Last night we headed over to Eagan’s newest restaurant, Betty’s Cafe and Pies located in the same strip mall as Hoban. According to a recent SunThisweek article, the restaurant is modeled after classic 50s diners and will serve classic breakfasts, classic pies, classic fare, hopes to live up to the classic eggs and hash browns at Mickey’s, and comes with a classic name like Betty. They used the word ‘classic’ 5x in the article, I figured I should at least one up ‘em in classic Lazy Lightning fashion.
The restaurant itself looks nothing like a classic 50s diner from the outside being that it’s stuffed into a crappy strip mall in Eagan next to a gas station and old folks apartment complex and across the street from a business park. Walking in the front door doesn’t feel anything like standing and waiting for a table at Mickey’s or stepping back in time at the Windmill Cafe. What it feels like are any number of other faux diners which have cropped up around town over the years. These places with their Target-purchased retro posters, garage sale records glued in a line along the wall, and a modern-twist on the jukebox against the wall do not evoke anything of the era they supposedly emulate. What they do provide is a tacky and miserable facade cavorting as something it’s not, as if that’s the key to good food. While history has provided cartoonish and outlandish futuristic scenes, we have already lived the past and know exactly what it’s like. We should not be doing the same thing in reverse and providing ridiculous faux 50s diners in strip malls and claiming it pays homage to the feeling evoked when walking into Mickey’s in St. Paul. But yet, here is Betty’s Cafe and Pies in Eagan doing just that. You can’t just throw in a nice counter facing the grill and call it good, bringing that 1950s feel takes quite a bit more than that.
The menu is boring. No, really. It’s really, really, really, really boring. Claiming to offer ‘home-style cooking in a classic diner atmosphere’ is their first glaring error. Not only is it not a classic diner atmosphere, the food isn’t home-style anything. We ordered their Biscuits and Gravy ($4.99) with American Fries ($1.99) and Bacon ($1.99), a California Cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, mayo and onion ($4.99), an Egg Salad Sandwich on choice of bread ($3.99) and the Hot Roast Beef with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy ($7.99).
Our food eventually came out and was delivered to the table. As I was taking pictures of the food less than 10 seconds later, the owner/chef came to the table and asked how everything was. Camera in hand, I explained we hadn’t yet tried anything. He then asked, in all seriousness, if we were going to try the food or if we were just going to take pictures of it. Stunned into silence, The Wife saved the day by looking at him like he was as insane as he sounded and let him know in no uncertain terms that we paid for it, we were going to eat it. He then walked away never to return again that evening; in fact, he spent the rest of the meal hiding in the back out of view of the restaurant. Listen, if you’re going to verbally accost your customers with some crazy questions about the food and then not actually return when it’s useful to do so, stay in back the entire time; your guests will thank you.
The Wife’s Biscuits and Gravy came with two eggs scrambled but she was never asked how she’d like them cooked. She was thoroughly confused as to why the server not only didn’t ask but why the cook just assumed scrambled. The homemade gravy contained some fairly spicy sausage but the gravy itself tasted off. We couldn’t put our finger on it but the fact that it looked oily and greasy and tasted like potatoes seemed to point to it being left to sit and separate all day long only to be reconstituted to order. The American Fries seemed ok but what I really wished she had ordered the “fresh hand-shredded hashbrowns made with real potatoes,” because I’d love to compare them to all those places serving fake hashbrowns and see what all the fuss is about with these new-fangled “real” potatoes. The biggest problem was that The Wife didn’t get the bacon she ordered and after mentioning it to the waitress, less than a minute later three slices of very thin and very curled bacon were placed before us. First off, $1.99 for bacon that rivals only the precooked microwavable kind you can now get in boxes at the grocery store is an outright atrocity. The Wife noted, “this place needs big, thick, bacon because that’s what I think of when I go to a diner and order bacon.” That all said, as a huge biscuits and gravy fan, The Wife said she wouldn’t order this one again and she wants 7 more strips of thin as paper bacon to make up for the $2 crime against humanity she was served.
The California Cheeseburger was ordered “as rare as you’ll cook it” and came to the table adorned with produce and cheese as expected. The burger itself was cooked medium-well and didn’t look hand-pattied as the menu promised. It also didn’t look anywhere near 1/3 of a pound and the slice of unmelted processed American was a little much for me even at $4.99. But, I bit into it and it tasted just like a Whopper. Yup, a Whopper. Just like Burger Time in Apple Valley sells for $2.50. I realize the place has only been open for two weeks, but seriously, if I ask you to cook the burger “as rare as you’ll cook it” and it’s going to come out medium-well, let me know that in advance so I don’t waste my money on a piece of charcoal.
The Egg Salad Sandwich was not only sized for a 2.5 year old, it suffered from being tasteless. I mean, egg salad is mayo, eggs and seasoning on bread with produce. Who could screw that up? Well, Betty’s apparently. They made the classic mistake of thinking they could take a classic and simply put it on their menu without any real work. In addition the ridiculously small amount of egg salad on the bread made me even more annoyed with what I was served. Yeah it was only $3.99 but I get more bang for my buck out of the prewrapped sandwich wedges at SuperAmerica. Seriously, use salt and pepper and throw a few more tablespoons of salad on the bread. This is a 1950s diner, not a 1940s diner serving up war rations.
And finally, the star of any classic diner menu: a classic open-faced Hot Beef Sandwich with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes. The one thing no one can screw up. Especially when you’re making your own mashed potatoes and gravy, right? Wrong. Believe me, the Cub Foods-sourced white bread (all of their bread was sourced from Cub; it’s clear this place won’t last long if they’re running to the grocery store for supplies like bread) was fine and the mashed potatoes and roast beef plenty but the single biggest thing missing from this was flavor and, likely, homemade gravy. The gravy was too dark to be real. It was probably made from a jar or a can but possibly from a mix. It definitely didn’t come from only the beef drippings because, well, it didn’t taste like anything and that’s just not how gravy made from drippings comes out. The meat was tender and fell apart but, like the gravy, had zero flavor. It looked like beef and had texture like beef but when you put it in your mouth it just didn’t taste like beef. What it needed, much like the egg salad, was seasoning, a lot of seasoning. I ate half of it and boxed the rest up. Why? I don’t know. Maybe after letting it age overnight in the fridge it will absorb flavors from the rest of the food stored there and be worth eating on day two. I have hope.
The final thing was their pie. Homemade in the kitchen right there in the restaurant and packing the display case like so many diners do, I was actually excited to try their pumpkin. At $3.50 a slice, I was expecting something a little bigger than what was delivered (yeah, I just had to put that quarter there for scale; seriously, that’s a single bite people) and I hoped it would be topped with real whipped cream. But hey, by that late in the meal I knew I was just lying to myself. The coffee we ordered never arrived but the mass-market bagged coffee they had stuffed under the counter isn’t going to deliver the hot and flavor combination a diner serving homemade pie needs. The pumpkin pie was weak. It didn’t taste much like pumpkin and all you could taste was pumpkin pie spice. While The Wife was not at all a fan of the crust, I thought it was decent and even believed I could taste the shortening. Maybe I was just dreaming to give this place one shot at a partial win.
Listen, if you’re going to open a restaurant and put right there on the menu that you do home-style cooking, I want to see it. I want to have flavor. I want to have big portions. I want to have an owner who is either doting or surly to really give off some character. Staring at a bunch of records on the wall and listening to oldies piped from a new-aged retro jukebox doesn’t evoke anything but annoyance when the food tastes like every other poorly executed restaurant in town who think they can survive on atmosphere alone. Next time, add some seasoning, give your customers more than 30 seconds after the food is delivered to decide if it’s any good and, if you’re really interested, come around after the meal is over to find out how you did–not right at the start.
We won’t be back but maybe you’ll have better luck.
Did you have better luck? If so what did you have and what did you think of it? How do you think they stack up to Ze’s or Junior’s? Do you think it looks anything like a 1950s diner? What about the SunThisweek article which used ‘classic’ five times? Think we should chip in for a thesaurus? Whatever you have to say about this one, go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Address:
Betty’s Cafe and Pies
1981 Silverbell Rd
Eagan, MN 55122
Phone:
651-688-0811
Hours:
Monday – Saturday: 6 AM – 8 PM
Sunday: 6 AM – 3 PM
See all the pictures from Betty’s Cafe in Eagan on Flickr here.
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November 1st, 2012 at 8:27 am
Another restaurant that can’t cook bacon :) I laughed out loud at the quarter on the pie plate. It would have been even better had they served that slice on a regular dinner plate for added appeal.
No need to go visit this one.
November 1st, 2012 at 8:30 am
I’m thinking once Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors sends their lawyers down to Eagan, this place might not even be around anymore.
That slice of pie is hilarious…
November 1st, 2012 at 8:57 am
Ding! Winner.
The whole thing is unfortunate because the photos (aside from the Verne Troyer-sized pie) make the beef sandwich and the biscuits and gravy look pretty good for the most part.
Along with having “Grille” in the restaurant name, 99.999999% of the time when a restaurant fills their menu with “home-made”, “home-cooked”, “home-style”, “farm fresh” or some other 3rd Grade marketing unit level buzzword, it throws up a gigantic red flag with the caption “this restaurant sucks”.
Anyway, with the Windmill, Jensen’s, the Buckboard, Junior’s, J’s Family Restaurant, etc. within reasonable proximity and serving good-to-great versions of this genre of food, this will be a hard sell for me. Especially since, personally, I’m more than willing to make the drive to Stockmen’s when I’m looking for this kind of meal (and truly/obviously scratch-made-on-site food).
November 1st, 2012 at 9:06 am
I had a discussion about this with Joey off-line last night. While the Windmill’s menu is just as “boring” as Betty’s in Eagan, it pulls it off with excellent quality food and big portions in a restaurant that has time-aged character. While I disagree with J’s having any sort of quality, the other three listed really are able to have a menu which provides their own spin on diner food and deliver a worthy product which you may not be able to get everywhere else–including your own kitchen.
November 1st, 2012 at 9:27 am
Because people are searching for Stockmen’s based on MSPD’s comment, you can find that review here: http://www.lazylightning.org/stockmens-truck-stop-south-st-paul-mn
November 1st, 2012 at 9:45 am
I don’t think I could eat here given the surly look the cook was giving you in the picture you took of the dining counter. He probably needed to scramble the eggs so that you wouldn’t be able to detect the fact that he spit in them.
I have to disagree with MSPD. I think your pictures do a nice job of showing how uninteresting the food looks and apparently tastes. The pickles haphazardly thrown on top of the burger, the boring eggs flopped on the potatoes and the WAY too brown gravy that could only come from some mix or jar as you suggest. Even the sausage gravy looks grey and lifeless on the plate.
Yep, give me The Windmill too. That place is an old style diner not because they are trying to be one, but because that is all they know how to be.
My favorite part of this post is the pie. My monitor happens to be the perfect size so that the quarter on my screen is pretty much the same size as a real quarter. When I held one up to the screen, I could hardly believe my eyes that thing is so small. For a place with “Pies” in their name, that’s a fucking embarrassment.
The only thing I can predict about this post with certainty is the heading in a few months:
This location is now closed.
November 1st, 2012 at 11:03 am
As Jason mentioned, I initially thought this place was going to be associated with Betty’s Pies up north. The logos are even similar with a blue checkered background and font choices.
Also, the white crap on the pie is in no way whipped cream. Whipped cream contains cream and maybe sugar, bourbon (for fun) and cream of tartar. The crap on the pie is primarily water and oil. Dairy products make appearances as ingredients number 5 (skim milk) and 6 (light cream).
November 1st, 2012 at 11:09 am
No thanks. I’ll head over to the Buckboard in Lakeville, the Valley Diner, Suzies in Rosemount or maybe even IHOP before checking this place out..
November 1st, 2012 at 11:13 am
BY, I believe Suzie’s is closed but I haven’t 100% confirmed that. However, it was closed at dinner time when we went over to Panini Grill.
November 1st, 2012 at 11:35 am
I perused Suzie’s Facebook page really quickly and it looks like they just no longer serve dinner.
November 1st, 2012 at 11:43 am
Ah good to know, thanks.
November 1st, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Jason2 mentioned Betty’s in Two harbors. I had assumed the one in Eagan was related, just as the one in Mahtomedi was before they got booted out (http://www.startribune.com/local/east/136115743.html). Maybe this one is supposed to be a replacement for that one. Does anyone know?
November 1st, 2012 at 12:52 pm
From the classic SunThisweek article linked in the post text above:
November 1st, 2012 at 1:31 pm
O.B.B., tiny detail….
Cream of tartar is used as a stabilizer in meringue, but is not usually used in whipped cream. Sometimes powdered sugar is used to stabilize cream via its cornstarch content. And don’t forget vanilla extract – although your bourbon idea sounds good.
November 1st, 2012 at 2:05 pm
What is the fascination that people have with opening a restaurant? The sad thing is that these people have more money then business sense so they sink their retirement/inheritance money into these ventures only to see it all flushed down the toilet within 2 years because they don’t know how to manage people or customers (sometimes both!). This operation strikes me as one of those types.
November 1st, 2012 at 4:23 pm
One of the biggest issues you find with adult interaction these days is the inability of people to be willing to apologize. Rather than risk a moment of embarrassment, recognize a mistake, and apologize for it people instead will just sulk off.
Opening a business is very stressful, and acting like an ass is easy to happen under such pressure. At least be willing to apologize when you do act like one.
Unfortunately the prices are high enough to make it tough for me to be willing to experiment. Cookie Cutter places like that need something to be their Signature to draw folks in. Maybe they have something and Bill didn’t find it. I would have thought it was their pies. Apparently not.
November 1st, 2012 at 5:03 pm
BTW, I noted in the review that I’d be trying the leftover hot beef the next day hoping it would have absorbed some flavor and improve on the second day. We also threw in the leftover chicken fingers The Wife ordered for The Rooster and I cooked it all together in the microwave at work.
Well, oddly enough, all I could taste when I ate this was the chicken strips and, to be perfectly honest, they didn’t taste like much either. The other night I made pasta at home with chicken sliced thin and dusted with Italian breadcrumbs and garlic bread seasoning from a jar. Guess which had more flavor?
Insanely tasteless. I have eaten a lot of shitty and/or tasteless things at restaurants over the years but this, this is just baffling.
November 1st, 2012 at 6:20 pm
I think a lot of people want to own/run a restaurant and fail to realize that they should know something about food – as a pretty high priority.
November 1st, 2012 at 6:20 pm
I think a lot of people want to own/run a restaurant and fail to realize that they should know something about food – as a pretty high priority.
November 1st, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Betty’s up north is yummy, I would think I’d have a lawyer contact them to chane their name.
November 1st, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Betty’s Pies of Two Harbors is (or will be) taking legal action. This place is a fraud. They serve dessert not real pies of pie like Betty’s Pies. This plce should be put out of business.
November 1st, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I don’t get the proliferation of all these cafe/diner-type places around here over the past several years. Some of them are good (Jensen’s Cafe and Junior’s would fall in this category for me), but they’re not that different from each other. I wonder if it is just seen as an easy restaurant concept?
November 1st, 2012 at 10:08 pm
I blame Food Network and the show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Folks see that and think, I could do that. Could also be Kitchen Nightmares, where folks see failed experiments get turned around and figure they can do half as good as that without help from a TV show.
That and property owners struggling to get property rented out so lower property rental costs.
I would expect Betty’s Pies would do something. Galaxy diner had to change their name due to another galaxy place. I would expect this one may be forced to change as well.
November 1st, 2012 at 10:33 pm
That pie looks laughably dry. Not only is it tiny, but it looks like it was frozen too long and then over-cooked. The fact that you said it didn’t taste like pumpkin tells me it was probably hand-made by Sara Lee. Those frozen pies taste like nothing, not even the cardboard they’re boxed in. Seriously, pumpkin pie is probably the easiest pie ever to make (and cheap, too, my dad used to make about 30 of them for family and friends for Thanksgiving), that I’ll never get why restaurants have such a hard time with it.
November 2nd, 2012 at 10:48 am
Amal Arafa, manager at Cahill Diner (which is a sister restaurant to Ze’s in Eagan) attempted to post the following:
Not cool.
November 2nd, 2012 at 10:58 am
WTF is “corn beef”?
Idiot.
November 2nd, 2012 at 11:07 am
WTF is “smooched”?
The way this shit show is going about how crappy Betty’s Cafe and Pies is, I was really expecting to see some astroturfing showing up here.
I totally didn’t think it would come from a competing restaurant, especially when the review and comments were pretty much doing the job for them anyway.
Not to mention, this AT attempt is 101 quality at best. It has all the elements of MSPD’s “How to astroturf” comment, including the backhanded compliment of another competitor. Classic. Classic indeed.
November 2nd, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Wow. That about sums it up for me. Wow.
November 2nd, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Three more restaurants I don’t need to try. Betty’s, Cahill Diner & Ze’s.
While reading this post and scrolling down I saw the pumpkin pie and thought that looks decent, then I saw the quarter and snorted out loud.
November 2nd, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Ok, Go Here.
http://cahilldiner.com/menus.cfm
Click on Ze’s Breakfast menu.
Not oddly, they have “Corn Beef” on the menu.
Shit you just can’t make up is so much better than the shit you can.
November 2nd, 2012 at 2:18 pm
But it’s “traditional”, lefty so it must be “to die for”.
November 2nd, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Classic!
November 2nd, 2012 at 5:45 pm
They don’t make their own “corn” beef. They just get it from a package instead of a can.
November 3rd, 2012 at 8:25 am
I think corn beef and smooched is just due to a language barrier issue.
I’ve got no problems with Ze’s – good food at a good price and the owner is a nice guy. He’s somehow related to the owner of Cahill (or might be the same guy for all I know), and is from another country.
November 5th, 2012 at 11:43 am
My son and his girlfriend went here on Sunday morning, he said the service and atmosphere was chaotic, took 5 to 7 minutes after they sat down to see a server. he is only 24 years old but he said it had to be the worst service he had ever encountered when eating at a restaurant.
November 6th, 2012 at 10:03 am
My family and I tried Betty’s Cafe and Pies and will not be back. My son’s hash browns were not delivered until everyone else had finished, my daughter said the mashed potatoes on the hot beef sandwich were very strange and the gravy tasteless. We much prefer Z’s, with its good food, efficient service and caring manager.
However, if you want to experience the genuine article, (50′s diner) try the 50′s Grill, 5524 Brooklyn Blvd., Brooklyn Center, MN 55429–unfortunately, in the northwest metro–not south of the river.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:34 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:53 am
Kathy,
I suppose you’re right. That’s why you decided to thumbs down 15 of 35 comments because 43% of the comments equates to “a little criticism” instead of 51% which would be totally tearing them apart, right?
November 8th, 2012 at 8:54 am
Kathy, based on your typical defensive post, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re related to the owners somehow, so I get that you might take Bill’s post a little personally.
But you did no more to help us find a good meal in our home area/tell us what’s good to eat at Betty’s…or…avoid wasting $40 which is what it costs me to take my family out to eat.
If you have something constructive to say, some factual experience to contradict his opinion…then welcome (although we appreciate people disclosing their relationships to restaurants’ owners/suppliers/investors or whatnot).
If you’re just going to come in and take a shot at Bill and randomly thumbs-down our posts, then please do us a favor and go away.
November 8th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Kathy’s brother-in-law is a co-owner of Betty’s.
November 8th, 2012 at 9:21 am
Kathy Kathy Kathy,
Welcome to Lazy Lightning. All you really needed to do was read up a few posts around here before you posted a comment. Here is what you would not have done.
-You would not have joined the cast of idiots who post shit because they are involved with the place getting a bad review here.
-You would not have been immediately outed (via facefuckingbook of all things) your relationship with the staff of the shitty restaurant being reviewed.
-You would not have put a “thumbs down” on every bad thing said about your relative’s restaurant because that is sort of easy to figure out too.
Here is what you could have done:
-You could have told us who you are and made sure the owners of the restaurant were aware of the MANY bad reports about this shit hole, not just the one that Bill wrote.
-You could have told us you talked to the owner, who agreed that a piece of pie the size of an acorn is not appropriate to be charging money for in a restaurant and that he is going to start offering a better value.
-You could have pretended that the terrible experiences that many people have had at this crap joint were opening month jitters and that you think the place is getting better.
-You could have told us who you are and then pretended that you have had a good meal there and disagree with EVERY OTHER COMMENTER on this page.
But you didn’t. You just made one post and since you are clearly as stupid as all the other dinks who have attempted to do what you did here, you won’t be back. You won’t apologize or defend yourself and forever be relegated to being “One Comment Kathy T”.
I hope you can help your brother in law with his resume. He’s going to need to get that thing updated soon.
November 8th, 2012 at 9:59 am
I had dinner at Juniors last night. For what its worth, while certainly not fine dining, it is consistently good food. I know most people on here already know that, but thought it was worth repeating due to the similarity in food and the geographic closeness.
Also, I had lunch a couple days ago at Hoban. If you find yourself in Bettys parking lot, do yourself a favor and walk down a couple doors and have lunch at Hoban.
November 8th, 2012 at 10:15 am
I hate to see a local business fail, so hopefully everything can be used as constructive criticism for the owner to make changes, and fast. Social media can make a place, it can also break it. You never know who’s out there reading what you post and words are forever.
November 8th, 2012 at 10:24 am
ks,
Unfortunately for the guy on the left and the boy on the right, so are pictures.
lefty
November 8th, 2012 at 10:57 am
Amen. And thank God FB wasn’t around when I was in college. Just sayin’. :)
November 8th, 2012 at 11:32 am
Ouch.
November 8th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
I want to combine the beard on the left with the hair on the right and see how it turns out.
November 8th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I think you’ve been called into service, MSPD.
November 8th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
Voila.
November 8th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
hah.
November 8th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
I have modified all the comments the astroturfing moron voted down to remove her negative votes:
November 9th, 2012 at 8:56 am
Sadly, I’m their target customer.
So. My daughter takes classes at Gleason’s. Son has meetings that same night, directly after her in the same area. Dinners are iffy and at least 2x a month I try to take them out to eat just for time’s sake. Location-wise, Betty’s would have been a perfect choice for us, being a step up from McDon’s, but not as lengthy as Jensen’s.
*I shun fast food.
*Given a choice, I always support local mom & pop places.
However, I rely on word of mouth and though not from my neighbors or friends, all of your comments here have successfully stopped me from even giving this place a chance. I’m a busy mom and don’t have time or money to waste on crappy food and crappier service.
I really hope they can improve and I also hope people will review the fact that they HAVE improved, but in the meantime, look for the mom with her two kids in the car, eating homemade sandwiches on the fly..
November 9th, 2012 at 8:58 am
ks,
I think they’re much better off with those homemade sandwiches on the fly anyway. They may not appreciate it now, but they will in the future. You’re a great mom for doing it that way.
November 9th, 2012 at 9:21 am
Thanks Bill.
I’m surprised this hasn’t been mentioned yet, but I wonder how this section of Eagan is going to change when the outlet mall goes in? I’m envisioning hoards of people in the area, semi-out of towners. If the people that run Betty’s Cafe are smart, they’ll get a huge sign, visible from the mall that screams BETTY’S (cafe and) PIES, tricking people into thinking the restaurant is some sort of outlet as well, connected to Betty’s up north, then once the folks get in the place they’ll be too hungry from scoring deals to care whether it’s the real Betty’s or not.
And they could put a slice of teeny pie into their teeny Coach clutch purses.
November 15th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Man…Betty’s is being absolutely savaged just about everywhere for what appears to be a horrible start:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bettys-cafe-and-pies-eagan#hrid:aQZAGJCDkzn4IRKav0KaMw
They’d better hope they last long enough to pull in the rubes hoping for the North Shore place when the outlet mall finally gets built nearby. Based on online reviews, this place stinks.
November 15th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Ouch.
Double ouch.
“And down goes Frazier!”
November 18th, 2012 at 10:04 am
Kathy T. above has been banned for refusing my request to apologize for astroturfing:
Based on the reviews this place is getting elsewhere, some way worse than what I penned above, I give it a very, very, very short time before it is erased from our collective memory leaving only the great laughs we received from Kathy and Amal Arafa, manager at Cahill Diner.
November 18th, 2012 at 11:55 am
I doubt she will really care, it’s not like you banned her from wearing Mom jeans or something.
November 20th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Hi, my name is Andrew, I am the owner of Betty’s Cafe and Pies. I would like to apologize to everyone who has had a bad experience at Betty’s Cafe. Our manager/head cook was a fraud. To all of you that visited us on Nov. 3rd and 4th. or have heard the stories, they are all true. The previous manager staffed only himself as cook and two servers for Saturday, our busiest day of the week. The dining room was full, (It holds about 95) and there was a line of customers out the door. One of our servers walked out, leaving this mess to one server. Some customers walked out, but many stayed. And some even offered their help. They washed dishes, took orders, bussed tables and took out orders. I am embarrassed of the way this was managed, but inspired by the generosity and charity of our customers. Our manager was let go on Nov. 5th. Since then we have been making changes that will ensure an enjoyable dining experience. We have trippled our staff, added another point of sale, changed our menu and most importantly, we have hired a new Manager. His name is Jeremy. He has been a great addition to our team. I would like to thank all of my customers for your patience and your reviews. Your reviews, (both good and bad) are important to assist us in making necessary changes. Please stop in and welcome Jeremy, and our new staff.
Sincerely,
Andrew
November 20th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
MSPD posted the above note as a blockquote from Yelp. I have removed his and left the owner’s own note here.
November 20th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
We drove by on the say to Subway for a quick dinner and peeked in..completely empty, save two people which I couldn’t tell at a quick glance were employees or customers. :(
It sounds like Betty’s is hopefully making changes by wiping the slate clean though, and I wish them the best of luck.
December 26th, 2012 at 7:03 am
[...] Truck 12. Classic Saigon 13. Saigon Palace 14. Black Stallion Saloon 15. Byblos Lebanese Grill 16. Betty’s Cafe and Pies 17. Pita Plus (closed) 18. Piccolo’s Pizzeria 19. Lone Oak Grill 20. Steak [...]
February 13th, 2013 at 11:34 am
Wow – history repeats itself, last night we went to Subway almost next door for a lightning-fast dinner and again, completely empty at Betty’s. I’m not sure if Tues is a slow night, but this was at 5:45, a time when I think a restaurant would have people in it at that time?
I’m not sure if anyone even cares, but I thought it was interesting. The entire strip mall had cars parked in front of it, except that place.
February 19th, 2013 at 2:52 pm
Well, Betty’s must be doing very well. The owner (although in the attached article, his name isn’t Andrew Hybben, it is Ayman Abdelsamie) is doing so well with his ‘home-style cooking in a classic diner atmosphere’ that he’s bringing it to Chaska and calling it Egg and Pie Diner.
He boasts: “The hashbrowns will be homemade, as will the french fries, the burgers, the pancakes, etc. “Nothing from a can,” offered Abdelsamie.
Then, in the very next paragraph:
And then there’s the homemade pies, which Abdelsamie hopes to be able to eventually offer for dine in, take out and delivery.
“We want to go big on pies,” he said. “Like Betty’s Pies up north.”
Like Betty’s Pie up north in Two Harbors…or did he mean going east to Eagan to Betty’s Cafe and Pies….it is confusing, I know!!
Here’s the link:
http://www.chaskaherald.com/news/business/immediate-seating/article_954b4863-e325-5a20-a203-b03c4ebb15ea.html
I hope for Chaska’s sake it works out, but my expectations are pretty low. My one request, slices of pies (homemade, not from a can) that are at least the size of a fifty cent piece.
February 19th, 2013 at 2:58 pm
You missed one zinger. After he says he wants to “…go big on pies” it says.
“Abdelsamie is still looking for a good pie baker to make that happen.”
No fucking shit. Nice fucking business plan, genius.
February 19th, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Convenient timing for this Urbanspoon review:
February 21st, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Bill,
I would like to clear up your confusion of Betty’s Cafe and Pies affilliation with the new Egg and Pies Diner in Chaska. Betty’s opened on October 18th. Ayman was a partner and the manager at Betty’s. He was fired as manager on November 5th, and I am pleased to announce he is no longer a partner as of today. I appreciate your review of Betty’s while Ayman was managing and cooking, but I hope that review will follow him to the Egg and Pie Diner. Your review played a big part in the dissmissal of Ayman and numerous changes we have made at Betty’s. In fairness, I hope future comments will be based on “my” Betty’s Cafe and not on Ayman’s failed attempt. Thank you again for your feedback.
Andrew
February 21st, 2013 at 11:59 pm
Andrew, I am not sure what “my” confusion is but I’m glad you’ve made changes, I wish you well.
February 22nd, 2013 at 8:44 am
Now that that’s cleared up, maybe a memo to friends and family to stop astroturfing all over restaurant review sites should be the next task.
February 22nd, 2013 at 8:53 am
Andrew Hybben,
You don’t get a free pass here. Your posts would indicate that you were part of the ownership that served a shitty meal at the point of this review and you have even agreed that the other negative comments that were generated in part because you had poor management (your commentary) were also under your watch.
You would like us to believe that you own a restaurant and didn’t’ even stop down in the first few weeks (especially on Saturday, your self proclaimed busiest day) to make sure things were going well? If I owned a restaurant (and I have owned restaurants), I would have been down there every day to ensure my investment was getting off to a good start.
Surely you must have known that your restaurant was serving 17 milliliter portions of pie for $4.00 or selling food that fell off of the Sysco semi-trailer before the doors opened.
You can take credit for identifying the poor management and for firing the your manager, but you don’t get to just pass along all the blame to your poor operation on to one person, no matter how incompetent he obviously is.
Nice try though.
February 22nd, 2013 at 11:15 am
I’m curious, has anyone been here lately? I might have to make myself the sacrificial lamb one of these days…it’s just too conveniently located for me NOT to stop by and have a slice o’pie.
I promise to report back if I do.
February 24th, 2013 at 7:00 am
Bill,
Sorry, I meant to say “the” confusion. Referring to comment #64 Ryan was questioning the owners name.
February 25th, 2013 at 11:36 am
Andrew,
You may wish to contact Mollee Francisco, the writer of the article in the Chaska Herald to set the record straight (mfrancisco@swpub.com). As of Feb 14th, Ayman is still stating he “owns” Betty’s Cafe and Pie in Eagan”.
March 10th, 2013 at 8:33 am
I am the owner of the strip mall that Betty’s Cafe and Pies is located in. You desribed the mall as “crappy”. I know you were likely just being snarky but the people who work in the mall each day, own stores in the mall and myself disagree with that description.
The mall is well maintained and we are constantly improving it. The shop owners are some of the nicest tenants I have ever met. Betty’s is a relatively new store that had some opening issues which should now be fixed (Feb 2013). This review is from Nov of last year, near the opening. Maybe you should try again. A new laundromat is also opening in the next few weeks, it is the only laundromat in the city.
Edit by Bill to remove the URL for the mall from the comment.
March 10th, 2013 at 11:12 am
Eric, I’ve lived in Eagan 20 years and visited your mall once. I don’t know if it is crappy or not. It didn’t make an impression one way or the other. It strikes me as no different than the other strip malls that are ubiquitous in our suburbs.
I am impressed by the passion you have for the property and respect your posting here to defend it.
The one visit I made was to Betty’s and it was CRAPPY. I won’t be back; there are too many good restaurants in the metro area to waste my money eating bad food in an uncomfortable space while getting average service.
March 30th, 2013 at 4:05 pm
Here I can clear up Aymans New adventure. I wish I would have read your comments before I took my family to his New restaurant. These are my posts and others that he has since deleted off his Facebook page. He is a Sorry excuse as a cook and forsure lacks customer skills to run one.
I typically do not find myself writing negative “reviews” so publicly… however, I feel after our experience, it is quite necessary. Our family of 6 had just left from our Good Friday church services and thought that it would be a great time to try the newest diner in town. We were seated immediately (which was great) and our waitress tended to us on the spot. Now the ‘experience’ begins: they we…re out of half of their fountain pop options (really should be more prepared / stocked) – the menu includes only the base of your meal (you must purchase extras such as fries or hash-browns to make a meal) – it took 40 minutes to receive 4 of our 6 orders (the other 2 came 10 minutes later) – all meals are served on salad plates (which isn’t a bad thing if all the food wasn’t swimming in grease) – our childs plate had a large chip out of it (not safe nor sanitary) – the hash-browns were soggy (similar to wall paper paste) – the omelettes were raw on the inside (and eggs are their specialty?!) Obviously we were unable to consume these meals & attempted to kindly address our concerns with the owner. As if it wasn’t a horrible enough experience already… the owner proceeded to ask me what I did for living! He then stated that I was too picky. I could no longer contain my ‘friendly’ & respectful demeanor… I replied “this is not an issue of my personal taste, rather a serious issue & concern for your patrons. Raw eggs, puddles of grease and unsanitary utensils will shut your doors faster then you opened them!” The owner then began pouring out apologies much like the raw egg poured from our omelettes! This man needs some serious ‘people skills’ – not only did you offend us with your terrible food, you chose to act like a child and personally attack a consumer!!!! I will NEVER return to this facility… you could change your cooking abilities and I would have gladly tried it again – but your attitude tasted far worse then the food and that bitter taste you left in our mouths is all we know of you now!!!!! —
Well dont even get me started, If we are expieriencing a “soft opening” then lets see soft opening prices. I took my family last night for dinner we had two adults, two teenagers and a 2 year old. When we arrived and were seated, we were told the 2 high chairs for children were already in use (2 whole high chairs). We ordered our drinks and food. After the drinks arived, two ofnthe water glasses had noticable lipstick on the rims. It took the wairessnalmost 15 mins to get back to the table and correct the problem. About 45 min latter, our dinner started to show up. First my wife and my meal, about 5 mins later my dayghter and friend, and another 5″ mins for my 2 year old who at this point is getting a little restless. Watress forgot the milk for the child and wifes signiture burger was missing the cheese. We were seated next to the door and saw at least 4 parties turn around and leave after waiting for anyone to acknowledge their presence. No sign if the owner. Not impressed
Took the Family to the New Egg and Pie in Chaska for lunch. Gotta say it was the WORST experience we have ever had. 6 people in our group and we had to wait for pop because the delivery truck was just dropping it off in back then we had to wait for our order for well over 30 min and then two of us had to wait 10 min more for our food after every one else got theres. Then my sons plate had a huge c…hunk taken out of the plate and the eggs of ALL things they specialize in were way under cooked and the hashbrowns had more grease then they had potato(Nasty). To top it off we tell the waitress that did do a great job and she asked to PLEASE talk to the owner and we ask why is that and she goes on to tell us that she just put in her notice to quit because of all the complaints and she wants Him the owner to take them. So this SO called owner comes over and sits down and asks what the problem is. My wife explains very nicely to him all the problems. What do you think of all things this ASS HAT could have came back with. He asks what type of work do you do like it matters what we do, anyways she explained to him that she is a Wellness Coach and he went ahead and said Ohhhh so thats why your so picky! I thought for sure the Tazmainian Devil was about to unleash on his sorry ASS of a business owner. What Poor customer service and to have an owner even think to ask that question is just uncalled for. Our jobs/expertise had nothing to do with us having shitty ass under cooked food. One other thing I observed was as we were seated near the cashier it was very easy to over hear all of the dissatified experiences that went on, 12 checkouts and 7 had some sort of issue. Wow thats Shitty! As it stands I see this as another FAILED business in this location! Sad thing is we would have easily given this place another try but THE ASS HAT has just given us another reason to be prejudice and no not of his restraurant!
March 30th, 2013 at 9:05 pm
HUH?
April 8th, 2013 at 4:37 pm
The attached “while supplies last” (what’s that about?) coupon came with a flyer in the mail. Given the size of the pie slice, I wonder what the size of the mini-burger is (but I won’t be going there to find out).
The script t’s on the coupon to me look like l’s, I actually thought the name was “Belly’s Cafe and Pies”, but then I saw another coupon with the printed name, instead of this odd script.
I worked with a guy from Two Harbors for over 20 years and he would rave about Betty’s Pies. But the few times I happened by there, the parking lot was always full, and I never actually stopped. I thought maybe, after all these years, it was expanding to the Twin Cities. Thanks for telling me otherwise.
April 8th, 2013 at 11:49 pm
TD:
How come you didn’t take that owner out who dissed your wife?
A real “Tazmainian” Devil would have kicked that guy’s ass!
I have lost all respect I once had for you at the beginning of your comment!
April 16th, 2013 at 10:53 am
Even the Heavy Table still thinks that Egg and Pie place is owned by this guy.
http://heavytable.com/egg-and-pie-diner-in-chaska/
My favorite comment of the horrible review of the Egg and Pie:
“…when the buttered white toast is the highlight of the dish, you know it’s nothing special.”
The twitter post link to the article said, “The choice between Perkins and the new Egg and Pie Diner in Chaska is harder than it should be”
Awesome.
April 16th, 2013 at 10:57 am
My favorite line from heavy table: But unless you like waiting a long time for unremarkable food, Egg and Pie likely isn’t going to be your breakfast / dessert nirvana