Crown Railroad Cafe Flagstaff, Arizona

The Crown Railroad Cafe
3300 E Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ
website: thecrownrailroadcafes.com
menu: see below

Adjoining a Howard Johnson Inn (that looks to be stuck back in time) on Route 66 in east Flagstaff is The Crown Railroad Cafe. It's an old fashioned diner complete with comfy booths and counter service. They serve traditional American breakfast foods (and lunch and dinner too).
As you dine, an electric trail circles the restaurant on the tracks above the tables - fun for kids, but I thought there was going to be tons of trains choo choo-ing up a storm in there from things I'd read about this place. But really, that and the train fabric covering the booth backs is all she wrote on the train theme.
The menu has 66 omlette choices, oddly enough none with sausage, onions and cheese, which is what my husband wanted. They do make substitutions so it was no problem. Omlettes run from about 6 dollars for plain up to about 9 bucks loaded.
The omlettes and other breakfasts come with hashbrowns or "those other potatoes" as they're called on the menu (which are onions, peppers and potatoes sometimes known as "potatoes o'brien") plus toast or a biscuit.
Other breakfast choices include pancakes, waffles and chicken fried steak plus other traditional breakfast fare.
Kids menu options are about five bucks including a drink and consist of everything from pancakes and sausage to a burger.
I ordered the two eggs (scrambled) with chicken fried steak and hashbrowns. The chicken fried steak was quite tasty. It comes with a white peppery gravy and is flavorful but not spicy by any means. One of the best chicken fried steaks I've had in town! I'd definitely get that again. The potatoes are a traditional diner style, served grated and pretty plain but not too greasy. The scrambled eggs were boring and dry. The biscuits are huge and fresh and come served with a side of gravy for those that like em smothered. All around, the food portions are large.
My daughters (ages 4 and 2.5) split the children's pancakes and sausage- which came with two big flapjacks and two sausages. They gobbled it up in a hurry and asked for more. Luckily the train kept them entertained, as did having some of my breakfast.
My husband's omlette came served burrito style, a thin wrap of egg around finely chopped up sausage mixed with cheese and onions. Though it could have used some more cheese, it was pretty good but pretty average. He got "those other potatoes" which were good but nothing to write home about.

Service during our visit was lacking, as no one came to give us drink refills despite many attempts at flagging the waitress down. She also got our bill wrong -charging us for coffee when no one ordered any. But when we did see the waitress she was nice.
All in all, The Crown Railroad Cafe is a good traditional American breakfast but nothing special and not as delish as some of Flagstaff's other breakfast spots like Brandys and LaBellavia.


Crown Railroad Cafe doesn't have its menu online, so here's a look at the menu in the restaurant as of March 21, 2010: