Molly's Kountry Kafe

Breakfast is the cafe's principal business and its strength. The menu covers the full American diner breakfast canon — eggs prepared scrambled, fried, poached, or in omelets; bacon, sausage, ham, and chorizo as protein sides; country-style biscuits with sausage gravy; pancakes and Belgian waffles with the standard toppings; French toast made with thick-sliced bread; the breakfast burrito wrapped around eggs, potatoes, cheese, and choice of protein; and the chilaquiles plate that reflects the Mexican-American influence with crispy tortilla chips, eggs, salsa, beans, and cheese. The portions are consistently generous; most plates arrive with enough food to satisfy most appetites without ordering additional sides.

Local regulars tend to order the same handful of dishes that have built the cafe's reputation. The chorizo and eggs plate — Mexican-style sausage scrambled with eggs, served with refried beans, hash browns, and tortillas — is the most ordered single item and is consistently excellent. The breakfast burrito is enormous and reliable. The chicken-fried steak and eggs is the heaviest plate on the menu and is favored by construction workers heading to long shifts. The pancake stack is appropriate for travelers who want a simpler breakfast and don't need the full diner experience.

Coffee is the standard American diner preparation — bottomless cup, regular refills, nothing fancy. Fresh orange juice and the standard juices are available; the cafe does not have an espresso machine or any of the contemporary coffee-shop infrastructure. The drinks list emphasizes simplicity over breadth, which is appropriate to the cafe's character and matches what the regular customers want.

Lunch service runs from late morning through the 2pm closing and emphasizes burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads, and the daily blue-plate specials that are written on the chalkboard. The burgers are the lunch menu's strength — hand-formed patties grilled to order, served with the standard accompaniments on a soft bun with a substantial pile of fries. The cheeseburger is the principal version; the chiliburger adds the cafe's house-made chili; the patty melt on rye with grilled onions is a third popular variation.

The sandwich menu covers club sandwiches, BLTs, tuna salad, chicken salad, hot turkey or beef sandwiches with gravy, and the standard diner sandwich list. The soups vary daily — chicken noodle and beef vegetable are the most frequent — and are the kind of long-simmered preparation that justifies the soup-and-sandwich combination order. The daily blue-plate specials are typically meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy, pot roast, fried chicken, or similar classic American comfort food, served with the appropriate accompaniments at modest prices.

The cafe's clientele during lunch hours is the working San Bernardino population — construction crews stopping between job sites, delivery drivers, first responders, retired residents, and the occasional office worker who has discovered the cafe. The atmosphere during lunch is the genuine working-cafe character that has largely disappeared from American diner culture as chain restaurants and gentrified third-wave coffee shops have replaced the older neighborhood institutions. Molly's holds onto the authentic culture and is one of the better places in the Inland Empire to experience it.

The cafe is open daily 6am to 2pm and does not serve dinner. The morning hours are the most popular for both breakfast and the Route 66 traveler's typical schedule; arriving between 6am and 8am gives the most authentic working-cafe experience while accommodating travelers planning to spend the rest of the day exploring San Bernardino's landmarks. Lunch service from approximately 11am through closing is also reliable and less crowded than peak breakfast hours.

The address — 750 West Fifth Street — places the cafe near downtown San Bernardino and within easy reach of the Original McDonald's Site (about 2 miles north on E Street), Mitla Cafe (about 2 miles west on Mount Vernon Avenue), the San Bernardino County Museum (about 6 miles east in Redlands), and the Wigwam Motel (about 6 miles west on Foothill Boulevard). The downtown location makes the cafe a natural breakfast stop before a day of Route 66 sightseeing or a lunch stop midway through the day's exploration.

Parking is available adjacent to the cafe and is generally not difficult; the surrounding neighborhood is straightforward to navigate. The cafe accepts cash and standard credit cards; the prices ($8-14 for breakfast, $10-16 for lunch) are reasonable for the portion sizes. Service is welcoming to first-time visitors and to Route 66 travelers in particular; the staff is happy to recommend dishes, answer questions about the area, and provide the kind of friendly attention that defines genuine American diner culture.