Cafe El Dorado

What a gem this place is. Great staff, great service, excellent food. Came in Sunday morning around 9:30 didn’t have to wait for a table. Had coffee and placed the order in a matter of minutes. Food was literally on the table in under 10 minutes, piping hot and delicious. Highly recommend and can’t wait to go back.
Edit: had to mention the bacon. Wow. Not sure I’ve had 3 strips of bacon that good, ever. Incredible.

Great spot for breakfast or early lunch for the buck. Friendly and loved it as I could substitute.

Good little greasy spoon spot. Folks are nice, small café with a small town feel. Good menu selection with lots of breakfast/​lunch options. There’s something for everyone. Whoever wrote the menu has a good since of humor. You’ll see when you come.

Café’ El Dorado is still a go-​to breakfast place for me in the heart of El Dorado County. It has transferred ownership recently and I’ve been in there a few times since so I wanted to update folks. It is basically the same, a few small changes (read that as improvements) to the menu. They knocked out a wall which makes the country home interior a bit more open and inviting. The service is still as attentive as ever. The original chef/​owner, (a classy gent) was amazing, I mean really amazing. I would say the food has dropped a fractional star since then, but hey you won’t notice. I love a great benedict and these guys have several to choose from, along with all the american — mexican classics thrown in.
I used to drive past this place wondering can a «little shack dive» be any good? Try it, you’ll need to jog home to burn it all off.
There are very very few restaurants/​businesses in El Dorado County that stand up for a long time (10 years+). Café’ El Dorado is in that rarified air.

If you haven’t tried this place in awhile (or ever), it is under new ownership. I can’t say what it used to be like, but I can say we have had two excellent meals there in the past month. The owner (and waitress extraordinaire) used to work at the Train Station and frankly is out-​doing them in food quality and menu selection. You can have it «your way» without a hassle. Great food at a decent price.

Drove up from Sacramento during a long lunch to have excellent breakfast. Two of us split 3 meals. Friendly service, food worth the drive!

Meh… not the greatest breakfast I’ve ever had, that’s for sure. French Toast combo, two eggs & 4 strips of bacon. The French Toast is SWEET. More suited for children, unfortunately… I ordered eggs over medium… what I got was well… overcooked with no yolk. the best part was the bacon. very nice cut… meaty & flavorfull. Service was ok. the place is a bit of a dive meets country home… I can get better staying local.

When the air outside gets so cold you cant feel your toes, and the wind goes through your coat til your bones freeze, you know its time to warm your heart. Thats what they do at the El Dorado. With charm from a good old fashioned country kitchen, and a couple girls who smile big enough to make the sun blush, you can make your soul right home with some hot coffee and homestyle cooking. Make it in for breakfast, and dont forget the apple cinnamon french toast.

Best biscuits and gravy anywhere! Friendly staff, great food and good prices. One of the best hidden gems in the county

My boyfriend and I Love the Café El Dorado we eat here every time we’re in the area! Great food, friendly staff, great service!

My Aunt took me there for my birthday breakfast and I loved the portion sizes and the food. The waitress was very efficient also It was very comfortable feeling, like a kitchen out in the country. They have so many different dishes to choose from and a few mexican dishes to choose from also!

This place is good. Lots of food !! Super fast. It’s very small. Low key. Family kinda place.

Great food and friendly staff! Breakfasts are the BOMB!

On a recent Monday, I took my wife, son, grand son and grand daughter to breakfast here. I live in the town of El Dorado, a local, and have driven by this place nearly every weekday on my way to work and the parking lot is always crowded, so I figured this would be a good breakfast. Maybe even better than the Train Station down the road in Shingle Springs.
We entered to an unmanned cash register and waited for someone to seat us. Looking around, less than a third of the tables were occupied. We were greeted and seated in a back room. That’s fine. My grandson is 2 and can be noisy sometimes.
Took a while to get menus and even longer to come back to take our orders, but the longest wait was for our food. So, it’s no surprise everything was cold. Right, you say. Cold. Luke warm maybe but not cold. Well, it was C O L D. As in the butter was rock hard to the toast as if the toast was made long ago and the butter wasn’t close to even softening let alone melting into my toast.
The hash browns were offered with onions and green peppers. The hash browns were not cooked, they were scorched as if they were threw on too-​hot a grill, turned the edged black, then served up. The onions and peppers were not quite raw, but neither were they caramelized, let alone fixed with the hash browns. I ordered my eggs over easy. These were over medium at best. And cold. How do you over cook my eggs and still manage to serve them cold? The sausages had congealed grease in them as if they were cooked last night, tossed into that too-​hot pan along with the scorched hash browns and not reheated thoroughly through.
I asked the rest of the family if their food was also cold. They were polite to say they didn’t mind. Well I minded. I paid over $ 50 for breakfast and that’s not chump change for us.
If you ask if I complained to the staff, well the only staff was the one person who took our order and no. I didn’t. I’m already having a bad experience. No way I’m going to get into it with some waitress’s lame excuses as to why things are the way they are. And why should I have to ‘complain’ about the food not being hot? They KNOW the food they were serving us was not hot. They KNOW the food was not prepared to my ordered request. Complaining is only going to make my bad experience even worse. So I paid my bill and we left.
Never to return.
It’s a darn shame that I live in such a beautiful area of California and no one seems to know how to fix a decent meal other than the fast food places.

Went here for breakfast today. Pretty good. Certainly don’t go there for the décor or ambiance, but the food is good, even if they did mess up our orders a bit. Wife and I both asked for hash browns and got country potatoes instead. No biggie. Also ordered the breakfast burrito and was asked «Spicy?» and I said «Sure.» First couple of bites were, then it was just mild.

Visited today and based on the Unilocal reviews I was ready for a very good experience. What I got was a A-​ok experience. The service was friendly and the food came out fast. I ordered the «Alfredo’s Favorite», which is a scramble with bacon, ortega chile, white onion and cream cheese. The toppins were plentiful and the cream cheese realy gave the scramble a mellow and creamy taste. I would never have thought of cream cheese but I liked it. The hasbrowns were well made. The meal came with a homemade mild salsa and corn tortillas. I was dissappointed to learn that the tortilla was store bought. If i lived closer i would frequent this place. My daughter ordered pancakes and they were quite good. BTW this place is called Café El Dorado. The menu, business cards, signage and owner confirm this.

The interior has a cool old-​timey feel. The waitress was pretty friendly. I ordered the breakfast burritto, the portion was impressive and it tasted great. Will definitely be back to try move of their menu.

If you read my other reviews then you know I love small business. This place is the best little greasy spoon in the area. Kinda run down but still homely feeling, amazing breakfast and genuine staff. I cant think of a much better place to spend Sunday breakfast.

This has been our favorite breakfast spot in the area for several years. My wife likes the veggie omelette, I like the Spanish omelette. We both like the country potatoes with bell peppers and onions. The coffee is just OK, a bit bland. The service is usually pretty good but can be a little irregular. The location is quaint — a converted old house by the side of the road on the edge of a semi-​industrial area outside of town.
I took a guest there, who ordered apple french toast, which turned out to be french toast with canned apple pie filling poured over the top — not something I could recommend. But if you stick to traditional basics, you’ll normally do OK.
The owner/​cook is from Central America, so Hispanic-​influenced menu items are likely to be good bets also.

I’ve been driving past this place for years and unlike many of the businesses that have used this building, the El Dorado Café seems to have established a steady business frequented by regulars, law enforcement officials and now, me!
My mom and I decided to have a breakfast date this week and were very pleasantly surprised. I had bacon, eggs, country potatoes and biscuit and she had french toast, bacon and a side of hash browns. Like most breakfast places, the portion sizes won’t leave you hungry! The waitress also offered me honey, which made me really happy.
Bottom line: They have a large menu with plenty of options. I ordered orange juice and was SO happy that it came out cold. You know how OJ is often served warm? Yeah, no, I hate that… so kudos for the cold juice! I wouldn’t call the prices «cheap,» as our bill was $ 25, but it’s a family-​run business, so I’m not gonna complain. Our waitress was super friendly and made us feel welcome.
I plan to bring some of my girl friends here the next time we go out for breakfast. Definitely worth going back!