Chicken Fried Steak & Eggs – Union City, CA

Looks can be deceiving….  and just that plain fact can make a meal that much more disappointing.  Despite the fact that this restaurant is a nationwide chain, the quality of both food and service were well below par…  as were most of the patrons at this particular location.  Overall the night’s (02/05/2010) experience was definitely not good.   The server wasn’t very friendly, and a rather annoying couple was seated next to us.  I’m not usually one to complain or be anal about people in restaurants, but this girl (with a loud irritating voice) found it necessary to speak at the top of her lungs, completely disregarding any of the other customers seated nearby.  She spoke so loudly that I could not only hear her conversation, but I could hear every detail of the mundane things she was belting out to her bf.  This same girl also decided that it would be a good idea to remove her shoes.  How rude is that?!

So anyway, on to the food.  While everything looked great when it arrived, as soon as the food entered my mouth I felt extremely disappointed.  Not only was the food bland, but there were things wrong with the food.   I ordered Chicken Fried Steak & Eggs, and my scrambled eggs were uncooked on the inside…  They were actually slimy and soggy.  Very gross.  The chicken fried steak wasn’t too bad, but the country gravy that they put on top was very thick, it was almost like eating pudding instead of a gravy.

My sister’s order, a Mushroom & Spinach Omelette, had a pungent odor, and tasted slightly odd.  It may have been cooked on an unclean surface, one that had cooked a variety of other things and thus accumulated other tastes and smells.   Whatever it was, it really made her food unappetizing, and she did not finish her food.

From the pictures below, the food looks fine, but I say taste is much more important than appearance.  Needless to say, we won’t be visiting that restaurant chain ever again, even if it is late at night and we don’t have any other options available.  I think I’d rather spend the time to cook my own food than subject my taste buds to that atrocity again.