Perkins American Food Co. — Restaurant in Golden Valley

I typically don’t leave negative reviews, as I’ve worked in customer service since I was 16 and understand the challenges that come with it. However, my family and I had an extremely disappointing experience here on February 2, 2025, around 6pm till 8pm

When we arrived, the restaurant was understandably busy. There was a man—who I believe was a manager—wearing a red shirt and glasses. A family ahead of us offered to let us go first, and when he asked how many were in our party, I initially said four but quickly corrected myself to three. His response was to roll his eyes, grab the menus, and toss them onto a table without a word. He didn’t acknowledge us or ask us to follow him, which immediately felt unprofessional. However, understanding how stressful a busy shift can be, I chose to let it go.

Once seated, we were fortunate to have Zoe as our waitress. She is the only reason I am giving 2 stars. She was absolutely wonderful—friendly, attentive, and working hard despite what seemed to be an understaffed environment. She mentioned that my dad, who was celebrating his birthday, was eligible for a complimentary Magnificent Seven meal. Though he hadn’t planned to order it, he did after learning it was free. Throughout the meal, Zoe provided excellent service, and we had no complaints about her at all.

However, we witnessed the same manager being dismissive and rude to another table when they raised concerns about their food. Unfortunately, our own experience with him took a turn for the worse when it was time to check out. Zoe had advised us to let the cashier know about the complimentary birthday meal. When my dad mentioned it at the register, the manager immediately snapped at him, insisting a coupon was required. My dad attempted to explain that the waitress had informed us it was complimentary, but the manager cut him off and was extremely rude.

At that point, I stepped in to clarify that this was a miscommunication due to an employee's lack of proper training—something that was not our fault. When I brought this up, the manager made a face and snapped at me, saying he could check me out at the other register and that he didn’t care. As someone with ten years of restaurant management experience (six as a GM and four as a manager), I know that when an error occurs due to employee miscommunication, a good manager takes responsibility and ensures the guest has a positive experience. My dad had no issue paying the $10 for the meal, and he even said as much. The issue was never about the money—it was about the manager’s attitude and complete lack of professionalism.

I debated whether to write this review, but I feel it's important to bring this to corporate’s attention. This manager’s behavior was unacceptable, and he lacks the basic customer service skills necessary for his role. He was not only dismissive and disrespectful to me but also to my dad on his 54th birthday. The night had been great until this encounter, which left a sour note on an otherwise enjoyable evening.

I truly hope management takes this feedback seriously because guests deserve to be treated with respect, regardless of how busy a...

I have enjoyed eating at many Perkins restaurants, but this visit was very disappointing. I will preface this with the fact that our visit started at 1:30 pm on January 1st, a holiday. Upon arriving, there was no hostess station to check in. We noticed a staff member look at a clipboard on top of the bakery display case. We inquired about checking in, and the manager came over to check us in. 15-minute wait for a table. We were seated after about 15 minutes. It was another 15 minutes before our server came to take our drink order. The menu was a shortened "Holiday" menu with a very limited selection. Since we knew what we wanted, we placed our food order at the same time. Our server apologized and said food was taking longer than normal right now. When she brought our drinks back about 10 minutes later, she again apologized for the delay on our food. About e ery ten minutes, she would stop by and apologize. Tables around us were noticeably agitated by the time for food to arrive. After waiting 65 minutes from the time we placed the order, our food arrived. It was hot and fresh, so that was a bright note. Our server offered us free pie or muffins due to the food coming out so slow. We declined and just paid the check. I understand restaurants are short-staffed these days. It appeared to be a kitchen staff shortage because there were plenty of servers around. Some were even using tables in the dining room as a refill station for salt, pepper, etc., which seemed odd considering how "busy" it was. Two tables near us had incorrect orders delivered and were told it would be at least 30 minutes to have new food made. I may seem petty, but I have to think management could have provided a better experience for customers by limiting the number of people who are seated in the dining room at one time. Seating people as soon as possible and then taking an hour to make their food is bound to upset customers. Our server was great, and we could tell she was uncomfortable having to apologize and tell us our food should be up soon. We did not receive a discount, and we gave our server a generous tip. I think the manager should have been making the rounds to the tables rather than leaving it to their servers to deal with this type of situation. An apology and explanation from a manager would have gone far instead of a server being afraid they're going to get yelled at by a customer for something completely out of...

So the guy that greeted us was very friendly and he joked with us as well. Our server was quite the opposite. When she came and asked us what we wanted to drink, that was the only "good" part of our experience with her. We ordered our food, which was right. The only thing that was a little off was when I ordered scrambled eggs to go with my platter and it was more like a folded over omelet. The server, Tina G, never checked in on us once she gave us our food. She never asked if we wanted pie before setting the bill down and not interacting with us at all. She never asked if we wanted refills. While I was still eating my pancakes, she took away my syrup holder without asking if I still needed it. When we went to pay, she did not ask us how our experience was nor did she offer us any baked goods. I have never had that experience as Perkins is called Perkins Restaurant and Bakery.

I know she was rude to every table that she came in contact with. While we were waiting to order, she had messed up the order of the man behind us, and while we were waiting for our food to arrive, she forgot to get the bacon for a lady behind me.

The other major problem we had on this trip was with a man who we are assuming was a manager based on his outfit. When he walked past our table, he knocked over our bill. The other member of my party was FORCED to go to the floor of the next table in the aisle and pick it up. While they were picking up for his horrible service, he came out of the kitchen and said "excuse me" in a VERY snarky tone. When the member of my party got back to the table, they said about how he knocked it over and he turned back and did an incredibly rude and unnecessary and unprofessional glare. I have NEVER EVER EVER seen someone from MANAGEMENT do this to a customer.

I have been to this Perkins numerous times at various times of the day and with multiple sizes of parties and this was the first time that I have had THIS bad of an experience. The party that I was with had debated going to the Edina or Hopkins location before we chose this one. We should have gone to one of those instead. Being in a metropolitan area, there are so many different restaurants and so many different Perkins locations we could have gone to. If I am going to spend money, I want quality service, not...