Clearwater’s Tee Time Cafe serves home-style meals next to golf course

When Vernon and Sherry Underwood purchased the Tee Time Cafe four years ago, little did they know that it would become the best-kept secret in Clearwater, a community about 20 miles southwest of Wichita.

Located at the Tee Time golf course, also owned by the Underwoods, the cafe offers made-from-scratch breakfast, lunch and dinner five days a week. Sherry and her daughter do all of the baking and don’t use any prepackaged foods. (Sherry is the former owner of the Cup N Saucer tea room at 4935 W. Central in Wichita, which she closed in 2011.)

I first tried the Tee Time Cafe a year ago while helping my friend coordinate a golf tournament. We ate breakfast after our meeting and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of food served. We shared a half order of French toast and a sausage and cheese omelet served with hash browns and toast. Don’t let the half order (one slice) of French toast fool you. It is made from a thick slice of homemade bread and has a cinnamon-sugar topping instead of powdered sugar. The omelet was light, fluffy and generously filled with crumbled sausage and cheese.

On our recent visit, I had the chicken strip dinner: six hand-cut and breaded chicken strips with choice of potato, soup or salad and homemade bread. I chose mashed potatoes and brown gravy and a side house salad. My chicken was lightly-breaded and fried to a golden brown. The mashed potatoes were good, but the brown gravy was thicker than I prefer. My friend had the daily special: bacon-wrapped chopped Angus sirloin with a baked potato and side salad. The sirloin was tender and flavorful.

Dessert offerings included butterscotch, lemon and coconut cream pies, and we sampled them all. The butterscotch cream pie had a rich butterscotch flavor and was topped with whipped cream drizzled with butterscotch on top. The lemon cream pie had a light lemon flavor unlike other lemon cream pies we have tasted, and we both liked this version better. My friend enjoyed the coconut cream pie that was topped with toasted coconut.

Other breakfast options include eggs, pancakes, biscuits and gravy and chicken fried steak. Lunch items include salads, burgers and wraps. And at dinner, customers can choose from chicken-fried steak or chicken, catfish, breaded shrimp, roast beef, grilled chicken breast and more.

Whether you are a golfer looking for a quaint course that is open daylight to dusk or a diner looking for a home-style meal, Tee Time Cafe is a good choice. It offers dine-in seating for 48 people, carry-out, and catering services for small and large gatherings. The restaurant also is accepting reservations for its annual Valentine’s Day dinner, which includes a choice of prime rib or baked chicken and dressing served with homemade sides and desserts.

This story was originally published December 31, 2015 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Clearwater’s Tee Time Cafe serves home-style meals next to golf course."