Squeeze Inn opens in Reno

[SteveTimko]

The people who run the Squeeze Inn in Truckee opened one in northwest Reno in a strip mall that touches McCarran Boulevard. It's on Las Brisas Boulevard about halfway between West Seventh Street and Kings Row.
Squeeze Inn is a breakfast and lunch place specializing in omelettes. Lots of them. While I liked my omelette, I would say my meal there was just okay. I'll eat there again but I don't think it's worth the trip out there especially to eat the food.
I went there the first week they opened and walked in the door about 20 minutes before they were scheduled to close. They said I still had plenty of time and the service was top notch.
I ordered an omelette with bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes.
The omelette itself was good, although not great. The bacon is a good quality bacon. The mushrooms were good. The tomatoes were the kind that looked good but don't have much tomato flavor.
Now here's what I didn't like about the place. First off, only one slice of toast with an omelette. I'm sorry, but I think when an omelette costs $10.50 it should come with a second slice of toast. I ordered an additional side order of toast. One slice was fine but the other was hard and dry, like it was the end piece of bread in the loaf that had been open for a day or so. I was going to complain about it, but they didn't charge me for it.
My second gripe is the potatoes they use. They cut up the potatoes into uneven size chunks and fry them. So my potatoes were cooked unevenly. I had some that were pretty much burned crisp on one end while others were almost raw. I hate hate HATE these kind of potatoes. The only restaurant I've seen that's been able to cook these properly is the old Coffee Grinder on Keystone Avenue. They used to slow roast the potatoes. When I eat at the Squeeze Inn again I'm going to ask if there is something to substitute for the potatoes.
And the thing I like least about the Squeeze Inn is actually not the food. They have some kind of marketing campaign where you sign up and for every dollar you spend you earn points towards a free Squeeze Inn meal. Fine. Except in filling out the application for the rewards card, they ask for your address, your email and your telephone number. Even your cell phone number.
And they say on the application that by applying for the card you agree to let them call you and pitch affiliated programs. So you're basically setting yourself up to be called and pitched whatever else the marketing program wants to pitch to you; And while the service was excellent, the server was a little too aggressive in trying to get me to apply for the card, I think. It makes me wonder if there's some kind of bonus for the restaurant or employees from the marketing company running the rewards program for each customer they sign up.
The Truckee Squeeze Inn has names from customers scrawled all over the wall. They're doing that at the Reno Squeeze Inn as well. I thought about finding a spot and claiming it for Chowhounds to come in and sign their names. By the end of the meal, though, the experience was sufficiently negative that I decided it wasn't that special of a place.

[NoMSG]

I stopped by a week after Steve's review with a quick detour off of I-80. You are almost guaranteed to accidently drive past the place, which I did, if you don't turn left onto Las Brisas driving north on N McCarran Blvd. I hope that's the right name for the turnoff. You see the place as your drive past the intersection, but you can make a protected U-turn at the next light.
We were seated promptly, but the wait began immediately. I know in Truckee they immediately run out with coffee pots to the table when you sit down, but that wasn't evident activity at this location. I have a 5-minute rule. You know, you wait 5 minutes and if you don't see any action, you get up and find someone. A party of 6 who arrived well after us got seated, were given menus and their coffee was now being served, so I was becoming livid. I got up and asked a waiter (1 of 4 servers on the floor this fine Saturday morning) who our waiter/waitress was. He replied that they all worked together and someone would be right over. He was right and the service was perfect afterwards. I concluded that we were temporarily in a dimension that was invisible, perhaps near a window with too much sunlight that blinded the servers. Regardless, that phase of the visit was over. We got our menus and coffees (more on that later).
The menu items in the Truckee restaurant have cutsey Tahoe-type names, and the menu in Reno was similar with the local flavor apparent in the names. I'm too old to remember any, but it was like reading the Sunday funnies going through the names and ingredients. It kept me laughing.
I like the Squeeze Inn, but the coffee absolutely stinks. I had regular coffee and my wife ordered a latte. Both were awful, but exactly the same as in Truckee, so we weren't surprised. Disappointed maybe, but not surprised. I often drink tea and that's what I should have stuck with. I was hoping that the Reno location was different. It wasn't. I was in the USAF for 20 years and had lots of bad coffee around the world. This place's coffee is among the most memorable. It's so bitter that 4 creams and a large dose of sugar were ineffective.
Anyhow, I ordered my omelet with potatoes, but my wife was able to substitute tomato slices for her side. If the potatoes weren't cooked right, I didn't notice it. The meal was very filling and I enjoyed it. I was not subjected to any club membership offers, but I appreciated the warning.
The meal kept me full for the next few hours. In fact, after this 9 AM meal I couldn't eat until dinner time and I'm a big guy. Parking can be tight. The corner of the strip mall that they're located in was pretty full, and all the stores weren't occupied yet. However, it may be good to park a bit away so that you have a bit of walking room to recover with after the filling meal. Recommended (with tea)!

[Bdelvecchio]

We ate breakfast at the Squeeze In in Reno today. Great food, the coffee was okay but the employees where awesome, a very friendly and personable crew. It is hard to believe that it has already been one year at the Reno establishment.

[baseballfan]

Glad to hear that it's good. We frequent the Truckee location but have yet to try the Reno location. The food is always good but I think the employees really make the whole experience.