Clearman's North Woods Inn of Covina

"It was crowded even on a weekday. The atmosphere is open and very nice. The appetizer of purple cabbage and lettuce salad could have been refilled as many times as we wanted."

"We used to live in Covina and would go here quite often years ago. This place hasn’t changed. Love the cheese bread, cabbage and blue cheese salads. They taste the same and it is great. Just had a sandwich as we were here for lunch and the pastrami was great. Great service and the place hasn’t changed….if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Love the peanuts all over the floor"

"It doesn't get better than this San Gabriel Valley staple. It's a popular restaurant for birthdays and other special occasions. Carnivores also love it. However, as herbivores (vegetarians), this is our family's go-to for a special, quality, no-frils meal with all the thrills. We went to celebrate my birthday. On a Friday night, the wait was 40 minutes for a party of two. Fortunately, the full-service bar had plenty of space and a good selection at reasonable prices. Within minutes after sitting at a table, not at the bar, a waiter approached us and told us he'd be right with us. He delivered quickly and with a bowl of the tasty, complimentary roasted peanuts. Our server was new, under training by Rick who excelled at customer service and training. He was knowledgeable in terms of the menu and provided excellent instruction to the server without being condescending. While the server brought our drinks and put them in the table, Rick politely instructed him something along the lines of, "Make sure they give them their drinks" and he placed them in front of us. After about a 20-minute wait, our table was ready. They don't seat parties unless everyone is there. We ordered fairly quickly since we get our usual: the Veggie Dinner (baked potato, rice pilaf ad veggies), served with the classic red and green cabbage salad, plus cheese bread. Our server, Austin, was friendly, knowledgeable and professional. It's not uncommon to get a face of disappointment at a steakhouse when we order veggie meals. However, we didn't get that from Austin. He was pleasant from beginning to end. It was $23 for a Tito's Vodka + soda and one Knob Creek, neat. The food was cooked to perfection, perfectly seasoned and tasty. If cabbage salad doesn't sound appetizing, you have to try this salad. It's simple: cabbage with the restaurant's house-made blue cheese. It's crunchy, the right amount of tang and salty. It's perfect! Now the cheese bread levels up live no other. Unlike most cheese breads, this isn't. It's got a slight crunch without being salty with the ideal amount of cheese. Our total was $53 (two veggie meals, plus one beer). Given that we ate half of our meals, we had enough leftovers to have another meal at home. We had enough of the extras, including salad and cheese bread. After we packed up the leftovers, I asked Austin for a paper bag for the peanuts. Not only did he bring a bag, but it was half full of peanuts. What a nice touch! We were sure to tip well above the 20% mark to show our gratitude. I can't comment on the steaks, but the carnivores in the extended family praise them as much as we love our veggie meals."

"It was upsetting that food wasn't being served at the bar. We wanted to watch football and there are TVs where the food is served. We decided to skip watching football for a while and order steaks. The steak cooked medium rare was tasteless and chewy. In a positive note the waitress was great and never left us waiting."

"We all had a good meal. Steaks were good. My kids did not like the cheesy butter but other than that they ate everything on their plates. Server suggested mixing the two salads together. That was surprisingly good. Seems like the menu is either lunch sandwich type items or dinner steaks. Overall a good experience."