Park Pantry — Restaurant in Long Beach

Today was the straw that broke the camels back. I've been a pretty regular customer since the late 80's.. So much so, that the servers recognize me and some even remember my name. I often bring others for breakfast or lunch. Over the years, I've seen the restaurant go through numerous changes. Some good, some not so good (mostly after new ownership) like the unfortunate price hikes and degredation in quality and consistency. Needless to say, I've experienced issues with incorrect food items being served and or lags in service which can hapen anywhere from time to time. Unfortunately today was a bit different. Today I was seated, the server was friendly as usual, coffee arrived in a timely fashion. Minutes later, I placed my order. 1 Denver Omelet no bell peppers with home fried potatoes and wheat toast. My food arrived in a timely fashion but once again, (of late) my order was incorrect or they were simply trying to fool me. Who knows? Perhaps it had something to do with the current egg shortage? You'd think they'd tell the customer. I received what at first glance, appeared to be an omelet (with bell peppers although I ordered it without). Unfortunately, it was more like a scramble (not the type they usually make here) with what could certainly be seen as 1 egg. Nothing really holding any of it together. I mentioned it to my server who insisted it was an omelet and didn't offer any solution. I asked how many eggs they use in an omelet and he stated three. Clearly not three eggs. This sort of thing has happened on a few occasions recently and I usually just suck it up and move on. Today, no deal. Especially at over $20 bucks! I know I could've sent it back and had it done right but why? Especially since this has become a bit of a common theme. I'm done. Especially with so many other places in the area serving the same type of food. At these prices, you MUST be on point. These days, The Pantry is slipping. I can't believe I'm saying this but, I will...

I do not recommend this place. It was disappointing as a first time here. From the time we arrived to the time we left we were experienced bad service. There was no acknowledgement when we arrived, I noticed the wall said sign in and wait outside and we did, my brother stayed inside we were a party of 7. My brother had to go out of his way to ask the wait time, the young man walked away did not say anything, once a different person arrived she asked if they could be seated and they told her our party was to be seated first. Same guy directed my brother to the table and just left. This young man attending him treated us like we were invisible from the start. We sat down he didn’t offer anything no one came and no one acknowledged us, a table of two who came later was already ordering and some time later I had to get up and ask if they were going to provide service. They send the same guy, he was talking to us like if we were bothering him, he had an attitude. Once he served us our drinks. No one came back, the whole table lacked spoons for their coffee. I had to flag an older gentleman for help he was helpful. And that was difficult too they don’t really have staff around. The female waiters were kind when they took our orders but they also ignored us from the beginning they walk around avoiding eye contact they could have said something as well, “someone will be with you” NO nothing, the woman who took our orders probably followed up twice to see if we needed anything. Your whole staff lacks service skills and manners including the man that was dressed differently that looked like he was supervising he did the bare minimum just sent someone after I went up. This was not an issue of a place being understaffed, I can be patient in waiting, we were deliberately ignored time and time again the service was deplorable, I would never come back here, I really hope other people keep this message in mind when deciding...

See 2nd review below the first. The first review, from last week, was quite poor. See below for a new review from today...

1st review: 01/19/2014 * _ _ _ _ _Didn't even get to a menu. Time was 6:45, Sun 01/19/2014: I was in the lobby, signed in their little pad to be seated. No one else was in the lobby waiting, no one's name was on the list ahead of me that hasn't been seated. I sat there for 5 minutes, completely unacknowledged, then I moved to a different bench in the lobby where I would be more visable. I've seen people paying their bills and leaving, employees came in and out past me, not a single person acknowledged my existance. If this is how poor the service was before being seated I can only guess how bad it would have been if I placed an order. I left after about 10 minutes of total time. If I wanted to be invisible I would not have made such an effort to go to a restaurant and sign in to be seated for a meal.

2nd review: 02/02/2014 * * * * _ So much better than last week. I went in today to give my neighborhood 'diner' a 2nd chance. And I am glad I did. Perhaps because today is the Super Bowl there weren't very busy and they had available tables & booths. I was greeted at the inner lobby and was immediately seated. The hostess and the servers were quite attentive to in assuring my satisfaction (ie Time to check out the menu, taking my order promptly, etc) and the food was very good. I can't guess as to why last week's service was so much different but I am hoping the service I received today is more to their norm and that last week's service had other circumstances. Regardless, I am much more happy with the service today. I am glad to be able to add them to my options for my neighborhood...