Marie Callender’s Restaurant & Bakery

Marie Calendars is one of my favorite restaurants but this past visit was might disappointing.
Our corn bread wasn’t fresh or tasted warmed up. My husbands chicken pasta was bland… No taste at all… My salad was horrible & the cookies were smaller & I literally only had 3 chips. It was not delicious but tasted old.. Not sure if they had new management or what but it’s not the same…

FUCKING HORRIBLE!!! I went to a friends family «get together», first off let me say the customer service was AWFUL! They were not on time with the food, everybody was getting fed at different times even the simplest food was not being served, it took them an hour to make a damn Chicken Salad, after telling 3 DIFFERENT employees about the salad that i waited an hour for i finally received my chicken salad, I took one bite and THERE WAS A BIG ASS FLY MIXED IN WITH THE SALAD, no apology was brought up for the insect in the food, the manager was being such an imbecile and running around like he had no clue what was going on. They offered us 4 free pies, and took it off the receipt, the service there is awful and I strongly DO NOT recommend going to Marie «Trash» Callender’s in 21 211 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA 90 510 AT ALL, if you do go make sure you look through your food you just might find a bug HAHA.

There serving bees in the chicken Caesar salads!!! Quite disgusted… I’m scared to eat the rest of our meals…

fantastic brunch. everything is fresh and layed out beautifully. very fast servers making breakfast to order. amazing frest fruits and vegetables too. and as always fresh baked pies to go. we were here last night too. forgot a credit card and today the manager saul had.

I absolutely love the pies. ANDREW greeted me and his energy was amazing! So glad he served me today.

Half of our meals were essentially inedible. The egg white frittata was watery and the French toast was soggy. The omelettes were okay. We could eat them. Two stars for our funny waiter Frank and the nice manager, who took the uneaten French toast off the bill. My family and I agreed never to return, even if that meant resisting the allure of buy one get one free coupons.

I was part of a private party of roughly 35 people, rented the separate party room and everything. It was really nice to have the room to ourselves and the freedom to decorate how we liked, but there were anlot of issues…
The first mistake: assigning only one server to our entire group. Poor Daniel clearly worked his a** off for us, but he just really needed another person to keep up with a group that size. Terrible decision from the management. To his credit (and that of the establishment), Daniel did his best to be attentive to refilling drinks, replacing any unsatisfactory ones (my mom’s first Arnold Palmer was pretty watery), and getting around the tables as efficiently as humanly possible, all without disrupting our party games and general merriment.
Second problem: the meal took AGES. I’m pretty patient and not the type to count minutes or anything, but even I could tell that the food took WAY longer to arrive than acceptable, even for such a large group.
Mixed feelings about the food itself: Appetizer of cornbread was absolutely heavenly (fluffiest honey butter I’ve ever tasted), and the dessert pie was wonderful as always (thank goodness!). I had the chocolate pie, which was like a serendipitous reincarnation of chocolate pudding in pie form. Ahhh… BUT the entreé salad was rather disappointing. It could’ve been so good, if mine hadn’t been utterly drenched in the dressing. I managed to eat half and just couldn’t continue, even though I was still hungry (saved me room for pie, I guess).
I’ve been here a couple time for ordinary family dining and had a great time, so I’ll give an extra star for that and still recommend it for that type of meal. But I really wouldn’t look here for your grand party plans.

A friend and I went in for pie dessert, seeing how they’re known for their pies.
I was extremely disappointed to find my blueberry pie to be made with cheap blueberry flavored Apple cubes.
There was once a time I could count on good holiday pies from this place. Times change, businesses change, such a shame.

Marie Callendar’s used to be a favorite. Great pies, good food at a reasonable price. Not at this location. All the workers seem to be sleepwalking through their duties. Hostess acted as if annoyed we were interrupting her napkin rolling. Waitress took a while even thought he place was pretty empty.
The food was barely passable. Limp french fries, chicken pot pie overly salty, forgot a garnish (cole slaw) on one dish. Again, even though pretty empty had to ask for water, check and had to hunt someone down to pay.
Next time I won’t bother them. It was within an hour of closing so I think they were all in the back planning their after work activities. Sorry for the interruption folks. Won’t happen again.

I am adjusting my review of this business for good reason. I havent been back in awhile. We had to go for a family thing, yada, yada. We went for the all you can eat brunch and I have to say it was as if somebody read my review and basically fixed everything. It was greatly improved. The bacon and sausage was perfect. The omelette bar was great, no bay shrimp sitting in a wattery bucket. Whatever changed since my last review was a game changer for this restaurant. Good job guys. Be proud of the great service you offer our community. Were coming back soon and I want to add that last star on my next update.
I have never recieved or accepted any payment of any kind for any review ever for anything. Especially here on Unilocal.This is an example of how Unilocal should work. You have a bad experience, you leave a bad review, they fix it, and you give them the proper update. Cheers Marie you gotta a fan back!!!

We had dinner last night and breakfast this morning. The waitress last night was very apologetic about the food taking so long. Today the waitress is very disorganized, but to be fair, I think she was overwhelmed by too many tables, and she was the only waitress. I was lucky to ge my first cup of coffee. Forget about refills.
There are obviously problems in the kitchen, whether it’s being short staffed or just really slow cooks & prep workers. Besides being unusually slow, our hot breakfast items were served about 10 minutes before the fruit came out. When the hot food came out, we were told they were cutting the fruit. That’s ridiculous, considering we were there a couple hours after opening, and they wete setting up the salad bar before we were finished. I would rate dinner 3 stars and breakfast one.

[Review #142]
2016 Unilocal 100 Challenge (³⁄₁₀₀)
This review is for their take-​out pies.
We’ve been having a hankering for pies lately… especially after our holiday trip to visit my aunt & cousins. I enjoyed my first MC’s custard pie at my aunt’s, & my husband had banana cream pies at his workplace (someone kept bringing it in during the holidays).
So after dinner, we decided to pick-​up a couple since they were running a special: $ 7.99 + tax for a whole pie with some exclusions. We ordered a Banana Cream Pie & Lemon Meringue Pie, MC’s fav & most popular pies.
The BCP has bananas, vanilla cream, whipped cream, & sliced almonds. The bananas tasted fresh & sweet, most importantly, not mushy… the pie was not overly sweet, with a nice, cool hit from the vanilla cream, & just a bit of added texture from the almonds. I can see why this is a favorite.
I’m disappointed by the LMP, as it’s MC’s most popular pie. The slightly sweet, yet tart lemon filling that’s topped with a light meringue sounded good… while the lemon filling was spot on, the meringue was a fail. It was goopy & «melted» like it didn’t set. It’s the meringue that makes the lemon meringue pie, a lemon meringue pie. After cutting into the pie, the meringue started falling apart, dissolving like bubbles from a bubble bath. I’ve had their LMP before, & it was the meringue that made the pie memorable.
MC’s pies are good, not awesome to-​die-​for pies. It could have been a 4-​star rating if it weren’t for the LMP fail. My husband suggested returning the LMP & request for an exchange or refund… so depending how they handle my return, I might bump up my rating. Still, the BCP hit the spot & satisfied our cravings. Mmmmmm… pie! =)

Ex husband, his son and my daughter and I went to have lunch here. My daughter had the chicken pot pie, which was delicious. My ex husband and I had a shrimp and avocado salad. His son had sliders.
Marie Callender’s has Thanksgiving dinners for pick up.

Marie Callender’s is a chain of coffee shops and general restaurants in ten Western states. The chain is most famous for its homemade style pies and began as a pie shop.
The Marie Callender’s in Torrance is typical of the chain, but is open only for lunch and dinner. Main courses to sandwiches and burgers are available on the menu. The only time I ordered food here was when I got a Callender’s Cheeseburger with French Fries and the Salad Bar option. I thought the Salad Bar was very good, but if you want that option, it comes with an additional charge. It was well stocked and fresh with a variety of lettuce and greens and items I like to find on a salad bar. You can probably find a better burger elsewhere… It was rather mushy with the cheese completely melted and dripping all over it.
A slice of pie came with the combination platter. I selected an apple pie and came away satisfied. Their pies are amazing as always, and probably the only reason I come back here.

Slow service in the bar /​lodge area when the rest of the restaurant is closed for a holiday party.
Staff was ok but like I said, after ordering we got our meal 30 mins later, a couple sat behind us 15 mins after we ordered and they got their meal faster. Same exact meal that we had, pasta was different but same meal, my girl ordered the small pie and I know it doesn’t take that long.
Anyways. Expect slow service at times. Plenty of parking spaces in their own lot.

This is a review specifically of the razzleberry pie:
Sadly I’m writing this review a little bit late so I may get some of the details wrong but I was fairly disappointed with Marie Callender’s razzleberry pie. I would have thought a high-​volume pie maker would be able to have high quality and relatively low prices but I was wrong. For ~$ 5 (as of Sep 2015) for a relatively small slice of pie, I was hoping for something a bit more gourmet, something with the tang, texture, and the buttery-​flakey crust of a home-​made pie. As you might be able to guess, it really wasn’t very special and I felt that the fruit didn’t taste plump or ripe. I think I could get a similar quality pie buying a frozen one from the grocery store and baking it at home for less money.
Parking is relatively easy, service is on the slower side, and the restaurant is clean but the vibe is a bit older so young people might feel a little out of place.

I’ll start by saying we didn’t even stay to eat tonight.
I came with my husband & daughter around 4pm so it wasn’t crowded or anything. We were seated quickly then sat waiting & waiting. No one came. No water — nothing. I finally got up & asked a *large female worker standing around at the hostess desk if she knew who the server was for our area & her answer was a shrug & «I don’t know».
So we walked out. Used to love coming here with my parents but it’s really gone to s*** lately. Too bad.

My woman and I went out for a late dinner last night. This used to be a hopping place but not anymore. It’s so sad to watch a place on it’s last legs about to die. This place has been reduced to more of a funeral home than a restaurant. The greeter desperately shouted as us «Welcome to Marie Calendar’s would you like Pie»? We said no thanks Dinner please.
They promptly seated us to a wide open place that was barren and wide open, we could have sat on the roof and still had plenty of room. At any rate the star of the evening was Andrew our server. Was as nice polite and tried as hard as you could ask for. We really felt bad for him. The food was terrible, greasy nachos and smelly cheese and veggie tacos loaded with dry beans and way too overcooked. The cornbread and chocolate silk pie was the only saving grace.
Poor Marie Calendar, she passed away exactly twenty years ago and she would be ashamed to see what her lineage has been reduced to. If this place is to survive they’ll have to drastically reduce their restaurant size and menu. Everything was a firesale and they had breakfast specials late at night. It’s obvious they’re not long for this earth and are on their way out. Such a shame because this once great restaurant used to be packed, had pride in their food and the staff tries their best. It’s just a matter of time before they die. The only reason they got two stars is because of Andrew and the dessert.
Bottom line: Come for the pie and run like hell after that.

Service without a smile. Quick seating but lack of attention. Food on menu looks great but is actually on the cold side.
I built my own BBQ plate with the tri-​tip and shrimp. The shrimp was alright but the tri-​tip was a killjoy being rare and very tough to eat.
On the bright side, I did receive a small plate of extra tri-​tip that was made correctly but it still lacked any seasoning. Good thing the BBQ sauce is decent. So overall, it’s not something I’d come back for.

Sunday brunch was pretty decent. What makes the price worth it is the bottomless mimosas. The service was good, and the wait wasn’t long at all.
They don’t refill all of their food in the brunch area very frequently, so they were out of a lot of stuff. We got there toward the later half of brunch, and a lot of trays were empty. Go early if you can.