Starling Diner
| Address: | 4114 E 3rd St, Long Beach, CA 90814, USA |
| Phone: | +1 562-433-2041 |
| Rating: | 4.5 |
| Working: | Closed 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM 8AM–3PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
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Christine L
My friend and I had lunch here today for Mothers Day. It was only a little but of a wait which was nice since it was Mothers Day. At first you wouldnt have expected a restaurant to be in this neighborhood full of houses. But walking up, it was very quaint and a picturesque brunch spot! Between the two of us we really wanted to try the French toast so we both got a salad and shared the French toast. We got the: Kyoto salad Blue crab salad San Francisco French toast I really enjoyed my blue crab salad. It had great flavor. The dressing was perfect with the fresh crab flavor. I had a bite of the Kyoto salad and really enjoyed the sesame flavor of the dressing. The French toast was to die for! I dont usually like French toast, but this baguette style French toast was beautifully flavored with berries and sweetened just perfected. I am not a favor to super sweet things and creme was on point. The only other French toast I like is gourmet pie on kattella in cypress, but that one is super sweet and you can only have a few bites of it. Definitely will come back. My only gripe is that it took a long time for the food to come out and I think it might have been because of Mothers Day, but the food was worth the wait. Ill have to come back and try the scones. I have to say maybe one of the best breakfast/lunch diner in long beach.
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Jim Thornburg
Starling Diner is a place that weve been meaning to try out for months and months when we wake up hungry and lazy on a Saturday or Sunday, but since its across town we usually choose to eat closer to home. Finally on Valentines Day 2015 we made the trip! At 10 am we knew there would be a wait and we were told 45 minutes. Being a special day and since we already made the trip we decided to stick it out. Had we wanted to eat at the counter (there is a counter) or outside (there is outside seating, but no alcohol allowed) we could have been seated in about 20 minutes. 45 minutes after we arrived, we were seated inside at a table. Hey, we know what we want! We ordered the basket of scones and the Stuffed French Toast to split between my wife and I. The scones were good, but dry like all scones. I really enjoyed the lemon curd and special butter that accompanied. The Stuffed French Toast is every bit as good as the legends foretold! It is plenty for 2 people to share. My wife got the Pear Mimosa... or something like that. It was delicious. I got coffee. They said it was Winchester Coffee... All I know is it was more than just Farmer Bros. Even though there is usually a long wait, I think well be back the next time we dont feel like making breakfast (or brunch depending on how lazy we are about getting out of bed) on a weekend.
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Sukhraj Beasla
When the past catches up to you, do you embrace it or run away? I chose to embrace it and see what would happen. The LBC isnt exactly my favorite place to be. Lots of bad memories here and I dont really like the place but while I was here, I did love all the great breakfast spots. The LBC is a great place for the breakfast lover in me or anyone for that fact. This diner is tucked away in a nice neighborhood. You wont notice it by sight alone but if you see a line, youre in the right place. Theres usually a line but since my friend lives close, she was able to get us a spot so that we could avoid that mess. The decor reminds me of something out of Wizard of Oz. Picture being Dorothy trapped inside of a tornado before being whisked away to Oz. There are chairs and random objects hung on the wall and interesting light fixtures. The place is tiny so things move fast. We ordered the signature items to try and share. I got the stuffed french toasted with peaches and mascarpone cream while she ordered the crab cakes with a poached egg. Both were delicious. The french toast was not too sweet and it was the perfect portion. The crab cakes went well with the poached eggs and were light fluffy and delicious. I will definitely come back here again to try other items.
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Jon Marshall
This is a quaint (albeit bustling at times) diner/restaurant with tasty food. Its a pretty casual mood where you can feel the local presence - likely due to most clientele being from around here. When it comes to breakfast and lunch, there are the norms and there are better choices. Starling offers something better than the norm, not only with the food items on the menu but also with some kick to the drinks. Sure, you can order wine/beer as with most places, but can you order a Drunken Chai Latte? The concept of spiking ones hot morning cup isnt new, but not many places do it - or do it so well. Oh, and the cappuccino/espressos are good - goes great with the wonderful scones. Anyway, back to the food: I have a thing for good eggs Benedict and can find options here and there, but it was refreshing to find a version here with salmon. This was a swift plus in my book and worth highlighting beyond just a preference of mine (for anyone else out there tired of Benedict with Canadian bacon as the meat option). I do think it bears mention: street sweeping is on Thurs and Fri - so the mornings on each of these days will yield condensed parking on just one side of the street... and could result in a further walk than youd expect (until you read this, right!?)
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A Private User
The first thing I noticed was the sorry state of the condiments at almost every table. It seems as though management didnt have the sense-or the pocketbook-to refresh the various bottles of Heinz/Hunts ketchup and other bottled sauces after they had been almost entirely used up; the bottles were mostly overhandled and greasy; many seemed to have been left in the sun on the half a dozen or so sidewalk tables--very unappetizing. I asked my server to get me a brand new unopened bottle of Heinz ketchup (which she did) to replace the bottle of Hunts on my table which had seen better days. I ordered the $12 roast beef hash-- a hamburger-sized dollop of some sort of compressed meat and herbs which was dry and overcooked and tasted more like pork sausage than anything else. The indigestion I got made me sorry about my choice. The service was cheerless and slow. In short, just another cookie-cutter faux cheche Long Beach diner that seems to have a lot of people fooled.
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Laura Diaz
This place is very cute and cozy. We got here around 2pm, we sat at the bar and there was no wait. My boyfriend had the breakfast polenta and it was delicious; full of fresh berries whipped cream and sweet cream. We as well had the french cream sodas, i definitely recommend you try the vanilla or caramel flavor; full of flavor and so creamy. I had the kansas city chicken sandwich, i love bbq sauce however this sandwich was completely drenched in bbq sauce, it didnt give me a chance to taste the chicken or bread. I as well had the vegan lentil soup and i loved it. If im in the area ill stop by to give it a second try.
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A Private User
The stuffed cream cheese broiled French Toast that seems to be everywhere now? Starling invented it. Cheeseburger scramble? Yep, they did it first. Breakfast appetizers? Polenta potatoes? The list goes on and on, and they never seem to run out of new ideas. In a town full of copycat, derivative hashslingers, you have one original voice. Cute place, cute servers, fresh high-quality ingredients and original takes on all your favorites. And if you go during the week, you can get breakfast with coffee for five bucks. Theres a reason there are lines out the door on weekends. Its because they ROCK.
