K J's Cafe

Café in Crisis.



Along the US 97 corridor, in Oregon, there’s many small towns with many restaurants and Hotels. I enjoy eating and lodging at many of them as well. However, I’ve noticed a growing trend of inconsistent service with some of the restaurants. One of these being their hours of operation. There’s a few places that I will no longer go to because of this. I would count on stopping at a place, knowing their hours of service and when I get there, they’re closed. It’s like they open when they want nowadays. Now, I can add the “Wheel Café” to my (rimes with bucket) list. Wait a minute . . . not the Wheel Café but rather, KJ’s Café. In fact, I went regularly to the Wheel Café a few years ago and it was excellent. However, this was before I was a Trip Advisor reviewer so I couldn’t contribute to their established, excellent, local reputation. Now, it’s under new ownership and called KJ’s. My issue with this new crew isn’t the hours however. In fact they’re actually pretty consistent. It’s because of the most important issue of all, attitude, and it’s quite different from the old crew. These new guys have all the appearance and mannerisms of people on a work release program. I can imagine them signing in at a halfway house at the end of their work shift. Then, I can have an active imagination. One thing I didn’t imagine was the “upside down,” faded, Tripadvisor sign. What does it mean when a flag is displayed upside down? Veterans know this well, it’s a distress call and this café desperately needs help. In spite of all this, I’m still giving points for the décor which seems to have survived the transition to the new management.