Jake’s really been into going out for breakfast lately which has made me a happy girl since I love breakfast! Last weekend he needed to be up in the Northland area of San Diego and on the way up, I picked out a spot named Suzy Q’s Diner in Escondido. It sounded cute and lovely and, more importantly, it was a dog friendly restaurant since we had the three little dogs with us for breakfast that morning.
There’s a dedicated parking lot right near the diner as well so parking is pretty easy. We ended up on the street right in front of the diner. There are two person tables with high chairs to the left and larger tables to the right.
I thought it was really charming that they had an old car door out in the front.
The diner totally looks like it’s been here awhile with it’s retro 50’s feel, even though the restaurant has only been around for a little over a year (they opened in December 2014). Inside the diner there are two countertop areas – this is one of them with these cute bright red chairs. There’s a cool jukebox as well.
There are also cool red booths in the diner and just a little touch of memorabilia on the walls. They didn’t go super crazy with the decor so everything still feels retro, but simple.
The other countertop which has barstools.
Jake spied the free candy (salt water taffy on top, bubble gum and dum dums on the bottom) when he went to the rest room. At the end of your meal they give you a few pieces of candy or bubblegum with your check.
I loved this awesome gas pump bubble gum dispenser!
It was hard to get a shot of the puppies together. Here they all are looking at another dog across the street. Short Round is wearing his sweater!
The menu at Suzy Q’s Diner is pretty cute – everything has a “50’s” style retro name. Some of the names were “Jailhouse Rock”, “Bye Bye Birdie”, and “Eddie’s Greaser”.
Here’s the lunch side of the menu. I bet you could guess what the “John Wayne” is! (It’s basically a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger – very “western” sounding.)
I’ve been drinking more hot coffee lately since I’ve figured out the ratio of coffee I can have. One cup. More than that and my stomach gets angry but I’m happy to have my one cup! I loved this “lips” mug my coffee was served in. Coffee at Suzy Q’s Diner will set you back $2.69.
[side of biscuits and gravy / $5.99]
The three of us shared two dishes plus this side of biscuits and gravy. On the upper left is the “side” that came with our Pasty Cline plate. The bigger plate on the right is the side of two biscuits and gravy (for $5.99) that we got to compliment our breakfast.
The biscuits here are homemade! Our waitress was the daughter of the owner and she gushed to us about her mom’s cooking and how much she loved her mom’s food (so sweet!). I commented to her that the biscuits and gravy tasted a little on the sweet side and she told us her mom puts hollandaise sauce into the gravy! Imagine that! The gravy was the perfect consistency and had so much flavor. The fluffy warm biscuits were delicious with the pools of gravy!
[pasty cline – corned beef hash, hash browns, eggs, side of biscuits and gravy / $11.99]
Our waitress recommended this dish since it comes with a little bit of everything – including that 1 biscuit with gravy! It’s the only breakfast dish that offers 1 biscuit & gravy or toast with the meal. The rest offer bacon or sausage instead. There’s also the option of country potatoes or hash browns but for me hash browns wins every single time. Country potatoes don’t do it for me – only crispy hash browns!
The corned beef hash is also homemade at the restaurant and it was incredibly good! There were even bits of bell pepper in it which would usually turn me off, but I actually didn’t mind them. There were some wonderfully crispy edges and the overall flavor made this an excellent version of corned beef hash. It wasn’t very salty, either, which can sometimes happen with corned beef hash. Jake and T aren’t big corned beef hash fans but they both enjoyed this homemade version.
[french bopper / $9.99]
I wanted to get a little something sweet with our breakfast as well and we decided to try the Suzy Q’s Diner version of french toast. What I loved about this french toast was that it was already plenty sweet and didn’t need any extra syrup! There was a wonderful crunchiness to the outer batter while the inside stayed nice and fluffy. I loved the texture of the french toast and it was the perfect sweet compliment to our other savory items for breakfast.
Jake and I have been impressed with the breakfast spots we’ve discovered in Escondido so far! Suzy Q’s Diner is also right near Downtown Escondido and it was the perfect place to take the dogs on a little walk after breakfast. It was a perfect Saturday morning!
Suzy Q’s Diner (Yelp | Facebook)
258 E 2nd Ave.
Escondido, CA 92025
(442) 999-5178
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 7:00AM- 2:30PM; Closed Mondays
Hollandaise in gravy?!! I’d get up right now just to try that. The pool of gravy is dreamy. Is there sausage in it? The last morning gravy I had tasted pretty flour-y with no flavor what so ever.
I’d come her to try their country fried steak (thanks for posting the menu pic!). For some reason it won’t let me open the lunch menu pic ?
Is there a lot to do in downtown Escondido? We usually don’t drive to that part of town for breakfast so maybe I could make a morning excursion or something.
Jake, T and I all can’t remember if there is sausage in the gravy… which means if there was, it was tiny bits! I wanted to try the country fried steak, too, but I felt biscuits were enough to assess the gravy that day. I fixed the menu link, too!
It looked like there were a lot of cute shops and restaurants nearby, though we were there too early for anything to be open yet. It was nice for a walk at least!
This place seems so cute! Too bad it’s a little far from me. The hash browns look great, but I feel like the gravy is missing something vital… sausage chunks! Haha.
Normally we wouldn’t travel this far for breakfast but we needed to be in the area anyway. It all worked out! More, larger sausage chunks would be great, I agree with you! Still tasted delicious though. I *think* there are tiny sausage bits but I can’t remember!
Gah! Why is this place so far! I love how “Happy Days” this looks! I could go for some hash browns.I need to check if they have chicken fried steak. I believe the coupon book that we have has this in there I need to use it!
Dang it, I didn’t know there was a coupon! Oh well, guess I’ll just have to revisit, haha. They do have chicken fried steak! I want to try it!
Yay for chicken fried steak. Now this place is definitely on our list!
Yay! I’ll have to revisit to use the coupon! 😀
We really liked it here; took a wrong turn last summer and stopped in. The owners are really nice and concerned that you like the food. The sausage patty and gravy gravy are really good- had the “Bye Bye Birdie”.
This is a really cute little spot – we really enjoyed it! I love the names of the menu items and how everything has a retro-y 50’s name.
Mary please write me when you can. No Facebook or tweet or others please. Any way you have any never mind. Sorry.