RESTAURANT REVIEW: BUSY BEE CAFE : A Taste of 1940 : If you are hungering for the past, a meal at the Busy Bee Cafe might make you think twice.

“What’s the matter?” the waitress asked. “You didn’t like the eggs?

“Sorry,” she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

I had expected better, much better, since the Busy Bee Cafe always comes up when discussing breakfast in Ventura.

This restaurant has been under the same ownership for at least the past 30 years. In 1988 it was remodeled to arrive at its own version of nouveau diner, complete with orange Naugahyde booths, the perennial interior neon signs, lots of old movie posters and the usual jukebox full of oldies but goodies.

While the Bee may be trying to give us the full flavor of the ‘30s and ‘40s, a meal there might make you think twice about those wonderful days of yore. As I watched the waitress saunter off, leaving me with a plate of eggs that reminded me of the stuff I might have used to patch a tire on the 1949 Chevy convertible I once owned, I wondered whether those old diners were really worthy of all this nostalgia. Yes, the portions then were hearty--as they are at the Busy Bee. But the service in those good old days, if the movies tell the truth, was usually perfunctory, provided by a fading blonde with a heart of gold.

A real diner, of course, served homemade food. So does the Bee. But when they designed the french fries they departed from authenticity--the skins are still on, but I like them.

Those old diners used lots of salt and pepper. Here the Busy Bee also takes a few liberties: Its potatoes, although apparently a house specialty, had almost no seasonings. I tried hard to find flavor in them. Even the onions couldn’t keep them from being bland. The corned beef hash could be described the same way--and it lacked even the onions. The biscuits did nothing to distinguish themselves.

I must admit that the chili I had at lunch one day was savory, perhaps because the kitchen didn’t stint on the meat or the chili spicing; it was a satisfying dish. That was the same day I had a chocolate malt. Don’t laugh, but sometimes I like my malts made with buttermilk. After the usual weird look when I ordered, they cheerfully made it the way that I wanted. It came across the counter cold, chocolaty and rich.

The fried chicken, if you can wait seven or eight minutes for it to get cool enough to eat, is moist on the inside, crisp on the outside, just as it should be.

If breakfasts are a big thing there, so are the desserts. I don’t know why they have such a great reputation, unless it’s due to their size. The bread pudding is watery and the giant chocolate chip cookies are overcooked and grainy. Worst of all, the house specialty, Beulah’s hot apple dumpling, is too sweet and lacks that particular, doughy consistency common to good dumplings.

The Bee’s coffee probably isn’t much different than it was 50 years ago--except that instead of being a nickel or a dime, it’s now 85 cents.

Maybe the old diners weren’t really as good as the late-night movies keep telling us they were. In that case, the Busy Bee is a fine replica. And to those who go regularly for breakfast--or dessert--well, perhaps what they’re really after is the flavor of nostalgia.

* WHERE AND WHEN: Busy Bee Cafe, 478 E. Main St., Ventura, (805) 643-4864. Breakfast, lunch and dinner 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Beer and wine. No credit cards. Breakfast, lunch or dinner for two, food only, $14-$20.