Restaurant Review:

When it comes to breakfast at a restaurant, efficiency is always the key, especially at a diner.

Most of them can’t grasp this simple concept and it drives my brother, Tom, crazy. He is blue-collar, meat-and-potatoes, or in the case of breakfast, biscuits-and-gravy. Coffee better be in front of him shortly after he sits down and refilled whenever it gets to half a cup or lower.

He is far more demanding at restaurants than I would ever dare to be, and I have walked out of places with him because the service wasn’t forthcoming to his liking. The most recent was an IHOP in New Mexico. We were traveling and the waiter was talking to his co-worker instead of getting his coffee, and that was enough. We left and went to a drive-through.

So when he came out to visit recently, I knew I had better line up some breakfast places that were good, but more importantly, on top of their service.

Mel’s was at the top of my list. I went in there once and marveled at how three people could move around a room so quickly. It was almost ballet-like. The host greeted us and, while showing us to a booth, asked what we wanted to drink. Another person brought the drinks over before we shifted to our desired position in the booth. The waitress came shortly thereafter and took our order, and it seemed like two minutes before the same person who gave us our drinks was giving us our meal.

So I knew there would be no problem bringing him there. We planned on coming on the weekend with two friends from the old neighborhood.

I was told when I first went that it was tricky to find, but I didn’t think so. Granted, it is blocked from Warner Street by the Sizzler, but if you pull into the strip mall, it pops into view almost immediately.

We went on a Sunday morning and got the last booth before people started lining up out the door. Coffee came almost as soon as we ordered it, brought by a different person than our waitress.

OK, the savage beast had been soothed for now, but how would he like the biscuits and gravy?

Again, I needed not worry. They were some of the best he said he had ever had, and he just about licked the plate clean.

It is one of the diner’s three house specials, and I liked the tenderness of the biscuits. They were fluffy, rare for diner biscuits that usually come out heavy and doughy. The gravy was creamy and had chunks of sausage in it.

I went south of the border for my breakfast, opting for the chorizo and eggs. The chorizo was spicy, but not overly so, and it had a nice mix with the eggs. Often, you get far more eggs than Mexican sausage, but this was about 60% chorizo, 40% eggs.

Our two friends went with chicken fried steak and eggs and a western omelette.

The chicken fried steak is a house specialty, and it was easy to see why. The meat is not chewy at all, and the coating is light and surprisingly flavorful. The same gravy used for the biscuits is slathered on top.

The omelette was as generous as the rest of the portions. It was filled with ham, bell peppers and onions.

The most expensive breakfast item is the New York steak and eggs at $9.95, and most of the items are in the $6 to $7 range.

The service, though, is what makes Mel’s thoroughly enjoyable. Six times they came by with the coffee pot to top off or refill. We were attended to without feeling rushed, and for comfort food, this place is hard to beat.

Mel’s Diner

Address: 9430 Warner Ave., Fountain Valley

Phone: (714) 963-2662

Cuisine: American

Specialty dish: Any of the three house specials

Alcohol served: None

Entrée price range: $3.95 to $9.95

Family friendly: Yes, separate three-item menu

Credit cards accepted: None

Rating: *** 1/2

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at [email protected] or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.