Sargent’s Cafe is a throwback. And I mean that in a good way.

Like the bar in the old TV series, “Cheers,” this is a place frequented by regulars, where everybody knows their name.

The walls are wood-paneled and the vinyl upholstery is a little tattered. Booths and bar stools seat as many as 100 patrons in two adjoining rooms. Light rock and blues music plays in the background, and a display case offers jewelry and other items made as hobbies by the diner’s employees.

Located on Third Street south of Wilson Avenue, facing the Rite-Aid store and next to the El Rodeo restaurant, Sargent’s may be as well known for its marquee that each day wishes happy birthdays to celebrities and personal friends.

Serving breakfast and lunch every day, the cafe has been in Bend for at least 50 years, John Aylward said. He bought the establishment with his wife, Jennifer, in 2005. Several employees have worked here longer than 20 years, he said.

The menu is as much a product of the ’60s as the friendly service and atmosphere. There are no surprises. Over the years, the menu has been consolidated to emphasize the most popular plates. (Five years ago, there were 74 sandwiches on the menu, including burgers and melts. Now there are fewer than 20, and the list of salads is down from 14 to five.) But eggs, pancakes and highly regarded biscuits and gravy aren’t going anywhere.

Breakfast

The best thing about dining at Sargent’s is the value. While the food is very average in quality, nothing on the menu is priced higher than $8.25. If you’re not a big eater, you can pay less for half portions; if you have a heftier appetite, you can pay a little more for extra pieces of meat.

Breakfast and lunch specials are posted on a blackboard every day, and if you have a tendency toward indecision, these are a great way to go.

On the first of my recent visits, I was steered toward a combination meal with a sausage-and-mushroom scramble and four half slices of French toast. The scramble was a little dry and the chopped link sausages were nothing special, but the button mushrooms made it interesting. The toast had a crunchy corn-flake batter that I enjoyed. And the coffee — which my server was quick to refill on a regular basis — was excellent.

My dining companion had something called a “Lava Bear sandwich,” homage to the mascot of nearby Bend High School. Served on an English muffin, the meal featured a slice of house-made meatloaf smothered in sausage gravy and topped with two eggs, cooked over easy on her request. She would have enjoyed it more had the accompanying hash-brown potatoes not been overly greasy.

Lunchtime

Compared to that breakfast, a subsequent lunch was disappointing.

I ordered a Philly steak sandwich. A generous amount of lean, sliced roast beef was layered on a lightly grilled French roll, barely half the size of the hoagie rolls usually chosen for this sandwich.

The meat was topped with onions and green bell peppers, but these were diced — perhaps taken from the same vegetable bin used for omelets — rather than presented in slices. And the melted American cheese on top was a far cry from the provolone or other white cheese that I prefer on this sandwich.

Accompanying coleslaw, made with an equal amount of white and red cabbages, was very soupy and mediocre in flavor.

My companion felt that her tuna melt was also substandard. Served on grilled sourdough bread, the mayonnaise-heavy fish salad dripped unevenly onto the plate, and the orange cheddar of the melt, once again, might well have been replaced with Swiss or another white cheese.

Two bites of french fries were all it took her to reject them. Rubbery in quality, they clearly had not been freshly cut in the Sargent’s kitchen. On the plus side, she enjoyed her chocolate milkshake, topped with whipped cream.

Another morning

A few days later, Aylward asked me how my meals had been and I was honest. “Breakfast was better than lunch,” I said.

“I agree, that is what we focus on,” he responded.

So I returned for another breakfast. This time, I ordered a three-egg scramble with big chunks of crispy bacon, chopped tomatoes and a light melt of American cheese. On the side, I had a pair of honey-wheat pancakes, which were among the best cakes I’ve had in recent memory. Firm but not overly yeasty, I enjoyed every syrupy bite.

It happened to be my birthday, and Aylward, much to my surprise, had posted greetings on his marquee. He could as easily have named fashion designer Ralph Lauren, singer Usher, or blue monster Grover from “Sesame Street.” Now, I guess, just like in “Cheers,” everybody at Sargent’s knows my name

— : janderson@bendbulletin.com