Bonnie Lu's

This 30 years family owned and operated diner has the ultimate classic breakfast recipes. The staff are extraordinary. Comfortable seating with food that makes you want to come back again and again. Try the thin pancakes or any omelette.

Pros: charming service, enjoyable food. Cons: $22.47 after tax and before tip for: one egg, one biscuit with gravy and hash browns is exorbitant.

I was passing through Ojai just as Bonnie Lu’s opened and thought I would give it a shot. It is a cozy, welcoming restaurant with friendly service. I ordered the Denver omelette with bacon instead of ham, and it did not disappoint. If you’re in the area, you should try it out.

This is the cutest place. Sparkling clean and inviting. We stopped in for lunch but ordered breakfast, which is available all day. A short stack of blueberry pancakes and an egg on the side. The pancakes are huge and filled with lots of juicy blueberries. My hubby ordered the French toast, which was yummy, which came with fresh fruit. Both were top-notch. It's a little pricey, but this is located in prime Ojai. Service is excellent and friendly. We will definitely be back when we return to Ojai in the future. Another customer ordered a tuna sandwich, which look excellent!

Wonderful experience overall. Big meals for a great price and the friendliest staff. while the food was diner food it still had a true homemade taste, not just open a big bad of frozen foods and drop in the fryer. Felt like stepping back in time to an old family diner. We loved it and can’t wait to return. It’s a nice alternative to the rest of the area.

If you want great food look no further! We just spent the weekend in Ojai for our daughter's wedding and enjoyed our first breakfast there so much we brought 10 people back with us the second day. The service with a smile is exceptional.

It’s a really traditional American style restaurant. You can tell the waitresses are really friendly and they’re happy to serve. Multiple choices on the menu. You can always find the dish you like! Some of the food are little too greasy, and the sour dough does not taste the best. It’s a nice restaurant but unfortunately we waited for 30mins to be seated and another hour for the food. Make our dinning experience disappointed. Hope you can improve it after seeing this review!

Easy free parking, located in the middle of town, this friendly breakfast spot might remind you of 'Back To The Future'. Good food, good service, fun old school decor. Recommended.

Super cute little diner vibe! All of the staff was very friendly and attentive. You didn't really have just one waitress, they all helped take care of every table. My mom and I went in around 8:30 for a Sunday breakfast and were sat right away but before we finished our meal the waitlist had started. All of the food was great! Your typical American breakfast which was exactly what I was looking for. Definitely recommend this spot if you're looking for some good comfort breakfast food. (We got the blueberry pancakes, the thin pancakes with bacon and eggs).

We stopped into Bonnie Lu's for breakfast while in Ojai. It has the feel of a diner and it was clean with excellent service. We found a table at the window, and dove into the menu. Our server came right over and took our drink orders while we decided on our meals. Mr. B went with the breakfast special, eggs, breakfast potatoes and biscuits with gravy. I chose the one egg and hash brown breakfast. The egg was scrambled to perfection, and the breakfast potatoes were crunchy on the outside, just as I love them and creamy on the inside. Mr. B loved his breakfast. The biscuit didn't look like a typical biscuit, but tasted like a home baked biscuit and was tender and baked to perfection. There is nothing better than a diner style breakfast, and Bonnie Lu's didn't disappoint.

A charming local American diner and a good breakfast/brunch place! It was Mother's Day and lunchtime so they were busy. My boyfriend and I had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table, and about 20 minutes to get our food. The food was delicious. I ordered Shelly's Veggie Omelette ( side: fruits, English muffin) and my boyfriend ordered Scrumble eggs, grits, biscuits, and gravy. The coffee was good, although I asked 3 servers for the refill of coffee but my boyfriend ended up going to the counter to get it. The service was nice and friendly. I would like to come back here sometime on a weekday.

Bonnie's is your typical diner, good food and friendly service. The reason it gets 4 stars is because they serve grits! My favorite! They substitute for the regular sides that come with breakfast (potatoes and a toast).

A year later and this place is still just as good as it was. Everyone there feels like family and you're going to get a meal that just seems too good to be true! Thank you to Tara and mama especially for always making our experience so good!

Came here for lunch on our first day. Not much open in Ojai this week. I had the French dip which was delicious! The bread was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. A fairly large sandwich. Mom had the chicken salad sandwich. My cousin had the 3 cheese grilled cheese which she enjoyed. Service was friendly and quick. Expensive but I know this is a tourist town. Thank you!

My experience dining here was okay. Bonnie Lu's seemed to have a lot of charm and history so my group decided to make it our last stop before leaving the city. Service could've been better in our opinion. When my group came in it wasn't busy and yet it took a while for any of the staff to acknowledge we were there and seat us. The waitresses were taking their time chatting with locals (I assume) which is totally fine but a quick 'we'll be with you shortly' would have been appreciated so we don't feel ignored. The food also needed a lot more seasoning which was the overall consensus at our table. However, I will say they fry up a perfect medium sunny side up egg. Most places make sunny side ups too runny. I rate this place a 3.6/5 stars.

Popular place on the weekends and nice service. Turkey burger was a little too salty for me but everything else is good

Wonderful. Nice owner and Servers. Nice place. Clean and Cute. Spectacular Monte Cristo sandwich!!!!! Stef Torrance, CA

OMG - corned beef hash to die for. Loved this place and my mom had a gluten free pancake she loved. Great service and cute place.

Take this for what it's worth..... came to Ojai for a day trip to check out the famous Farmers market, after that I was looking for a place for lunch. This place was listed as #1 on Tripadvisor and better yet it was steps from the Farmers Market. Kind of a weird setup, you enter through the front door but then they make you wait out the back door, so it seems like there's no wait until you see all the people out back. So there were only 2 of us and they said maybe about 30-45mins. An hour later we were still not seated, as were many others. We were on a time crunch but really wanted to try it so we continued waiting. About 90mins of waiting we were finally seated but then the waitress told us the kitchen was backed up and food would take up to another hour to come out.....we didn't have another hour to wait, especially considering that didn't include the time to eat. We ultimately made the decision to leave, basically wasted 2hrs of our short time up in Ojai. I recall seeing another review similar to this so it looks like this place can't handle it's own popularity.

We were recommended to this place for our weekend getaway by one of my fiancé's friends , he was right everybody so nice and welcoming ! The owner Jenny was so sweet to come by and talk to us , told us a terrifying story with an amazing ending, Miracles do happen !! So now back to the review, the food was great, we both had bacon & eggs with crispy bacon & hash browns we shared a single pancake that was delicious. Ambience was country style kitchen feel. We will definitely be back and recommend any of our friends that come to Ojai!!

This was a nice brunch spot in Ojai that serves your usual diner menu. We came around 10am on a Saturday and luckily didn't have to wait for a table. Shortly after we were seated, the restaurant was full and people waiting had to put their name down on the waitlist. I'm glad we didn't have to wait because I wouldn't think this restaurant is worth waiting in line for. There were plenty of other restaurant choices around that you could try instead. Because it is a fairly small restaurant, the spaces in between the tables are pretty close, so when a kid sitting at the table next to us decided to fling his food around, we were easily in his firing proximity. The items that we ordered, French toast, and country fried ham steak, was tasty.

Cute little place. Very crowded, took a while to get seated and also for the food. Food was good, coffee was good.

A great brunch spot for us on a Saturday. We were lucky we got a seat right away around 10 am on Easter weekend. The inside is adorably decorated with that diner feel, and no outdoor seating so we were very lucky to get seated right away. It seems like they are good at managing the influx and out-flux of customers. The woman who welcomed and greeted us was Bonnie Lu's daughter and there are pictures of her mother and her on the wall in remembrance. Very sweet story of a lovely family business. The servers were wonderfully kind and pleasant which made the whole experience just that much better. The food came out quickly and in large proportion! The pancakes were huge and fluffy!!! The omelets were jam packed more than I've ever seen before. Finally an omelette worth my time and appetite!!! So glad I ordered the veggie. It was PACKED with mushrooms and spinach and onions and tomatoes. Delicious, and lasted me two meals. The credit cup it came with was also yummy and fresh. And the orange slices were pristine! The biscuits and gravy had a gravy sauce unlike anything we'd tasted before...and in a great way! It had a sweet hint to it. YUM! This was a great spot and the food felt clean. Definitely know why this place is a local favorite :)

If you spend anytime overnight in magical Ojai, you definitely need to enjoy some breakfast at Bonnie Lu's. This old school, downhome restaurant has everything you could want in a funky, homey, delicious breakfast joint. I particularly love the bread and bacon and eggs here. All so fresh and tasty. The staff is also incredible, especially the lovely Harmony. The location is fantastic, too. Right in the vibrant heart of downtown Ojai. Plenty of parking a short stroll away. Check it out!

Good comforting diner food, though a bit on the pricier end (as you would likely expect with Ojai). The workers are also very sweet and kind, and seemed to know a bunch of their customers. We got a short stack to split, and the pancakes were thick and fluffy, and the strawberries and cream were both of great quality.

Absolutely the best place to eat, excellent food and service met the owner and what a gal! this place has got such a good laid back feeling, very reasonable prices and a good variety of foods to choose from.

This is a fun, funky, family run cafe in Ojai. We got there at 2:00 just after closing and after parking a block away I found my wife sitting outside bemoaning we were too late. I walked in and asked if we could still have breakfast? Sure, have a seat. We were the last ticket into the kitchen and the last breakfast served about 45 minutes later. We had a good time. Good coffee and great Eggs Benedict. It's Ojai. Reminds me of times 60 years ago when hippies roamed the earth, people were mellow and happy. Howsome-ever, the mellow folks here either drive clunker pick ups or late model Benz's. Times do change. This was a simple getaway for us from Camarillo. Not an exotic time travel just a fun adventure with good food for two antiques. It's a pretty area and worth the trip up the mountain.

I love to give a place more than one chance before I write a review. Today was my second visit to this place. I'll admit, the food is pretty good. I had the tri tip bbq sandwich and was pleasantly surprised. The tri tip was decent (some pieces were overcooked and tasted less fresh than others) and the fries were pretty good. But overall I was happy with my order. Two members of my group ordered the fresh fruit which looked seasonal; With watermelon, and berries. But some of the fruit looked overripe to the point of being mushy. The reason I take off two stars is - the wait staff isn't very attentive, it took a long time to get drink refills because our waitress was having a conversation at the counter with someone. - the wait from the time we ordered until we got our food was insanely long. Four sandwiches somehow took the kitchen over an hour to churn out. And it was not a busy day, there were only three other tables seated when we went inside. I did find it ironic that each table has a sign reminding people to be mindful about how long they were at the table, and then having to wait over an hour for some sandwiches.

I've been here several times in the past, and am usually happy with the service and food. Not today. I ordered the ham steak and eggs plus buttered toast. Positives: the eggs were cooked well, as was the toast. Negatives: I never was given a placemat, the ham was on the dry side, some of the home fried potatoes were undercooked and had very few onions, and the waitress never came by after taking my order to ask if things were OK. Finally, I really don't like being called "Mama" by a waitress I don't even know. Twice. "Miss", yes, or no name, OK, but not "Mama".

Today on a holiday, we only had to wait 35-40 mins while We were guided to go to the back patio while we Shopped, the staff Was really funny and friendly, the atmosphere was family oriented, the mimosas Were awesome the food Was delicious. They did not Have Bloody Mary's Definitely will come back Here

If we are in Ojai, chances are you can find us at Bonnie Lu's. And, lucky us that we were staying just a few short blocks away! Bonnie Lu's reminds me of Mayberry. It's a homey, friendly place where you are always welcomed by Jenny and her oversized smile! We sat at the counter and the service was fantastic as usual. My delightful dining companion had her usual turkey club (and as usual took half of it home) and I had the sauteed mushroom and onion burger. It was excellent and cooked just right. The cole slaw didn't really do it for me (I'm more of an east coast cole slaw guy anyway) but this is just the most charming and friendly little coffee shop you'll ever visit.

I love Bonnie Lu's!!! The food is delicious. I ordered Ken's Breakfast Platter. The service was friendly. The music was delightful and they have a little tv at the bar. I would definitely come back.

Breakfast was really good and their customer was friendly. Got there at around noon and there was no line and got seated within 10 min. Ambience was friendly not too loud. Parking may be a little difficult to find. Will definitely go back. Love this gem! D

Busy day in the house.. so expect at least a 30 minute wait and another 15 minutes to be greeted. Place is very cozy, nice and clean. The reason I gave this place two stars is that I'm not sure if they were under staffed, but service was super slow. Hostess girl was seating people and clearing tables at the same time. I only saw two servers for the whole place. Hostess girl was not in a good mood and I heard her saying "people are looking at me as if I had six hands". I completely understand when a restaurant is busy, but sometimes comments like that should be kept them to ourselves or in a place out of the public's ears and eyes. Food on the other hand is very delicious, nice presentation and good portions. On the food side I'll give them 5 stars. It's just that I felt that the waiter forgot about us. She just brought the food and we didn't see her until she brought the check to us. We're not locals but I believe I'll look for other options on our next visit to Ojai.

Great atmosphere, loved the decor and theme of the restaurant. My pancakes were delicious as well as the fresh fruit! The service was excellent. Next time I am in Ojai I'm definitely going back.

What's a great experience with my 15 year old son at Bonnie Lus! Mickey Mouse cakes cooked just right and freshly cooked thick cut bacon, everything with such care! Thank you Bonnie Lus... we'll be back!

The Denver Omelette was scrumptious! Also tried the French toast. The fruit bowl, I got as a side, was so fresh and tasted so good. Highly recommend for anyone staying in Ojai!

Really good food and great service. The ambiance is old school the price are reasonable. The eggs Benedict were amazing snd cooked as ordered. The hollandaise sauce needed some flavor but overall was solid.

It's pretty hard to eff up breakfast, and this place managed to do so. I paid over $40 for one breakfast, juice and a side of potato salad (which tasted off). The chicken fried steak was just a poorly cooked, terrible cut of meat. Most of it was in edible, and it was not "chicken fried" at all. The gravy was broken. Everything had an unnecessary amount of grease on it. Even the English muffin was sopping with butter, and weirdly chewy. For this price, I am extremely disappointed with the quality, and lack of care.

It really is such a warm and welcoming (and clean) diner and country breakfast place - where everybody knows your name and has time to talk and converse like back in the day! Delicious omelette and fast service. Love love love the owner and her crew has consummate attention to detail where the patrons come first!

I was very hopeful for this place, but disappointed. It was 4 of us who went (my husband, his grandpa and wife, and me). We also had our little one with us. When we got there it was pretty busy. It is a small little restaurant so I understandable. We didn't have to wait long. 10min at most. This is where the not so great experience begins. After we placed our order, it took over 40min to get out. There was a couple sitting at one of the tables next to us and her partner ended up leaving before the food came out because of how long it was. I order French toast to split with my husband. His grandpa ordered the quiche of the day. His wife ordered eggs and toast. My French toast were not cooked all the way. When I informed of this they were not empathetic and took the plate. They did ask if I wanted new ones but wasn't sure how long I would have had to wait for the replacement order so I said no. My husbands grandpa was a bit disappointed with his quiche. The waitress made it seem like he could choose certain ingredients and that wasn't the case. Cute little place but food not great.

On our visit to Ojai we visited Bonnie Lu's for lunch. The food was delicious and huge portions. The service was great and super accommodating.

You couldn't ask for more from a mom and pop owned diner. Bonnie Lu's a delightful gem in Ojai and if they added lodging on the 2nd floor it would probably be the most popular bed & breakfast in town. Had the Biscuits & Gravy, which were amazing. Please America, keep building more diners like this. There can never been too many.

The food was made exactly to my specifications with crisp bacon and milk in a glass with an extra glass of ice. Even the ice was very clear and obviously filtered water. Then the owner came out and told the story of her mom or this restaurant named honor of her Mom. Wonderful warm staff and extremely clean restaurant with quite a caring family environment definitely going to hit them up again and take out of town friends as well. At the far side of the main strip of Ojai on the left coming from Ventura

I don't know if it's just because it's covid season, or because it was a weekend but goodness the line waiting time was ridiculously too long. We should've just went to Ojai Pizza co. Wait was long! I think we needed to have a sit down meal. They do have covid protocol in place. We order up front and we exit and walk outside to their back patio, to eat. The outdoor seating was nice. We ordered strawberry salad, chicken fried steak, the Ruben, steak and eggs and waffles. I think for the most part, we all enjoyed our food. Waffles though, wow, you gotta try! Our waitress was super friendly and nice.

The staff is fantastic best service and fantastic food the best place in Ojai for breakfast

This iconic restaurant continues to crank out the best breakfasts around. On busy weekends we sometimes have a wait, so don't let that stop you and don't get upset about it. When your food comes, you will be so happy! I always order an omelet, and he can't resist biscuits and gravy with pancakes and sausage. (Yes, he finished it all...I don't know how he does it). It's a typical noisy cafe- but it's happy noises and efficient staff. Go!

I would have given 5 Stars because the staff was friendly, the food was delicious and fresh and we all enjoyed the outdoors seating very much. But I was really disappointed to see that literally everything was served in disposable plastic containers (plastic cutlery individually wrapped in plastic, to go plastic boxes and plastic cups). I have always seen Ojai as a very sustainable little town and was shocked to see this happening. I would not return based on these standards.

Excellent service excellent tasty food. Breakfast is a must here. The owner and daughter are always working together. Their homemade salsa makes the hash browns even better if that's possible. Great pancakes and omelets too. Crispy bacon is perfect.

I was recently in town and decided to stop by this restaurant for breakfast on a Sunday morning. We waited around 35-40 minutes to be seated (table for 2) of which we completely understood due to small size of the restaurant and how many people were ahead of us on the waiting list. We decided to order the Lori's Chicken Fried Steak w/ a regular coffee and Ken's Breakfast Plate w/ turkey sausage, a chocolate milk and a side of hash brown and a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese on the side. Lori's Chicken Fried Steak was great! The steak was cooked well. I was pleasantly surprised by the biscuit. It was not too dough-dense but had the perfect flavor and consistency and the gravy paired really well with it. The portions of this plate were great too. This plate came with a side of home style potatoes which we also found to really enjoy. Ken's Breakfast Plate was your typical breakfast. The eggs were decent however I would skip on the hash browns and ask to substitute them for the homestyle potatoes. The hash browns lacked flavor. The turkey sausage was good as well. Great flavor! I am not fully sure if their bagels are home made but I would not recommend the cinnamon bagel. It did not taste like cinnamon at all. It was basically a plain bagel. It was underwhelming. Their other bagel options might be better. Overall, I enjoyed the ambience and vibe of this place. It is a very retro-style restaurant with very friendly staff. My server checked up on us twice which we appreciated as we saw how busy she and the other staff was. I would stop by again. I would give this place overall a 7.5/10.

A small, neighborhood breakfast cafe in downtown Ojai. The staff were super friendly and attentive. They don't have dine in yet but you can dine al fresco behind the restaurant away from the street noise. They set up several folding tables and chairs, nothing fancy but you can enjoy the fresh air.

Who doesnt love Bonnie Lu's? Anytime Im in Ojai, I stop at Bonnie Lu's. Great food. Great & friendly service. It feels like home. Wish I lived closer so that I could go more often.

Can't truly rate as we couldn't eat there. They close at 2pm, NOT 2:30! Be warned! I'll update my stars if I get to eat their food! They need to update times on Yelp and website.

Great Comfort food . We had a delightful lunch. The Rueben sandwich was over the top. Great quality meat and not to mushy or moist. The salads are surprizingly good as well! Staff is friendly and helpful. Worth the wait.

Bomb sandwiches. Jenny has great costumer service. This is our new spot to come and eat.

We took the food to-go because of the pandemic, so we can't comment on the dining ambiance on the inside. The food is your typical breakfast selection, but it's done better than the average place. The side of fruit that comes with the French toast is generous and sufficient to satisfy your craving for your five servings a day.

Super cute restaurant!!! Small. Welcoming and so warm! The staff here is FANTASTIC!!!!! A++++++++ to all :) Molly was especially wonderful. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast before leaving our relaxing weekend getaway. Looking forward to our next stay in Ojai and another meal with you all!