Perkins American Food Co. — Restaurant in City of Cortland

The state of Perkins as of October 2023 is just ABYSMAL. Every aspect of the customer experience at this restaurant location is substandard. The place is in physical disrepair, from the parking lot to the booths with broken springs and ripped seats, to the run down decor.

Last time I visited, the dining room smelled like a garbage hadn't been changed. The place wasn't busy, yet nobody greeted my brother & I for several minutes. We ordered an App sampler, and a bagel yet 2 whole tables of at least 4 people who came after us, received full breakfast orders of food before we got our small order. I know because they tried to bring that food to us at first before realizing we were the wrong table.

I suspect they missed our order completely and only after bringing us the other people's food did they start making ours. No apologies, no interaction. No reassurance that our food was coming. When we did get our orders, the food was cold, hard, and just really poor quality.

It was like being charged $35 to get abused. The staff acted like they were caught by surprise that customers existed. This place is specifically designed to cook, serve, & sell food for a large group of various humans. If they can't handle their entire purpose on any level, then the writing's on the wall. Avoid...

TL:DR- food is so salty my BP couldn't handle it. Just Don’t.

Our oven went wonky just before turkey day and our new one wasn’t set to be delivered until after the holiday. Easy fix- grab a Perkins Holiday Box Dinner for the family and nuke it the next day, right? Wrong. The atmosphere was nice and welcoming, the service staff was as friendly as could be. We got our take out, tossed it in the fridge that night and were super excited about an stress-free thanksgiving. Not so much. Wife microwaved the ribs and had a quick taste to give them a shot. She calls me in and goes “I want you to try this… but you may need to take a blood pressure pill…” Can’t be that bad I thought, and took a small chunk to taste. My mouth rejected it violently. I can only explain it as ribs dipped in a salt bath with a salt dry rub followed by salt-flavored BBQ sauce. I am currently writing this in front of my grill with chicken tenders and grilled biscuits for the family. (Grilled biscuits on a wood grill are awesome, btw.) So if you ever find yourself in a situation where it’s either the Cortland Perkins or a throw-together meal for the holidays, I would recommend skipping the take out. All in all… not my worst...

We got breakfast here on our way out of town, my partner’s choice (though I was happy enough to oblige). Seated quickly, food was prompt, and server was wonderful throughout our meal: friendly, kind, helpful, professional. The whole meal looked and tasted just as expected, which is to say, basically the ideal traditional American breakfast (thanks in part to mass production factories). I typically prefer smaller, independently owned businesses with more locally sourced ingredients, high ethical & environmental standards for sourcing, processing, etc. (I know, I know… I can already see the eye rolls I’m getting...) But I grew up on chains like Perkins and still appreciate, and enjoy, standout individual locations and the employees that hold them up as such. This one felt like one of those to me.

Apparently we came on their weekly free-slice-of-pie day: when my partner ordered a slice, our server let us know about the deal and asked if I’d like a slice, too. We took slices both to go but can now happily report the pie and pumpkin cheesecake slices were delightful!

Highlights: Wonderful service. Prices are phenomenal. Bottomless coffee in a slim, tall carafe for 2.99 or...