Perkins American Food Co. — Restaurant in Forest Lake

I usually never write a review but I believe I need to for this restaurant and help warn other customers. And unfortunately, it's a very negative one but this is the worst restaurant I have ever been to in Forest Lake! It's very poorly managed, has terrible customer service, has misleading menu options.

Last night, I took my two little girls there after a Mulan play thinking we would be there for about an hour or so. I never take my girls out this late as it's way past their bedtime but I wanted to do something special for them after the play. So we arrived to Perkins at around 9:30pm. There was no one to greet us or seat us. Finally, after waiting for several minutes, I saw a lady getting desserts (who I found out later was one of the managers) which are showcased in the front and asked her if we could get seated at a booth.

So we got seated and the waitress got us drinks (never once smiled). She came back and asked for our order but we hadn't decided at that time yet. After we decided, it took probably over 20 minutes to get our order taken!!!20 minutes!! This was actually after I asked the same manager lady (that I first saw in the front) if she could go get our waitress because our order wasn't taken yet! During this whole time, my girls are asking me when they're going to get their food. So I had to explain to them many times over that our order hasn't been taken yet so they can be patient and wait a while for their food. Anyways, our order was finally taken. No apologies. No explanations from the waitress! I was polite and told her I was not happy that it took about half an hour to take our order even though I knew it was busy on a Friday night. She never apologized but did ask if the kids wanted a muffin. I said No thanks because I didn't want to spoil their appetite.

So anyways, about another 30 minutes past. It's now probably past10:30pm and we still haven't received our food (besides the bland tasting salad for my meal)! Never once did the waitress come and check on us or even look at our direction! When I saw her, I had to ask her to check on the food! Again, no apologies or anything! I understand that it's a busy friday night and that there's a huge party of kids in the room adjacent to us but no apologies, explanations, or anything!!!

We FINALLY get our food: a hamburger for me, 2 kids meals with pancakes and fruit for the girls! Nothing complicated or exquisite ordered! Which is why I went there in the first place! We finally left around 11PM after eating our food. I called right after I left and talked to another older manager lady whom answered. I politely explained to her my disappointments about the long wait and the terrible customer service. She actually apologized and seemed sympathetic which I really appreciated but it didn't change my experience there whatsoever! I explained to her the best thing that she could do was make sure that she and all of the other managers and employees communicate better with their customers (on wait time, on apologizing, having a positive attitude, etc.).

Please don't ever go there!! We should not support a restaurant that is so poorly managed and...

I live in St. Paul and have been to many Perkins over the years. For the most part, there haven't been any issues with the food or service. I normally am not in the Forest Lake area but had to go up there today (2/25/2023) so thought I would have breakfast at the Forest Lake Perkins. Was looking forward to that since the last couple days have been rather stressful with the big snowstorm. So, I was looking forward to the weekend and, particularly going somewhere for breakfast or lunch where I could read and relax. I had a $20 gift card for Perkins.

I arrived at the Forest Lake Perkins around 10:45 a.m. The parking lot was pretty full so I expected there would be a line in the lobby. I was surprised when there wasn't one. I also noticed that while the place was busy, there were several open booths/tables. I was promptly seated and given a menu. A couple minutes later a server came over to see if I wanted a beverage. I ordered coffee as well as food. I usually get the 55+ 2-egg omelet which comes with two pancakes. No matter how busy other Perkins have been, it always seemed that the food came out pretty quickly.

I started reading my book and periodically checked the time since it seemed to be taking a while. Finally, when it was at least 20 minutes, the server walked by and said she was on her way to get my order. The pancakes are always served with a big dollop of what looks to be whipped butter on each pancake. I spread the butter, expecting that it would start melting. It didn't. So, it was apparent that the pancakes were NOT hot. Before pouring syrup, I took a bite and I was right--they were barely warm. I then took a bite of the omelet--it was a little warmer but probably only because the omelet was folded over itself so it likely didn't lose heat as fast as the pancakes. The taste of the omelet and pancakes was ok but it would have been better if the food was actually HOT like it's supposed to be. I ate the omelet first and then the pancakes and the butter still hadn't melted at all.

The server never came by to ask how the food was (had she done so, I would likely have said "It would be good if it were hot"). After finishing my food, I quickly drained my coffee so I could get out of there. A few minutes later the server came by, noticed I had finished eating, and said she would get my check. She never asked how the food was. When I got to the counter to pay, I thought the person who rang me up might ask how my order was. Nope! I didn't tip the server, either, as I didn't think she earned it.

This was the first (and last) time I will go to this Perkins. I may patronize other Perkins but if I have similar experiences there, Perkins will no longer get my business.

One other thing I forgot to mention: when I was eating the pancakes, there was a "crunch" while I was chewing. Pancakes are not supposed to be crunchy. I spit out this little piece (about half as big as a pea) that was a charred (black) piece of what...

So my parents and I were on a road trip, a long one, and decided to stop at this Perkins. We'd been there once before on another trip (this visit was a NIGHT AND DAY difference-literally, because last time we went during the day and had better service and food; this time, we visited at night) and thought we'd get a good experience like last time. Well, we walked in and were immediately seated, which was probably one of the two better parts of this visit. Our waitress greeted us and asked us if we wanted something to drink. Our beverages were brought to us in a timely manner (the second better part; only reason why I gave this a two star review)--coffee and three iced waters. A few minutes later, we put our order in and proceeded to wait the better part of an hour to receive our food. In the waitress's defense, she did ask, "There's going to be a little bit of a wait on the food. Is that okay?" (Which seemed like a really dumb question to ask, but okay, yes, that's fine). We certainly didn't expect to wait a good 50 or so minutes for our food (ordered at 6:31, got the food at a few minutes shy of 7:30). My dad ordered a grilled chicken breast with a side of mashed potatoes and a salad, no onions, thousand island dressing, and, when he got the potatoes, it looked like someone had poked their fingers into them to see if they were hot or done enough; the salad also had onions (which wouldn't have been a big issue if he didn't have terrible acid reflux from consuming the buggers). My dad didn't touch the potatoes or the salad but dug into his chicken. The waitress came back a few minutes later and asked how things were going; we showed her the potatoes, and she said she would get him a new side of potatoes. It then took a good ten to fifteen minutes to get said potatoes. In the meantime, he picked out the onions from his salad and ate it. We were almost done with our meal when the replacement potatoes came, and, when they came, they looked slightly better than the first, which is pictured below (albeit, pretty discretely). The waitress had checked with the kitchen about the potatoes with the finger prints; it turns out, they come in bags and the cooks have to press down on them with their fingers, so that's what probably caused the prints. (I'm hoping with gloves ON.) So my dad dug in with his fork. My mom asked why he wasn't using his spoon. He pointed to it, and it looked really dirty. We thought about getting desert but decided against it at thr thought of another long wait. Okay, folks, so there were maybe ten tables with two to four people at each; there were at least 3, if not 4, servers and one hostess. I understand that things happen, people call in sick or simply don't show, or management is terrible with staffing; but this, THIS, was pretty...