Fay's Diner and Café

The wife, the friends and I were at a wedding in the area and met the day after to have breakfast together before we all went our separate ways.Someone suggested Fay's so we met there. It was a little hard to find, tucked in the corner of a strip mall.The eight of us were seated in a massive booth. I'm not a big booth guy. Well, I am a big guy, just not into booths as I prefer tables. But, I have to say that this was a pretty comfy booth and we all fit just fine.The menu had a LOT of choices and I was finding it hard to decide what I wanted to try. So many things sounded great. I settled on my go-to breakfast, a breakfast burrito. For those of you playing at home, if you guessed breakfast burrito, please give yourself 10 points. The burrito has four eggs, crispy hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, crema, cheddar, jack and salsa.The buddy to the left ordered the chili verde omelet and the buddy across from me ordered the corned beef hash and eggs. Those were number 3 and 2 on my list of foods I wanted to try.Our waitress was just great. Kept up with our drink orders and gave sage advice when people asked about what they should be ordering. She nailed for everyone that asked. I wish I had asked her name to give her kudos in this review. I hate when I forget to do that! Sorry!!Our food came out and we all chowed down. Staring with my #2 choice, the buddy across from me was thrilled with his corned beef hash selection. The chunks of corned beef were huge! It looked just awesome. My third choice, the chili verde, looked and smelled so amazing. The buddy to my left was in heaven and he is a connoisseur of chili verde in all of it's various forms. "Just damn good," was his comment. Again, the chunks of pork were impressive. He said the pork was very tender and he could break it up with his fork.My breakfast burrito was great. I am glad I ordered it over the other choices, but I hope to be back to try something else. The hash browns were very, very crispy something different but I really liked the texture in the burrito. A nice change to the usual soft, maybe mushy (not in a bad way!) normal breakfast burritos. The mixture of the meats, cheeses, eggs and crema was near perfection. Both salsas were good with a preference to the darker, smokier one. I ate half the burrito and got a box to enjoy the second half the next morning.All others at the table were thrilled with their meals and it was a solid five starts from everyone.If anyone from Fay's reads this, I am requesting that you open another location in San Clemente. We have some prime restaurant locations open at this time and I would like to have the opportunity to experience Fay's on a regular basis. Please consider it! Please?Thanks for the great food and service.Go. EAT VERY WELL. HAVE FUN!!!!!!

First time here. We were looking for a place to meet up with friends. We had not even heard of this place before. We will definitely be back. It was a weekday so they weren't too busy at 10:00am. It was hot outside so we chose to eat indoors. It is a darling place and very clean. Great music playing in the background that wasn't too loud. Our waitress I believe her name was Maureen was great. She shared with us that everything there is made from scratch. No premixes or sauces. My husband had the chicken fried chicken even though he had ordered chicken fried steak. It was fine with him that it was a mix up. I tasted it and it is good but I would rather have chicken fried steak myself. My cinnamon roll breakfast was delicious. I had actually been craving a cinnamon roll so I splurged to get this. I did bring 1/2 of the roll home. The eggs were cooked perfectly over easy with all of the white cooked. The fresh fruit was good, it even had huge blackberries in it. Our friends shared the pancake breakfast and said it was great. The pancakes were small so they ended up ordering a side order of pancakes and the ones that came out were 2 big pancakes that they could have actually had just one. They said they were really good and did finish them all. They looked really good and had I not wanted the cinnamon roll I would have ordered pancakes. So we look forward to coming back and trying the chicken fried steak and pancakes.

This is my second time coming here and this place is a really solid breakfast spot! The vibe is cute, with a retro diner feel. It wasn't busy on a Friday around 11am.I ordered the seafood Benedict, which is a really good sized portion. It tastes great! Definitely better than the breakfast burrito- I think the burrito is overpriced and on the smaller side.Their burgers and sandwiches seem to look like a good choice as well! Service is fast and everyone there is always really nice. I give them a solid 3.5/5 stars just because the food itself wasn't amazing for the price.

Upon walking up to the sign "wait to be seated" we were quickly greeted and led to our table. Their tables are a very awkward height. And their seats are too low. Their booths of two are very claustrophobic and tight. I'm a petite person and I just felt uncomfortable. I asked politely if we could move to another table (there were other tables empty), and the staff said yes no problem. After we moved, it was slightly better because we had more room but the table/booth height issue was the same. They were busy, lots of people coming in and out. Waiting for someone to take our order took like 15 mins, and the food took a while to come (30 mins)? The staff again super friendly, brought us waters and checked in on us. I ordered the French Toast Combo, and I didn't enjoy my French toast. The toast itself was dry and tasted overcooked (if that's even possible?). The berry compote tasted too tangy and off. The custard part tasted good. The sausages were average. Good hash browns and eggs. I liked that they allow you to pay via QR code, makes it more convenient to pay at the table instead of waiting for someone to come. Overall, I was a little let down as I have always seen this place pop up on my recommendation feed but did not like the food or seating. I hate scoring such a highly reviewed place so low but perhaps it was my experience that was underwhelming.

The food was really good. They give really good portion sizes and good quality of their ingredients. I got the cali burger and I was surprised that they did not skimp on the bacon pieces! My friend was pregnant and got the ham and cheese scramble, but requested that the eggs be fully cooked with no runniness of the egg at all. They cooked it perfectly for her. My other friend got the fish tacos, which she said were flavored really well. The only reason why I took a star away was because of the the wait time for food and what seemed like disorganization with the wait staff. We got there and there was a sign in front to wait to be seated. We followed directions, but noticed there were some people that didn't and just seated themselves. There was no repercussion and there was no wait staff outside to monitor this. When we put in our order, we waited a while for our food to come. When it came, it was great but no one came to check in on on us to see if we needed anything. Lastly, we noticed a waitress came out to ask if we requested more water, in which we didn't but the table next to us said they did but another waitress came by to gave them water. So it just overall seemed like a miscommunication within the wait staff. This seems like a popular place and I would come back-- but only if I didn't have any other plans and was patient enough to wait.

What a nice cafe! Hubby and I were seated promptly when we arrived. I ordered a hot chocolate and he got an iced tea. For food, we shared the chorizo torta, croque madame, and chocolate chip pancakes.When the food arrived, it looked so good. Everything we got was tasty and delicious. Service was also attentive and friendly. I can't believe it's been 7 months since my visit already. I need to come back and try their other menu items!

Breakfast meeting on. Tuesday morning, They don't take reservations for parties less than 6. Not needed and signage said to seat ourselves, I was the first to arrive and the servers were very attentive and poured me a cup of coffee and handed me a few menus. I normally order a warm breakfast but wanted something lighter so I ordered the #AcaiBowl. It was delicious and I especially enjoyed the #HousemadeGranola. New and refreshing for a hot summer day.

Food: AmazingService: Friendly & in a timely mannerThe vibes are very family friendly & the place is phenomenal. Food was delicious & everyone enjoyed their meal. Highly recommend. We will be back for more.

I have been so excited to try Fay's and we finally made it today! There was no line and lots of seating on a Monday late morning. We had a party of 6 are there are quite a few booths and tables for large parties. It's got a fun diner vibe and is open and bright. The breakfast melt was delicious and filling. Everyone else had the sunrise special with pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon or sausage. Everything was cooked perfectly and was yummy! We're definitely going to be back!

Had the corned beef hash plate with a side of hollandaise & made my own little benny! it was delish! i'm always on the hunt for a good homemade corned beef hash & this place was added to the list as one of the faves! couldn't remember our servers name but he was great! sadly, good service is becoming a rarity these days so have to point out the good ones! loud, lively, family place!