“We came here for a church youth conference called FSY (for the strength of youth). Not only did they happily provide the most amazing food to us staff and 500+ kids, they played Christian pop music to help uplift the conference, happily greeted us every meal, and made the experience even greater than it was already. Thank you so much to the Irvine Commons, you made this experience absolutely wonderful!!!“
“For those of you who are perhaps too young to remember, Pizza Chalet used to be a chain of sit-down pizza restaurants with dozens of locations in Southern California. Like many other similar local chains (Taco Tia and Pioneer Chicken for instance), the number of Pizza Chalets began to dwindle and shrink from about the mid/late 80s. Now there are only a handful of locations left, with Yucaipa being the closest one to many in the Inland Empire. Oddly enough, as much as I loved pizza when I was a teen (and as much as I still love it today), I had NEVER been to a Pizza Chalet location until about 3 weeks ago. My brother, mom, and I were out doing errands in the area and decided to pop in to see if it was any good. We heard about the all-you-can-eat buffet and decided to give it a try despite a few reservations. Those reservations quickly fell away! What a delicious gem of find this turned out to be. Its located up at the top of Yucaipla Blvd, "over the hill" and close to the historic district near the roundabout. Upon entering, we noted it had the feel of the pizza parlors of old from the 80s and 90s where kids and teens would go when their baseball or soccer games were over. To add to that feel, there is even a fun-zone arcade area for kids to enjoy themselves in and win tickets to redeem prizes at a counter near the entrance! Wow!!! The nostalgia of it all! Speaking of Nostalgia, the place has staying power. This location opened in 1976 and has been around for almost 50 years and touts itself as "The Best Pizza in Yucaipa". The buffet is very much a bargain. They have a decently-stocked salad bar (with 6 dressings!), a regular rotation of freshly made pizzas with various toppings (one of which is a tasty homage to the Gay 90's Pizza Parlor from Redlands that started the whole "cashews on a pizza" craze, a selection of mini Italian sandwiches as well as desserts. All of these were freshly made and delicious tasting. I don't know if the pizza was indeed "The Best"; but I'd say it's certainly above average and quite tasty. The real star of the show, however, is their "Johnnie's Broasted Chicken". OMG!! Where has this been all my life?! It's a pressure-cooked chicken recipe that seals the delicious, slightly salty, and savory flavor down to the bone. The outside is crispy and the inside is moist and juicy. I kept coming back to this for seconds and even thirds! Some of the best chicken I've had in a long time. The employees here were very friendly, and the food in the buffet never had time to get stale. It was restocked regularly. To top it all off, they even had a decent selection of 6-8 beers on tap including local microbrews! Gotta have a cold beer with pizza, right?!? I will say this about the price. The buffet is your best option for value here. It runs from 11 am - 2 pm every day, and from 5 pm - 7:30 pm on Monday nights. Outside of that, the price of the pizza and chicken by themselves do tend to be a bit more expensive than other places in the area, especially the chicken. Prices seem to be on-par with the Gourmet Pizza Shoppe in Redlands. You can check out the pictures of the menu others have posted to get a good idea. I admit the sticker shock made me deduct a star in this case. That being said, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND coming here for their lunch buffet of on a Monday night for dinner. There are lots of options to choose from and I absolutely guarantee you will fall in love with the broasted chicken! A bit pricey overall, but still a fun spot in Yucaipa to try! Come alone, with family, or bring along the whole soccer team! These are the type of local spots we want to keep open for years to come.“