Chicken Pie Diner

After puppy kindergarten last weekend, the Mister and I decided to get some lunch at The Chicken Pie Diner on Pomerado and Twin Peaks. We decided to go sans Merlin since he was quite tuckered from his full morning visit to the Farmer's Market and then training. He was ready for his lunch and a nice nap.

Although we drive past the Chicken Pie Diner every week, we've never stopped in until now. Always talked about trying the place, just took us 5 years to finally do it. The Diner is a 50's themed diner, 50's and 60's songs the jukebox (and a Dr. Hook song from 70's), James Dean and Marilyn Monroe pictures on the walls. There's even individual jukeboxes at the booths, 2 songs for a quarter.

Typical of me, I didn't have my camera, so once again, another food post sans pictures (sorry). But I can talk about the food. The menu is geared towards home-style cooking that is suppose to remind you of home, comfort foods galore. The service is friendly, and they are both kids and dog friendly. The menu offers lunch specials, finger food, burgers, sandwiches, "famous" chicken pies, shakes, malts and a great kids' menu. The prices are also very reasonable. I searched for their website but either it was down or they no longer manage it.

As we walked up, we saw Merlin's trainer and her assistant, both there with their dogs (one each). I got scolded for not bringing Merlin with us and hindsight, we probably should have. They were seated outside under umbrellas to shade them from the sun. One of the servers had brought out a cup of water for the dogs. We decided to sit inside for some nice air conditioning.

The place was about half full, probably most of the lunch crowd had already gone by then. Good thing because we got a booth. Nice. We didn't really look over the menu too much since we knew what we wanted. I ordered a vanilla milk shake and chicken fingers appetizer with honey mustard sauce and a side of onion rings. I had a choice of honey mustard, Ranch, or BBQ sauce with the chicken. The Mister ordered a chocolate milk shake and the King's Burger, which comes with a side of fries. As we waited for our order and checked out all the memorabilia on the walls, The King was playing on the jukebox.

Our shakes came, whip cream and cherry on top. The Mister made a mental note to ick-snay the whip cream next time. Both milk shakes were delicious, made from real ice cream. Ahhhh, nice on a hot day. Then soon after, our lunch came. The King's Burger was huge, big beef patty topped with an onion ring, mushrooms, tomato, lettuce, pickles, mustard, ketchup, and BBQ sauce. The fries were good, too. The onion rings looked typical of the frozen prepackaged type but it was still good enough for me. My chicken fingers, however, was just so-so. The breading was limp, not crisp at all, but the overall flavor was decent. The honey mustard sauce had the texture of paste, and I was very uninspired by it. I could have used a side of my own honey mustard. The Mister was surprised I had ordered chicken wings since that's something I can make at home and much (much) better. Mental note, try something else next time.

I think the total bill came to around $23. Overall, Chicken Pie Diner is a good place to come when you're looking for comfort food and hang out with your BFF (best furry friend). I'm planning on taking Merlin there for lunch this Saturday after training since it's just the two of us. I'll try hard to remember to bring the camera, ha!

Chicken Pie Diner - Poway
14727 Pomerado Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
(858) 748-2445

Other location:
Chicken Pie Diner and Filling Station - San Marcos
Old California Restaurant Row (1020 W. San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos)
(760) 591-9393