Primo Cafe — Restaurant in Lancaster

Came in today, Thursday, with my husband and 2 kids. Thursday is a specials day for kids eat free. They said for each adult that comes and orders a meal and drink, they get one child to eat for free. That itself is not specified on the special, but that’s fine. I ordered a meal and a tea, but I got my meal to go. My husband ordered his meal and soda and ate there. I ordered 3 slices of cake to go as well. Slightly over $5 per slice of cake, which I find to be ridiculous, but my family requested them specifically. (It’s probably the only item on the menu that is exceptional). I found the staff to be petty. My husband is not one to bother staff for just any reason, but when he ordered his burger and fries, his fries were burnt. Not black burnt, but unenjoyable burnt nonetheless. So he kindly requested a new batch. I don’t know if they kept speaking in Spanish because they assumed we didn’t speak it, or if that’s all they speak in the back, but they kept asking what was wrong with them. The server kept repeating, “he just wants them softer.” No, he just wanted them not to be burned. When they returned with his plate, the serving of fries was half the size it was before. If that’s not petty, I don’t know what is. My daughter could not eat her eggs either because they were inedible as well. My husband tried and he just spit them back out. My tea was a basic 99cents tea box bag with diluted light honey. Look, I get that it’s hard times all around and diners are struggling, but if I’m paying this much for eating out, not even a tip included in this price shown, I expect at least a little bit of quality. My husband ended up telling me that he did not even enjoy his burger, he just ate it to not make a big deal about it. He knows that I would, because that’s hard earned money that we’re spending at a local diner, regrettably. When I went to pay the bill, the server told me that she could not give me the discount for both my kids because I got my meal to go. I do not understand the logic in that, but I did not argue. Before that, I was ready to pay my 20% gratuity on my full bill, but after the service we were given, I aligned my logical math with their logical math. I paid 15% on what we ordered and ate in the diner for...

Updated: It is with a heavy heart I must admit Primo Cafe is no longer one of the best places to eat in the AV. The restaurant was recently sold to new management, and unfortunately, the new management apparently didn't understand that the service is not the only good prospect for a restaurant. They seem to have purged the entire previous staff, as I knew the majority of their faces, and I didn't see anyone I recognized. While the new wait staff are attentive and courteous, unfortunately the new cooks don't seem to know how to cook.

I've been a few times since the management took over, and both times these were some constants: The fries were undercooked to the point of being limp and not yellow, still mostly off-white. The onion rings were undercooked to the point they were hard to bite into, and certainly did not tear easily as a well-cooked onion ring does.

As for the meal itself, my dad ordered a French Dip. The bread was stale and hard. I ordered a BLT, and the lettuce was a sickly white color, along with the bacon also being undercooked to the point it was more rubber than bacon.

As much as I hate to say it, I will not be returning to Primo Cafe. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

Original text: Been coming here since it opened. Everything on the menu that I have tried was great. I can vouch that the BLT, grilled cheese, fish n chips are great. DEFINITELY try their onion rings. They're fried to perfection and seasoned with crack. Or maybe it's just seasoning. Either way I've been coming here for years with my family and it's our favourite restaurant...

Update 1/2025 - We decided to try again, ordered several breakfast burritos, took an additional 40 minutes or so as they were busy (and had to remake orders from what was overheard). And well, we received breakfast burritos, all without egg?? Called to let them know and try to work it out, was argued with and that we made incorrect orders, despite having record of the order 🙄

Anyway, that's a wrap for your household, I'd recommend to avoid, there are better places or just make at home, but not this place. Seriously.

Long time patron there, I guess ownership and other stuff has changed hands and not for the better from my experience. The food and service was unfortunately just awful, waitress didn't even come back to check on us, anyway.. used to be a great place for us to go, but not the same anymore. The beef served on a French dip was almost black, ugh. Of course they took off the bill, the cook insisted it looked OK, I asked him to bring the sandwich back to the counter and we could look at it together, he agreed but then didn't...