The Potholder Cafe

My husband and I ate here while visiting long beach. The plus: friendly wait staff and a neat atmosphere. The portions were large and generous. The burger I ordered with avocado practically had a whole avocado on it. The prices are great for the area.
The downside: my «Swiss cheese» was just white American cheese, and the buns were of the lightest fluffiest unhealthiest kind.
Overall, it was a pretty good experience though.

Always pass by this place on my way to downtown and have never tried it until now!
The inside is plain not much to look at. But I love the atmosphere! All the waiters are in regular clothing, super friendly and talkative. Good vibes!
I order the French toast stuffed with cream cheese and it was amazing. Also the hash browns have like some secret seasoning that makes me never want to eat any other hash browns again .
We came in on a busy day and got seated before we could even take a seat to wait ha.
I highly recommend trying this place out, the food is great.

I’ve been here twice and both times I haven’t had to wait more than 5 minutes «If that». Last time I got the Grand Prix which was good but today I bought the Chicken Fried Steak cuz I’m hungover lol and it was so delicious! It wasn’t over friend and got Spuds Potatoes on the side with mushrooms on the side as well! Wow if you come with an appetite please order the Spuds! Oh also 9.95 bottomless Mimosas! Turn up!!! Lol!

This is a great spot here in Long Beach. We’ve been coming here for Breakfast for years and like everything in the menu.

Great food and ambiance. Love all the pictures from around the world on the walls but loong waits on the weekends

Awesome breakfast food. Wish they had hashbrowns but fries will work. I don’t like stuff mixed in my potatoes. Service is great always.

I had a wonderful breakfast at the bar across the street. The terrific staff at the Potholder was kind enough to deliver it to me there as I watched a game. The breakfast tostada was great, and the bacon I had with my Bloody Marys was perfectly crisp. I recommend The Potholder and absolutely will eat there again.

Was staying with a friend in Long Beach and went here for a Saturday morning brunch. Delish! Large portions, friendly staff, super reasonable prices. The menu was huge, but sadly the only way to have potatoes with my eggs and sausage was to either order them as a side or order a really large meal with bacon & sausages. But, whatever, first world problems! This place is great — and my friend is lucky to have it right across the street from her. (My waistline would be in trouble if I lived that close.)

I don’t understand the excitement for The Potholder. After wanting to try this place for a long time, I finally crossed it off of my list and left feeling, well, underwhelmed. It has that local greasy spoon feel to it that I would normally openly embrace. But something just felt off about the place. Perhaps it was the fact that they offered to take a certain percentage off of my bill if I could show them that I would leave them a good review on Unilocal?Sorry, but charming diners with good food don’t need to bribe you into writing a good review.
It had the typical 45 to an hour wait that you face at almost every weekend breakfast haunt in the LBC. Once we sat down, they kept the coffee coming, which was appreciated. My boyfriend and I each ordered an omelet. Both omelets were overcooked, but somehow the cheese was not melted. I don’t understand how you accomplish that.
The service was very friendly, but that unfortunately won’t prompt my return. There are so many other breakfast choices in Long Beach.

Unilocal Check-​In: $ 9.95 bottomless mimosas!
I came here for a Saturday brunch with a friend and I ordered the Popeye’s scramble, which is absolutely delicious! First off, there’s SO many different omelette/​scramble selections. For the Popeye’s scramble, it came with jack cheese, sausage, mushrooms, and spinach. Each order comes with potatoes. You can sub your toast for some french toast — and this I highly recommend!
The scramble was absolutely delicious. The potatoes were so good as well! Literally huge portions! The French toast was really yummy too. Everything was just so good!
Overall, prices are very reasonable. The taste and quality of the food is great. Parking can be a bit tricky since you’ll need to do street parking. Since my friend lives around the area, we just pretty much walked there. But other than that, service is friendly and I would definitely come here again! =)

I agree with other Unilocalers on the fact that this place is a hit or miss.
Some mornings I have the best breakfast and service. Others, eggs are very underdone and service is terrible.
With all the other breakfast/​brunch places around it’s hard to convince myself to keep coming here in fear of coming in another «off day».

There are definitely a bevy food items on the menu to choose from, but I eventually settled on the Mondo burrito. It is pretty much a wet breakfast burrito, which I can not believe another restaurant has not come up with that concept (or at least one I have not been to yet!). All the awesomeness of a breakfast burrito smothered in enchilada sauce and some sour cream and avocado… yes I definitely am a fan.
The only problem was that I asked to substitute bacon for chicken, which I verbally communicated to the waitress and saw her write it down. Then when I cut into the burrito, there was definitely bacon in it. Anyways, I was able to pick it out, but it just makes me wonder… if a vegetarian orders the burrito with soyrizo, will it come with bacon as well?

I used to like Potholder a lot, but the last two times have not been good. Service is slow and all these people are working there, but it feels like they are avoiding to help you because they have other things to do. I was a customer, but I felt like I was bothering them.
The food is not bad, it’s is good! Best for breakfast.

What can I say? As a part-​time LB resident, I cannot visit without making at least one trip to the Potholder to enjoy a Franke’s Special. Eggs, awesome sausages and amazing pancakes! My kids love the french toast and hot chocolate.
The only thing that eclipses the food is the service. Friendly, efficient, casual and being treated like one of the gang make this a great experience always.
See ya Friday AM Ya’ll!

So much time has passed since my last review. I was right, we have brunch here, again & again. The staff remain amazing. Special shout out to the manager Katie. :) Dana, is also great! She helped put my heavy-​set cousin in his place after he failed the Mc Daddy. :p
We truly feel the love being regulars!

Cute café
A couple of months ago while on vacation in LA, came to this place for breakfast on a Sunday, beautiful weather, October morning.
There was little wait but we were there already so decided to stay.
It was a group of 4 friends and we all got different things, from chilaquiles to skillets.
Everything was good and the service was even better.
Prices are great as well
TPC, a must if in the hood

My friends and I had a great brunch here. The menu is extensive so I had a hard time deciding what I wanted, but there is plenty of hearty hangover food here. Since I was feeling it pretty heavily, I ordered the Super Spuds. This is a heaping portion of shaved potatoes topped with a thick layer of melted cheddar cheese, mushrooms, sour cream (I left it off) and avocado. The potatoes had a great crisp and tons of flavor. It was exactly what I needed and I finished almost the whole thing aside from a few bites. Bottomless mimosas on Saturdays are $ 8. I didn’t partake but some friends did and they were pretty on top of the refills. Be prepared to have a bit of a wait if you come for weekend brunch, even if there are empty tables.

NO PROBLEMS. DOGGYBAG CITY.
Wow. We have some pretty substantial reviews in here. Good job I’m not competing, cause nothing super exciting or super horrible happened to us. We just had a decent breakfast, mid-​morning on a Monday.
I had the Monday Machaca special ($ 9.95, regularly $ 11.95) and it was big. Nothing too special but it was just breakfast, after all. I wasn’t expecting to be blown away.
My friend had the Turbo. His portion was smaller and he wolfed it down. Me, I had to summon a box to go for fear of having a food coma.
The servers were friendly and made us feel at home. At least two have been here for eighteen years. Wow. The coffee was good. All was well at the Potholder.
I’ll post some pictures if I can get it together to transfer them from my phone.

It’s not often I find myself in Long Beach anymore, but it helps to have family down there to guide me in the right direction when it comes to food. Of our choices for breakfast this past Sunday morning, we opted for the Potholder due to its portion sizes and likelihood of having a shorter wait time than other places. Our party of three waited maybe 10 minutes tops after being told 15 – 20 minutes — gotta love that.
We were seated at a booth in one of the three rooms that make up the length of the restaurant and were waited on by my favorite type of server — energetic, engaging, funny, but still attentive. Gluten-​free waffles were actually on the menu, which were hard to pass up despite all of the delicious sounding omelettes and scrambles calling out to me on the other pages. I got my aunt to agree to split her chile verde scramble with me so I wouldn’t feel like I was missing out. Thanks again, family. My other aunt ordered your standard breakfast omelette and was very happy with her choice as well.
The price is right, the portions are huge, and if I’m ever in the area for breakfast again I’m sure I’ll be back. Yum.

Been here a few times with friends and it’s a great local’s spot. Nothing fancy or amazing here except for their service. Great staff welcoming you in and even though they are busy the waiters are awesome as well. Love that you can serve yourself coffee while you wait — Score!
The food is like any other local diner. You can wait for a booth by signing in at a table outside or you can just stalk the counter waiting for someone to get up. Personally I like the booths cause they are cozy and you don’t have people staring you down while you eat.
Don’t expect too much with the food. It’s diner fare with a few fancy titles. Bring the kids, great place for a child to just be loud and happy or cranky. It’s a family fun kinda place.
Parking around the neighborhood is easy in the residential areas, neighbors don’t seem to mind.