Thursday, October 6, 2011

Big Bang Coffee Shop - "As good as Denny's"

It used to be Denny's--sometimes known as "Jail Dennys" due to its proximity to, well, the jail--then it closed for awhile. Then it reopened as Nibblers, which featured a wider variety of food with an international flair. Then it closed for awhile and promised to reopen as Denny's again. Well, now it is BIG BANG Coffee Shop.


"AS GOOD AS DENNYS." Why would you say that? That's not even good advertising speak. "As good" doesn't make me want go. Well... to be fair, I wanted to go regardless because of the whole saga of openings and closings and name changes. That banner though--bad idea.


I came in at about 5:30 0n a weekday.


I was the only customer.

There are little signs all over the restaurant explaining that they were all set to reopen as Denny's when the Denny's company revoked their license. This explains why their menu is just a very scaled down version of Denny's. They even have their own version of the Moons Over My Hammy.


I ordered the Lumberjack breakfast; 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 pieces of toast, 1 cut of ham and hash browns. All this food only 7.95.

Here's my review of the food--As good as Denny's.

The eggs and meat were really good actually. It was a slice of honey baked ham, which I did not expect and was quite nice surprise. The hash browns needed to be crispier and the pancakes were rubbery and heavy.

The owners are clearly hung up and bitter about the Denny's thing, which is too bad. I know that after Nibblers must have failed (based on the reviews I read at the time --"kind of pricey, not that great") they must have felt desperate to appeal to the old Denny's base. This all just reeks of desperation though.

It was cheap, decent food, but that's really it. I wish them success though. I like have options near downtown and this is certainly an option.

Food: Decent.
Price: $6-10
Service: Good.
Pie: Apple. (Looked really good, but I was full)

Big Bang Coffee shop
1200 Vignes St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012


UPDATE-
It's back to being boring old Denny's...but, HEY! Hobbit menu right now!