Harrison Nguyen
Google
During my recent visit to Crazy Otto’s Diner in Santa Clarita, I was hoping for a classic diner experience. However, the reality fell short of my expectations. The diner has a fascinating history, with Otto Lindsel bringing his lumberjack cooking skills to Southern California in the 1970s, particularly known for his enormous pancakes. Unfortunately, the food was rather average and failed to impress. What truly dampened my experience was the peculiar and somewhat tiresome service from the waitstaff.
Upon being promptly seated, the hostess quickly brought me the beverage I requested, which was a good start. However, things quickly took a turn for the worse. When my brother arrived and we were discussing what to order, we noticed that our server was nowhere to be found. This was surprising, especially considering there was only one other family in the diner at the time. After waiting for about 6 minutes, we flagged down another server, who informed us that he wasn't our assigned waiter but offered to take our order. His demeanor was unusually formal, and the whole interaction left us feeling perplexed. We wondered if it was inappropriate to seek assistance from another server. It was an unnecessarily uncomfortable situation.
When our food finally arrived, it was brought to us with little enthusiasm, and after that, we barely saw our server. She didn't check in with us even once to see if we needed anything else, which, in my opinion, is basic restaurant etiquette. After we finished our meal, we had to signal her again just to get the check, and by this point, the lack of attention was frustrating. The service did not warrant the standard 15% tip, so I adjusted the tip accordingly.
The awkward encounters and lack of attention soured the meal for us. As we left, we couldn't help but discuss how strange the whole experience was, we were being treated as second-class citizens. Unfortunately, this visit will be my last to Crazy Otto’s Diner. Next time, I'll be opting for Saugus Cafe instead.