Marie Callender’s Restaurant & Bakery

The only reason to walk through the door of this establishment is to grab a pie to go (pies are actually quite good… especially if your wife has a «pie-​attack» which is an inside family issue that seems to transcend generations and transfer to spouses not related by blood… but I digress). If you actually sit down and try to eat a meal (like I’ve done a couple times), be prepared to pay way too much for food that is way too mediocre. Have never actually gotten to the pie-​eating stage when eating in the restaurant, as we either have gotten tired of the experience or lost our appetite after eating a blah meal.
In interacting with the staff, I could tell that they agreed with my opinions without saying a word… sad…
«Marie» (actually whatever the CEO of the corp’s name is… thanks Google, his name is Jeffrey)…keep selling your frozen food at my supermarket… better than most. Keep selling your pies for take out… which I think is your niche and appreciated by many. For sit-​down restaurant food, you have some work in front of you.

Don’t know why this place doesn’t have a better Unilocal.Servers are always nice, food fresh and hot, big menu, great soup & salad bar, great bar to hang out in and good long island ice teas!

Terrible service. They took a long time to seat us then They put us at a table in the back and a waiter never came so we left after sitting there for 15 minutes.

I went in to purchase a pie for our Easter Dinner plans and I bought the Coconut Crème pie. I paid $ 14.99 for this pie and was expecting it to be fresh but it was not. We shared this pie after our dinner and it tasted like it was defrosted. It had that old freezer food taste and I was embarrassed. I will no longer be buying pies from Marie Calendars.

Worst breakfast buffet ever, I just spent $ 17.00 and everything’s empty and what’s left is dried and terrible, my English muffin for my Eggs Benedict is so hard a can not even cut it with a knife, and they still have an hour left for their buffet, been here 16 min and they still haven’t brought out any fresh food for the buffet. Will never come back here again. Very disappointing !

From the moment you walk in the front door, this place smells like Marie. (I’m assuming that Marie is 90+ years old by now and lives in a nursing home.)
Sorry, but the food just wasn’t very good. I won’t be back unless it’s just for drinks and apps at the bar.

I love bringing first dates here because it’s always a quiet crowd and the food is great. They have a really good happy hour, whole pies and a killer Sunday breakfast buffet much better than home town buffet. The restraint is always clean and the wood work inside is absolutely gorgeous. Great food and great service! Escondido’s best kept secret as far as I’m concerned!

ONLY Buy the Pies!!! Boring, bland are the ye words that describe the food. Great place for seniors 75+. Or if you are on a strict diet and can’t have any seasoning. We had salad bar and it was insert yawn. Clam Chowder, nasty.

Chicken pot pie and a salad includes a piece of the wonderful cream cheese pie. Yum!
Perfect comfort food for a rainy chilly day in Escondido.

Sunday Brunch 1^st time here staff is great Buffet is good could be better especially for paying $ 16.99 per adult and $ 8.59 for my 3 yr old well at least he got free ice cream not sure if its a place that we would come back again but always trying new places

This place has mediocre food but great pies. Always a great place to stop and pick up a pie for any party! They have a great selection of pies!

We absolutely love sunday brunch here! The foods great, staff is friendly and nice! We love coming here!

The food was mediocre, the veggies were not fresh at all. This location is very under staffed, but they are friendly. They should seriously invest in staffing more than one person to seat and serve the to go food.

First of all, it seems like this is the place you go to for your last meal before you die. I didn’t see anyone under 75 and the place has a weird smell. The service is not up to par and the wait staff seem to have no sense of urgency when it comes to refilling your drink or asking how things are. The pot roast is really good, however, the portions are small. Not worth the money. I won’t be back.

Richard at Marie Callender was great. 1 bartender tending the bar area straight knocked it out. Good guy and great service. Patient & Attentative. Definitely coming back. Good vibes.

Great place when you want to be able to have good conversation without loud music playing. The grilled veggie tacos are delicious. I get them every time. The chicken tortilla soup and potato soup are also really good. The most amazing item on the menu is their chocolate satin pie. In October all pies are on sale for $ 7. What a deal! I also like the sugar free razzleberry.
The only drawback is that the average age of fellow diners is 85. Not very appealing. Not sure why there aren’t more 30 – 50 year olds. The booths feel very private though. The menu is vast and updated. They still have staples like meatloaf and chicken pot pie, lots of «New American» too. The salad bar doesn’t look ok too appealing, and I’ve always felt their cornbread is flavorless. I like that I can carry my bill to the cashier if I’m in a hurry.

I came here for the brunch the other day. Everything tasted pretty good. I was pretty much full with the omelette and didn’t have much after that. I wish there were better labels on the buffet items to describe them more because I am vegetarian and some food I didn’t know if it had meat like the quiche. It is a little pricey I feel and because of that I would probably go to a brunch buffet somewhere else next time, I just feel like I have been to some with more options and cheaper. Maybe if you drink mimosas it might be worth it, but I don’t want alcohal that early in the morning/​day.

If you’re looking for something similar but different to denny’s and/​or ihop this is the place.
Marie Callender’s has been here since I can remember back in 1994. It has been refurbished but still has the old feel.
The overall food selection is okay.
My order was.
chicken fried steak with the salad bar.
The chicken fried steak was okay nothing spectacular or different. The salad bar was mediocre but i did like the unlimited soup you can get with the salad bar for 3.99 with your entrée.
Service is standard.
you can’t go wrong with the pie here. the banana crème pie will not disappoint, unless you don’t like banana’s.
I only come here when my parents decide to grab a quick bite or pick-​up pies. Other than that the drive from where i live is out of the way and denny’s and ihop are a lot closer.

*Dessert review only*
Decent overall serving selection – tons of pies, ice cream, cookies, and cake.
I had the apple pie – it was warmed up which was nice, but lacked any time of spice or slight cinnamon flavor, which is what I find to be the deciding factor in a truly quality apple pie.

Absolutely horrible service. In the hour my father & I were sitting in the restaurant, we probably got our water glasses filled once. Never checked up on us to see if we were doing okay… And, us along with other guests had to go search for our server to get the check…
I miss the one in Temecula. WAY better.