Ed U.
Yelp
I wonder if most people walking by on Mission even notice that Laurel and Hardy are the faces prominently displayed on the signage for Al's Cafe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8tKfvKhysY&feature=related
Walk into this authentic old-time diner and step into somebody's idea of a glamorous past... the owner has attempted a classic Hollywood-type diner with movie memorabilia in every nook and cranny of this place. Autographed movie-star photos fill the walls, and there are celebrity look-alike dolls on shelves in the back. Everything is rather faded, and the place feels a bit musty and rickety, but it somehow survives in a "Sunset Boulevard" kind of way.
I've walked by this place many times, but it's always closed since they're only open until 3PM on weekdays. I happen to be in the neighborhood today, so I thought I should give it a try since it's too kitschy not to. Orange formica and plastic red flowers are all around. It turns out to be a solid greasy spoon, sort of like a roadside diner on Route 66 somewhere past Kingman, Arizona, circa 1946. Works for me especially since I'm a movie trivia sponge. I can actually appreciate an autographed picture of Kim Novak next to my table.
I tried the $8.25 Big Burger with Cheese (see photo), and it was good dive food. Sure, they used American cheese slices. However, the meat, all eight ounces of it, was fresh, and it came on a soft French roll with a pile of fries and a cup of their meatball soup. The soup was more like a cup of ground beef, but I didn't mind. Hearty stuff here...they don't kid around with the cholesterol.
The staff looks like they've been here for years since the service was kind of robotic. A server gave me two different checks, and another needed to be coaxed to give me a refill on my Diet Coke. But in a way, it all fits the greasy spoon mindset I should have expected here. I just noticed it's open on weekends until 4PM, so if my arteries can take it, I may just come back. A roadside diner in the Outer Mission...cool.
FOOD - 4 stars...a good, greasy-spoon-style burger...who can argue with that?
AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...old-time Hollywood meets Mission ghetto
SERVICE - 3 stars...seem to be doing it by rote now
TOTAL - 4 stars...we need to encourage these small diners to survive, don't you think?...or else, we must live with execrable places like Mel's