the way, if the Grand Slam isn't cheap enough for you, one way to get *something* that will last you a while for b'fast is get a side of corned beef hash. That's only like $1.65 and unless you're a really big person it will do you just fine. "
- Alexandra Carter
- June 1, 2000 - "Gee, what's up with the "Denny's Diner" concept? In Redding, CA we have two Dennys, one on each side of I 5 within shouting distance from each other. One has become a "Diner" and I can't stand the 50's music! So now I have to go to the other one. It's just that I'm all sentimental about the old one. We used to sit in the back booth and nurse coffee, milk shakes and french fries all night while plotting the overthrow of the government. One friend ,who has since become a professional cartoonist drew up a hilarious "Last supper at Denny's", with apologies to Da Vinci. Best of luck on your quest-Northern California is just crawling with the big Ds. Now, the real hard part is finding old "Sambos" restaurants! "
- Misha
- "If you are ever passing through a small town in the Mojave desert, Ridgecrest, not really famous for anything, oh, except the green glow in-the-dark sticks used at Halloween, stop on by Denny's on the corner of the two main drags. This establishment has pride and it shows. I can't name one bad experience I have ever had there. It may be just another Denny's, but the employees and managers enjoy what they do and it shows in their performance. If you ever do stop in, ask for Frank, the manager; a great personality." - written prior to September, 1999
- Carrie Adamson
- June 14, 2001 - "Let's face it, most Denny's suck. The one in Ridgecrest, California, though, is pretty good. We have eaten there twice now and it has been fine. The hired help is friendly and efficient, which is almost unheard of at Denny's. And the food was ok, too. I recommend this Denny's to anyone who happens to be in the area."
- David Owens
- "Location: University Ave, 1 block west of the 215 freeway
This Denny's is not located in a particularly great part of Riverside, and thus it lacks a certain something in the way of quality. It's just down the road from UC Riverside, which is why we went there. We were staying overnight in the Roach Motel (hehe...the Super 8, I mean) and went to Denny's for breakfast. It was crowded, loud, and the service was simply atrocious. We had to wait 15 minutes for a refill on coffee, and roundabout 45 minutes for our food, and once it came it was not easy to stomach. If you ever find yourself in this part of Riverside, resist the urge to eat at Denny's, you're better off just getting the heck out of that scumhole part of town." - written prior to September, 1999
- Robert Cruickshank
- "We eat there at least once week and have been eating there for almost 3 years. The food is great and the service excellent. We live in Sun City Roseville California. We have to drive 10 miles to get to this Dennys. There is a Dennys a couple miles form our home on Foothill Blvd, Roseville. It was recently completed. Who can tell me when this new restaurant will be open. There are a lot of us (senior citizens) waiting for it to open. I would appreciate it if someone in the know would e-mail me the opening date. We want to use this closer Dennys." - written prior to September, 1999
- Donald Gradle
- "I noticed you haven't been through Sacramento. If you do make it up here, check out a couple of oddities. Near Watt and Auburn, there are two Denny's within about a 1/4 mile of each other...one at that corner and one just on the other side of the Watt/Business 80 interchange, which is near the Watt/I-80 interchange. I believe a couple of Denny's in Woodland, CA (15 miles northwest of Sacramento) are similarly clos
