All American Cafe, a well-loved burger, fries and breakfast sandwich joint on the west side of Murfreesboro, previously known by its colorful clown mascot in years past, continues serving burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, wings, omelets, gyro platters, breakfast sandwiches and more at its Old Fort Parkway location.

Under the direction of its current owner, Isaac, for the past four years, All American opens from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every weekday, and for breakfast and lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, serving the entire menu all day.

Get a double cheeseburger for breakfast if you wish, or an omelet or a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit later in the day—it’s all made to order anyway.

The All American burgers contain huge hamburger patties, smashed very thin so they hang off the bun, with just a bit of crispiness around the edges of the patties.

“I love how the patties are thin and bigger than the buns!” Jaclyn Everson posted in a review following a meal at All American Cafe. “Nothing’s better than a butter toasted bun!

“I also recommend trying the ‘Sourdough Cream Cheese Avocado BLT,’” she continued. “Good Golly Miss Molly, that is a legendary sandwich!”

The “bomb burger” offerings come loaded with the house bomb sauce—a mayo, ketchup and thousand island mixture.

“The bomb sauce they put on the burger is super good,” according to a pleased recent All American Cafe diner, Trey Beasley.

Megan Trotter agrees.

Bomb sauce

“I got the bomb burger and it was absolutely delicious,” the customer posted. “The people that worked there were very friendly also. I’d definitely recommend [the establishment] to someone wanting to grab a bite to eat without settling for fast food.”

Order your Philly cheesesteak with the traditional thin-sliced steak, or with a grilled chicken option or containing corned beef as the meat.

The Bacon Blue Philly makes a phenomenal sandwich—greasy, salty and satisfying, with steak (or chicken or corned beef) loaded with blue cheese, bacon, peppers, onion and mushrooms.

Or perhaps try a bacon-wrapped hot dog.

“The hot dog was huge! We got it for our child, and it was too big for her to finish,” Marcus Cole said, regarding the standard hot dog at the eatery.

All American makes a quick breakfast or lunch spot with a unique local character, everything cooked to order on the flatiron.

The fries have a tasty seasoning salt on them, and the establishment also serves fresh doughnuts from another Murfreesboro institution, Donut Country, each day. All American Cafe will take a maple doughnut, top it with bacon and heat it up, a favorite item at the spot.

The cafe’s fare may be somewhat calorie-heavy for everyday dining for most consumers, but sometimes you just want a big cheeseburger and fries.

All American Cafe does have some good salad selections, such as the gyro salad—with “all the good stuff,” as one recent diner put it, referencing the salad’s lettuce, tomato, green peppers, black olives, banana peppers and cucumber sauce along with gyro meat, a thinly sliced mixture of beef and lamb.

The restaurant also offers shawarma wraps, a Greek salad, falafel, and sandwiches containing the popular All American Cafe cranberry and walnut chicken salad.

It offers some outdoor restaurant seating on the sidewalk, an area which has developed into a fantastic little local Murfreesboro restaurant row with Single Tree BBQ, So-Cali Taco Shop and All-American Cafe all right next door to one another.

As far as the atmosphere at All American Cafe, one observer described a “circus meets old-school diner meets hole-in-the-wall feel. Slightly run down, but felt clean.”

That customer, Doug Austin, said all of the food he tried was very good.

“I had the corned beef hash, which I am personally a big fan of, and it did not disappoint. The food in general reminds me very much of a classic old-school all-American diner. Fresh, made-to-order ingredients cooked in the open,” he continued. “It is not pretentious or fancy in any way . . . I will be back based on the food alone.”

Some say they get a New York diner vibe at the place.

Aside from the tattered booths and sometimes-not-exactly pristine floors and restrooms, one of the only complaints about All American Cafe involves the use of the word “cafe,” which to some suggests coffee (it does literally mean “coffee,” after all); to other Americans, “cafe” can just be used as a general word for any type of restaurant, evidently.

Don’t expect a wide variety of espresso drinks and cappuccino; coffee isn’t exactly the specialty at All American Cafe, but they do serve coffee.

(Neither was Coconut Bay Cafe necessarily known for its coffee . . .)

“The coffee was not amazing, but it was passable,” according to a patron named Steven, who did add that he found the food excellent and the portions generous.

So don’t expect a gourmet coffeeshop, but for an all-American diner experience with a Middle Eastern twist, complete with hamburgers, wings, fries, chicken salad, gyro meat, shawarma wraps, corned beef hash and omelets and other breakfast items served all day, head to All American Cafe.

All American Cafe
2805 Old Fort Pkwy., Suite L, Murfreesboro
Mon.–Fri.: 7 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sat.: 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Sun.: 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
615-612-9990
allamericancafetennessee.com