natalia's cafe

maybe it was the covid-19 pick-up and eat out of styrofoam box thing that affected my overall impression. granted, my food was pretty good, but after paying $17, including a 20% tip, for a single biscuit and gravy, four slices of bacon, and two eggs over-medium seems a tad high. an included side of crispy hash browns and a tad more gravy might have lessened the feeling of being overcharged, but, alas, it was not to be.

natalia's cafe is a cute little place on the corner of 4th and ne dallas in the heart of historic downtown camas. in an old, brick building, natalia's has the feel of an old-time diner with a huge griddle behind the counter and a few tables scattered about, although the tables and chairs were roped-off and stacked in the back of the small dining room. when there are tables, they are, in my experience, routinely full at this place and i am not sure if they take reservations.

they have their menu on their facebook page, so i was able to select a meal and call-in my order on the way back from a colonoscopy, having not eaten a bite in 40 hours even though i could live off of my fat for weeks if not months. i assume it was natalia behind the counter cooking my breakfast, the biscuit special ($13), coming with a homemade biscuit topped with sausage gravy, four slices of bacon, and two eggs (any style).

the biscuit was decent in size, not massive and not small, but their could have been a bit more gravy on top. as i said before, some crispy hash browns would have completed the meal and made it a better value. the gravy was good, but it had an odd taste, not a bad taste, but an unknown ingredient or two had been added that probably could have been omitted altogether.

the bacon had been precooked, but the slices were large, warm, thick, dark and chewy, just the way i like it ... hooah! the eggs over-medium were just that, eggs over-medium because it does not take a rocket scientist to cook breakfast.

as i said, hash browns would have made this breakfast worth $13, but, then again, i am sure that rent on 'main street' in camas is not cheap and i appreciate the fact that she decided to stay open during the covid-19 pandemic, having added an extra bomb/star to my review just for that purpose ... thank you natalia!

the only thing i will add is the fact that thay have no website. a facebook page just does not cut it these days because there are many folks out there who refuse to use facebook for a number of reasons. a business without a webpage will likely fail unless they get as lucky as natalia's has with people waiting out the door to get in and overpay, a little, for brunch.

combatcritic gives natalia's cafe 7 bombs out of 10 ... more bombs are better!

thoroughly enjoyed sitting at the counter and watching one amazing breakfast after another be turned out on a a grill that was no more than five feet long. my supreme scramble was delicious and the hash browns were crispy and plentiful. the coffee was also good. it was a lot of fun visiting this small town cafe.

very rude. i just now called up to try to put a lunch order in (1 hamburger). i work in a business across the road from natalia's. before i had a chance to say too much the lady on the end of the phone just said i don't have time and hung up on me.
i am astounded that a local business can be that rude. i have been there many times but never again.

a buddy and i went to natalia's cafe for saturday morning breakfast. it was our first time there. we both got the biscuits and gravy with eggs and bacon, it had its own flavor to it but we both agreed that they were delicious and tasted fresh made. the bacon could have been heated a little longer but overall would give it a 8 out of 10. i got a piece of the apricot cake and was very pleased with it and my buddy got a piece of the apple which he said was one of the best he had. both deserts tasted homemade. will definitely be going back.

disappointing.... perfect saturday morning, top down with the wife into downtown camas, a nice quaint neighborhood cafe we wanted to check out, you know, trying to support small business and all. so it sure looked the part, small family run, nice staff (must be son and daughter?) greeted us but the owners (2 older ladies) cooking were not outwardly friendly to us (we are asians). long story short, simple orders coffee eggs links and crepe for the wife. wife said hers was only so-so, my eggs came out dried and broke apart with the fork, hmmn sure enough its tasted as bad as it looked, mcdonald fake egg was better! coffee thin and tasteless, the link sausage was better, like what i found deep in the corner of my freezer and tried to cook and eat it. sorry, we lived here over 10 years yet rarely considered it the place to go for fine food, i wonder how the heck is this place gonna make it, we will not come back. we should have whipped something up at home instead and save the $25, we felt cheated.

tried this restaurant at the suggestion of a friend during a visit to the area. they're trying to make it work, but just didn't have it together. our waitress was the owner's daughter! forgot parts of our order, had to keep asking for things that should have been obvious...just an amateur attempt at running a restaurant. very frustrating overall. we won't be back.