poor richard's cafe

best breakfast / lunch in texas. we went in for lunch and was surprised to see we could still order off their entire breakfast menu. so, i had chicken fried steak and eggs. this wasn't the usual cfs. i ordered the texas breakfast and got the world's largest chicken fried steak with eggs, home fries, etc. we were there on monday, the day fried chicken is the daily special. this is on the bone real fried chicken;not just a boneless chicken breast. my wife ordered it, and she gave me a bite. boy oh boy, i'm going back for some of that next time.

it is great place. the staff is all friendly, the place is extremely clean, and the food is great. what could you ask for?

great find! the restaurant was fairly crowded when we arrived. that being said it was because of the food and the service. both were spot on.
i got the eggs santa fe and it was delicious.

after an impromptu stop at the donut shop across the way, we ate at poor richard’s on nom’s suggestion. she claimed it was good, let’s see!

om: so happy that nom suggested this place! i had never eaten there before, and i walked away thinking that it was one of the best breakfasts that i’ve had! the restaurant is located in a strip mall, not a flashy exterior, but a large interior and dining area that holds a good number of people. we were seated immediately and placed our order shortly after – our waitress was nice and patient while we looked over the menu. i ordered a pecan waffle, eggs, bacon, potatoes, and biscuits w/gravy. yes, i was hungry! food came out pretty fast considering the place was pretty busy. i have to say that everything was just fantastic! the pecans are baked right into the batter, making the waffle have a satisfying “crunch” as you eat it with a good pecan flavor. eggs were buttery, bacon crisp, potatoes fresh with the skin still on the pieces. biscuits and gravy were very satisfying as well. poor richard’s is one of, if not the best place for breakfast that i’ve been to! excellent food, clean restaurant, reasonable prices, solid menu variety, friendly service…if it weren’t for the 20 minute drive i would find myself here on a monthly basis easy! nom picked out a great place!

nom: i haven’t been to poor richard’s in a long time!! and wow i have been missing out… you’d never guess driving by how wonderful this place is, you might not even notice it’s there! it’s very unassuming not fancy at all and very small town dinerish except the inside is huge!!! they can seat more people than you can wrap your brain around! we only waited a matter of a minute or two to be seated and when our waitress came she was super helpful with our questions. i ordered french toast with an egg over medium and bacon. the french toast was wonderful, it has a nice batter on it but they manage to cook it all the way thru so there is no gooeyness to the bread, it’s also coated with a nice thin layer of powdered sugar! the egg was cooked just right, not slimy but still with a soft middle and the bacon…well i could eat the bacon by itself till i’m full. it’s flat, crispy and the color of rusted tin…perfect! i’m not a huge fan of their biscuits, because to me they look like a cross between a roll and a biscuit but they are still tasty! i love this place and i’m so happy i could introduce my handsome love to this place!

horrible experience. sadly, we used to be regular customers of this establishment. today we arrived at 11:30 and waited until 11:50 before our order was taken. i have three kids, one which is 10 months old.
when our food came eggs were cold, my husbands chicken fried steak came out with brown gravy instead of white and my sons migas came with no tortillas. oh, and my grilled cheese never arrived. at about 12:10 the waitress came to tell me that i was not allowed to have a grilled cheese because it's on the kids menu. i ever offered to pay more. i asked for a manager which did nothing. he did not seem to care and did not offer to let me have my grill cheese even though they screwed up our entire order.
sadly, that's the last time i'll be going there.

all about the breakfast. i'm all about the breakfast. love the breakfast. mornings were made for breakfast. "what do you want for your birthday?" breakfast. am i clear? was very interested in trying this restaurant. it sounded right up by alley. i should have cased this place before i committed myself to it though.

first, i am a pretty easy-going guy when it comes to where do i want to sit. i make enough decisions during the week. if you are going to have a hostess, take me to a seat. don't make me choose whether i want a booth or a table. surprise me. i really don't care. i really and sincerely don't.

this place was really dark too. perfect for migraine sufferers or those with a hangover. think cavern. or a cinema with that muted lighting just before the movie begins. each booth has a mushroom shaped light fixture of its own that hangs precariously over the table. the decor, if you call this decor, is decayed 70's, unfashionable even in its heyday. even with the subdued lighting, the turquoise leather booths stood out. the chairs were the institutional type of an achromatic tan color, which contrasted the fake woody color of the stand-alone tables. (i read someone's comments that they liked the "older" place they used to have!)

they have a vast menu of breakfast and luncheon items. this is another thing that attracted me to poor richard's. i ordered the big tex breakfast, but questioned by my server as to whether or not i would have the texas breakfast. the order is basically the same with the exception of the big tex having a larger cfs for a $1.50 more. both came with three prepared eggs and two biscuits. (there are so many variations on the menu i just looked over the take-out menu for about five minutes to discover the "lighter" version.) i decided on that.

the food was okay. my scrambled eggs were about a fresh as i have had anywhere. the chicken fried steak was an average size and was well prepared. the gravy was a translucent brown that thinned out on the steak the longer that it sat. extra gravy was served with the meal. the biscuits were good. they had a commercial look to them, but once i pulled one apart, i could tell that they were homemade. they had two types of margarine that came with the meal--country crock and promise. promise? i haven't seen that since the 70's either. i skipped the faux butter and just ate them straight.

service was all over the place. coffee at first was quickly served along with ice water that i requested. my coffee was refreshed (topped off) a couple of times, but the water was never brought again even though i wished they had. toward the end of the meal as my coffee disappeared another server with coffee was stopping at all the tables around me refilling up their cups but neglected mine. i don't know if it was intentional but there was a gentleman sitting at the booth in front of me, having finished his breakfast who sat and read his newspaper getting coffee until it was coming out of his ears.

the final verdict on poor richard's cafe is that if you don't mind sitting in a darkened space, love 70's culture, don't mind having margarine with your meal, and having spotty service maybe this place may have some merit. but i left this place depressed. and that is sad because i'm all about the breakfast.

poor richard's is a really good family friendly restaurant that serves a quality breakfast at a reasonable price. the service was spectacular on our visit and we never had to ask to have any coffee refilled. the kitchen is fast too and we had our food within ten minutes of ordering.

great food! portions are huge! cheap price with excellent quality service!

best egg benedict combo everrrr

urban spoon hyped it & i was disappointed.... i had fried chicken with veggies. all of the veggies definitely came straight out of a can. the atmosphere was dated & cheap. the prices were reasonable, but i could have made better food myself. maybe the breakfast is a better option??? i won't be back. i really, really wanted to like this place! it had a great urbanspoon rating, but the spoon was wrong this time.

kudos!. i used to work close to pr and would lunch there at least twice weekly. food excellent...never disappointed...and the service was superb. the waitstaff clearly loves working there and it shows. i now live and work in irving; i am in town every other weekend and on my in town weekends, i make it a habit of eating at prs at least once. the drive is worth it!

pretty decent breakfast. isn't comparable to the breakfast klub in houston. everything's pretty decent - but nothing you couldn't find at any other diner. vegetables all seem a bit bland, not a lot of flavor. chicken fried steak was a bit tough. chicken tenders - pretty good, but cane's right down the street is better. very average. i'd give it a thumbs up but i don't think this food is at the 90% approval level on urbanspoon.

fabulous sunday am breakfast!. the food is great, portions large.....wait staff professional, efficient, courteous!

love it!

early morning breakfast spot. we get up very early on sunday morning and are regulars at poor richard's cafe. the waitstaff is always professional and concientious in keeping the coffee coming. the food is solid...eggs, bacon and biscuits. the cottage fries are inconsistent...sometimes crispy and at other times over cooked. this was one of the first places to use an electronic ordering system.

sunday brunch. the best place to have breakfast (anytime of the day). we visit mostly on sundays after church and we can order breakfast or lunch food.

all the servers are greeeeaat! the drink person is always there to refill your cup or glass.and the hostess, bobbie, is a hoot. she makes it pleasurable and fun to wait in line; as there is usually a line on sundays. watch for her paddle of signs; "close the door", "it isn't me that has an accent", but not to worry, the line usually goes fast. and they (bobby, her sidekick, and other hostess) will make sure you get the type of table and seating arrangement that you desire; as long you are willing to be patient (bobbie will keep you entertained).

when you order the servers will use "hi-tech bluetooth??" to send your order to the kitchen. when your order is ready, it will arrive by what ever server isn't busy at the time; sometime by "richard" there is a constant movement of servers, drink people, utensil people, bussers and watch "richard" greeting people or clearing tables. he reminds me of a conductor leading an orchestra.

one thing that could be better (this would rate them a 5-star), the syrup should be heated.

the little things count sometimes. we visited poor richards a couple of times with another family we dine with on weekends. the last time we were there, one of us had a cup of starbucks with us. we were informed we would have to dicsard the drink in order to dine there. quite an unusual behavior. we have often been welcomed at other restaurants with our externally acquired drink. we and the other families have never again returned to poor rigchards.