Watson Drug & Soda Fountain116 E Chapman Ave
Orange
714-532-6315
Pasadena has the Fairoaks Pharmacy to take people back in time, well the City of Orange has Watson Drug & Soda Fountain. Watson has been around since 1899. A place that brings back memories of a time long gone and hopefully an end to things that are a sad part of American history. Walk into Watson and you have a drug store and pharmacy on the right side and the restaurant/soda fountain on the left side.
The soda fountain has a counter and some booths and tables. I bring up the counter because this weekend are we honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a leader in the civil rights movement. The lunch counter sit ins were one way to bring an end to the stupid Jim Crow laws and segregation laws.
I got the super sandwich, $9.25, with ham, roast beef, turkey, two kinds of cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, on toasted French bread and for my side, I picked onion rings.
The meats on the sandwich were pretty dry and very average. The quality of the meat is about the same was Subway. Sure the meats were piled high but who cares when the meats especially the turkey and roast beef are dry. The lettuce and tomato were nice and fresh but the french bread was barely toasted. Again nothing special.
The onion rings were served warm, meaning they were sitting under heat lamps forever. They were also dry, hard as a rock and just plain bad.
Service is terrible. I walked up to the counter to take a look at the bottle sodas they carry and there was a girl behind the counter and never acknowledged me; even though I was standing right in front of her for 2-3 minutes. Too many restaurants do not realize the fact that they should greet every customer. I don't care what they are doing, acknowledge the fact they a customer is there. If you can't multi task, making a ice cream sundae and say hi to a customer, you should get another job. I ask the young girl if I can just sit anywhere. She said yes. I find a seat and I find out this girl is my server. I sit there for about five minutes before anybody comes to my table. Finally a busboy gives me a menu and gets me water. My server, barely came by my table. She is nice but is a terrible server, maybe the better word is she hasn't been trained on how to be a good server.
Watson is an overrated restaurant. It maybe a nice trip down memory lane but the food is average at best and the service is terrible.
