Breakfast at the Big View Diner (Norman: restaurant, food, kitchen)

[ChessPie]

Ugh! DH & I went there today around 11. The hostess told us there was a 35 minute wait to get seated. We were halfway out the door & I noticed the semi-busy counter beyond her. So I turned around & asked if we could sit there. She said yes, tho I don't know why she'd rather let us leave than offer it to us unless I'd asked. We had a decent server but we wound up waiting 25 minutes for breakfast consisting of things that should have already been made such as a biscuit, grits, bacon & scrambled eggs. Seriously. Then the people who sat down 15 minutes after us got their lunch in about 5 minutes as they were not even serving breakfast anymore. Later I believe the owner, an older Greek man, was passing by us as I stared him down. He asked if our meal was good & told him what happened with the wait. He simply stated that it's all in how the computers take the orders, & walked away in mid-sentence as a soda grabbed his attention. He wasn't pleasant, didn't offer us anything to make it better like even a coffee, & never returned to finish what he was saying. Rude. If you like to deal with morons, starve, feel forgotten about, & dismissed go here.

[Jake Ryan]

You never said how the food was.

I would personally rather wait for my food and have it prepared to order than be served quickly with "Things that should have already been made".

[Barkingowl]

I've had dinner there before & thought that the food was great as well. But the wait times for tables are ridiculous. Then again it is a very popular new restaurant. It doesn't excuse the treatment you got chesspie but they can act the way they do because there's no shortage of customers.

[NCDREAMING]

I just heard of this new place you can get food right away. It's called Mcdonalds. Enjoy.

[am2]

I eat there all the time and the food is great!

[Robin2007]

I was a big fan of big view until recently...the last two times the food has been TERRIBLE...freezer queen quailty.

[ChessPie]

Trying to respond to all- The food is irrevelant if you can't get it in a timely manner. However it was good but nothing special where I'd ever go back & risk sitting through that again. Who wouldn't want fresh food, but we all know that certain foods are in fact already made such as biscuits & big vats of grits, & other foods have either 2 minutes to go to be finished off such as bacon or just take a few minutes like eggs. I expect a wait for food but not that long where the waitress was apologizing repeatedly without ever being complained to or prompted by us. Further like I said the people next to us who came in so much later got served before us. Yes, the person in charge can be blaise if he wants, I just thought you'd want to know so that in case either you're really hungry, or don't want to deal with this possible outcome, you might want to know what you're in for.

[NCyank]

Originally Posted by NCDREAMING

I just heard of this new place you can get food right away. It's called Mcdonalds. Enjoy.

LOL, That's right....food made fresh (sort of)...4 hours ago!!

OP, That doesn't sound too long to wait somewhere that serves a decent breakfast/brunch/lunch...especially at that time of day. Cracker Barrel is about that long...that's why they give you games to play at the table...to distract you from the wait. The delay may also have been, at least partly, due to the kitchen trying to switch from breakfast to lunch service. The same grill they use for the bacon, eggs and hash browns has to be cleaned and used for chicken and sandwiches, burgers, etc. It just gets busy and crowed on the grill at that time of day.

I'm sure they had the grits already cooked and maybe the biscuits but you probably would have complained if they were served separately from the bacon and eggs. If you had asked for them separately they may have complied with your request but the standard is to serve the entire order at the same time.

Also, I don't remember where I read it but the wait time for a table at a casual dining restaurant is usually just a little longer than it takes to be served once that wait time gets past a certain amount of time (15-20 min? Obviously if the wait is only 5 minutes you won't get your food in 3 minutes, etc.) If the wait was 35 min then 20-25 to be served might be about right. Sitting at the counter (bypassing the 35 minute wait) didn't prioritize your order or get you under that 20-25 minute time for service.

[sophialee]

Never go there on Saturdays or Sundays if you want a quick breakfast and if you do, go early. They only serve breakfast till 11am and by then the breakfast crew in the kitchen is in the weeds.

The reason the people ordering lunch got theirs first is because a completely different crew, who probably barely had any orders, just got there and had way less tickets than the breakfast cooks (who only do breakfast and vice versa).

A very good friend of mine works there and this is a problem on the weekends from what I've heard (the breakfast to lunch transition and people getting mad).

Not saying it's a good system, but that's what it is.

The old man is the owners father.

They have the best corned beef hash I've ever tasted tho.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by sophialee

Never go there on Saturdays or Sundays if you want a quick breakfast and if you do, go early. They only serve breakfast till 11am and by then the breakfast crew in the kitchen is in the weeds.

The reason the people ordering lunch got theirs first is because a completely different crew, who probably barely had any orders, just got there and had way less tickets than the breakfast cooks (who only do breakfast and vice versa).

A very good friend of mine works there and this is a problem on the weekends from what I've heard (the breakfast to lunch transition and people getting mad).

Not saying it's a good system, but that's what it is.

The old man is the owners father.

They have the best corned beef hash I've ever tasted tho.

There you go. People that think that ppl. getting lunch ahead of breakfast is not fair should be ashamed of themselfs. Really, get there early on a Sat. or Sunday or FORGETABOUT eating breakfast!

Be aware that the breakfast crew caters to the fisherman leaving on the early boats from Lake Norman.. Breakfast at 4am. No later. If you go later. . . God forbid. . . face the wrath of the Breakfast Nazi!

Now, cornbeef hash at 4am, 6am, 10, 1pm, or... that's something we should talk about in a separate CD thread. Let's not confuse things.

lol. later.