Park Bench Cafe

I have been dining here for a little over 4 years now and the dishes that I’ve had have been delightful. My favorite starters are onion rings with a cup of chili. The best onion rings in OC. Make sure to pair it with the jalapeño ranch. I tend to get the Morning Cristo or pancakes. My wife’s favorite is the Mikes Tuna melt,French toast, and eggs Benedict. Many dishes to list over the years but those are our top. I just dined in yesterday morning and the price changes made recent will probably scare me off. Instead of dining in weekly I’ll be dining once a month. Everything has been up charged once again around $2, just this year. Our favorite dishes from the start have gone up more than $6 dollars since then. The least expensive dish are the build your own omelette at $13 which is just the egg, $1.20 for each vegetable , cheese $2.25, meats are $3 which is actually a $20 omelette and up. At $15 you can get a French toast by itself, or you can add blueberries or bananas for $2 each. Having said that, dishes start at $20 per person. It’s understanding the way the economy is going but the fact that portions are smaller for more money is insane. Usually the portions were decent sized, presentable how they should be but not anymore. It is possible different cooks different portions, but the original Chef has to be present because the flavor profile is still there with every dish. I will finish off by saying that the food is flavorful and does deserve 5 Stars. The rest of the negatives are do to drastic price increases and smaller noticeable portions to usual customers.

First things first. They don't have bathrooms for the public. They ask you, a paying customer, to use the park bathroom. The adjacent park bathroom does not have: 1. Hot water 2. Soap When brought to the attention of the staff, they said we can utilize the hand sanitizer at the table... Thanks. The food and experience: Came here with friends who had previously experienced the park bench. They had good things to say for a breakfast spot with a view and seating al fresco. I had the brisket Benedict. Let me say this was not that great. 23 dollars for dry brisket on English muffins tougher that a catcher's mitt. Luke warm temperature by the time it made it to the table. The side fries with onions and cheese were the best part of the meal. I do not recommend the brisket. You will be sore the next day sawing through that muffin with a butter knife. Friends had epic pancakes here in the same outing. That's the take away here. Some things work, others don't. Staff is nice. Bathroom game is horrible.

This is a great place to have a meal and enjoy the beach air

waited over an hour to be seated only to find out that the hostess took down our phone number wrong. They took us off the wait list after they "paged us multiple times" to the incorrect phone number that the hostess repeated back to us TWICE. I made eye contact with the hostess multiple times while we waited on the bench by the host stand, and she never noticed us?? ok, sure. Train your workers better and lose the snark.

Always friendly, courteous and outgoing! Food is consistently on spot! Have never eaten anything that wasn't tasty!!