Jimmy’s Place is your unassuming neighborhood breakfast diner, serving a traditional American breakfast that also caters to Asian tastes. Jimmy’s Place offers a choice between country potatoes and rice as your side, and Asian-influenced options like a teriyaki omelette, reflecting the new flavors of the Bay. Jimmy’s Place recently changed owners, so this may be a transitional period for the restaurant.
What drew me to Jimmy’s Place was a menu that featured a few classics that are sometimes hard to come by: Eggs Benedict (along with a few new takes on the dish), Portuguese linguica, and corned beef hash. And beignets (honestly, I mostly came for the beignets).
Note – This Restaurant is reportedly closed.
The Location
Jimmy’s Place is tucked away in the far back of a strip mall in Union City, on the corner of Alvarado-Niles and Decoto. Coming from the strip mall, Jimmy’s Place is tough to find because it’s located down an alley away from the main parking lot, around the corner from UPS. The restaurant is situated right across from the Union City BART station, and is easier accessed by that side via Union Square road.
Address: 1688 Decoto Road, Union City, CA 94587
Phone: 510-324-8599
The Hours
- Monday, Wednesday-Friday 7:00 am – 2:30 pm (Closed Tuesdays)
- Saturday and Sunday 7:00 am – 3:30 pm
The Ambiance
Jimmy’s Place is a little lacking in ambiance and design. It’s bright and clean, with absolutely nothing up on the walls aside from some neutral paint. It’s a basic no-frills diner, but without the old-fashioned charm of a traditional breakfast. What Jimmy’s does have going for it is its patio seating right out front– about five tables, each covered by a big red umbrella.
The Service
We were seated right away despite the restaurant being pretty packed. Everyone who helped us was very friendly and helpful. We had plenty of refills for our coffees and waters.
The downside was the wait to order and the wait for the food. We weren’t in a hurry, but we did work up an appetite while we waited, and the couple seated next to us was getting irked by how long everything took. This is a place to come for a leisurely meal, not for when you have somewhere to be. Hopefully they’ll get this worked out as the new management settles in.
The Price
The average price for an egg entree or breakfast specialty hovers around $8; pancakes around $5. The portions didn’t seem overwhelming, but we did end up leaving stuffed with two to-go boxes in hand. The beignets were excellently priced at $2.50 for 5.
The Food
We settled on the vegetarian Eggs Benedict – the traditional poached eggs, English muffin, and Hollandaise sauce, but with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes substituted for the Canadian bacon. (As a side note, it just occurred to me how fitting it is that Eggs Benedict, a wholly American dish, is made up of bread from England, Canadian bacon, and a sauce from Holland – it doesn’t get much more American than that.) The Hollandaise was thick and creamy but a bit too mild, the eggs were perfectly cooked, and the plating was not your typical diner breakfast. Other Benedict versions on the menu looked equally appealing: smoked salmon or corned beef hash.
The other entree we picked was the house special, the Jimmy’s Skillet. Linguica is cooked with vegetables like mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions, topped with cheese and served with potatoes and eggs and a side of toast. Jimmy’s Skillet is a good combination and was incredibly filling, though I was hoping for a little spice. I’d get scrambled eggs instead of over-medium if I ordered it again.
We chose the home fried potatoes (I still can’t bring myself to order rice for breakfast) and they were done just right. Crispy on the outside, tender inside, and seasoned with a touch of garlic. Nothing in our meal was overly salty.
Though we were completely stuffed from all that food, there’s always room for dessert. The beignet, a French deep-fried pastry dusted with powdered sugar, seems to be a rare find in the Bay Area (and is best known as a New Orleans treat). Jimmy’s beignets are a small departure from the traditional – a little more dense, like a doughnut, and drizzled with a sweet vanilla cream. A tip: place your order for these along with your entrees, but ask for them to come out at the end. They make a better dessert than an appetizer, and they should be eaten when they’re hot. Our server brought them out right when we were ready for them. Another tip: try not to breathe when you bite into a beignet. Breathe out an you’ll blow powdered sugar all over your table; breathe in and you’ll choke on all the powdered sugar you just inhaled (not that I know from experience).