George's Drive Inn ~ Walsenburg, Colorado

Latest visit: Apr 2025

First visit: Jan 2024

Both of us had wanted to return to George's Drive Inn after last year's visit. As you can see below it seemed more like we ordered the wrong thing versus a restaurant that wasn't for us. This time we did go for lunch as noted below.

Location: Easy access on and off of I-25. It's a bit hidden, and they don't advertise, but Google Maps will quickly show you that George's is convenient. It's also the exit for La Veta, and that's where we usually go after lunch anyway, as we did on this day. The restaurant itself is a throwback to the simple American diner, though no solo stools. It seems to be always crowded too. They're a breakfast and lunch place only and closed on Sun / Mon.

Food: Eclectic American diner fare, with a focus on Mexican and even Italian. The latter is a feature of this part of southern Colorado and you see similar in Pueblo and Trinidad. Likely a vestige of an industrial past. On this visit I ordered the Italian sausage sandwich and substituted fries for a small bowl of green chili. Mrs. RJG zoned in on the Philly Cheesesteak. Both of us enjoyed our meals immensely. This time we did order the right thing. The chili was the right temperature and very spicy. Much better on its own than as a smother. I'm not sure who makes the Italian sausage in this region or if they all create their own patties, but whatever the case, I'm happy to have it. The Philly Cheese was exceptionally good and you could really taste the seasoned beef. Homemade fries were hot and excellent. Even the oyster crackers were different, coming straight from Chicago.

Drinks: Standard diner fare of juices, sodas, etc. We just had water.

Overall: The perfect "road food", a term that was more popular 20 years ago. Let's hope for a comeback. Only misstep is that I was only to pay an upcharge for the chili since I substituted the fries. They charged me full price. I mentioned it but went unheard. I didn't sense it was intentional. Big deal, so we're out two bucks (the upcharge cost), I'll live. In any case, we're sure to be in this area for lunch at least once a year if not more, so George's Drive Inn goes into the RJG Rotation.

---original 1/27/24 review

Just as Westcliffe is our first winter daytrip destination of the new year, La Veta has become our second favorite place to go during the snowy months. And they received a whopper of a storm on Thursday dumping 18 inches of snow. Yesterday was relatively warm and we here in the Springs saw a nice melt off, so we presumed similar down south. We had perfect blue skies, and warm temps today. It was an absolutely perfect daytrip. While we saw quite a bit of snow up here in the northern reaches of Colorado Springs, the southern part of the city received very little. And Pueblo was dry as a bone. I was disappointed until we kept going south and then we saw nothing but a sea of white - fields, valleys, mountains, all against a crystal clear blue sky. Stunning really. La Veta sits in a perfect setting, but as stated last year, there really isn't much to do there - especially in the winter. So our activities revolve around Walsenburg, with a pretty drive to La Veta. We then walked around the town. We wanted to try the ice cream at Charlie's Market but they close down that section of the store during the winter. Last year we went to the brewery there, but I wanted to revisit the one in Walsenburg this trip. Those posts are coming next.

Which gets us to George's Drive Inn, our first stop on the journey. It sits right off of I-25 before you venture into Walsenburg proper. It's an old school diner (though no solo bar stools) that first opened in 1977. We arrived at 10:30 and were offered only breakfast menus, though we really wanted lunch. I was willing to inquire but Mrs. RJG said that breakfast sounded good to. I was also fine with it. 

I had the breakfast burrito, smothered in green chili and served with fried potatoes. The twist here they use homemade spicy Italian sausage as the meat, which is super. I thought the chili was good, but not sensational. I would have preferred a bit more spice and flavor. Mrs. RJG inexplicably went for a boring breakfast of pancakes and eggs. But at least she had the foresight to get the Italian sausage patty as the meat choice. That was the only part of the meal she really enjoyed. The rest she bemoaned was boring and flavorless (that's what happens when you purposely order the wrong item). Followed by "I really wanted a cheeseburger and fries". Sigh. By 10:50 they were asking patrons if they wanted lunch or breakfast. So I'm sure we could have gotten lunch just 20 minutes prior. Oh well, c'est la vie.

I do like George's, and we're definitely coming back (for lunch). I prefer George's slightly more than Tina's Cafe that we dined at last year, but they're both very good. Service was good and the prices reasonable for this day and age. Lots of regulars were there, and the workers referred to them by name.

1/27/24 (new entry); 4/8/25