William Penn Inn — Restaurant in Lower Gwynedd Township

My recent visit was a huge disappointment. We had a reservation for 11:45 on Sunday Feb 16th, and upon arriving, the place was incredibly overcrowded. We could barely move through the hallway due to the number of people waiting. When we finally made it to the front, the hostess's attitude was incredibly rude. People were complaining left and right and my husband heard someone, who finally made it through the crowd say "well, if you weren't sick going in you are now"

After waiting in the crowded area, we were finally seated, but the discomfort didn’t stop there. The temperature inside the restaurant was unbearably hot. On top of that, people were coughing into their hands and touching utensils, which added to the unsanitary feeling. I know this is something the restaurant can't control and people are just gross but let's turn the heat down a little so there is less chance of germs everywhere.

When we finally got to the food, the wait was so long that by the time we made it back to our table, everything was cold. I didn’t even bother eating at that point. I cannot even explain to you how many people were waiting at the omelet station. One of the employees noticed my stress of being in a huge crowd and all the people in my personal space (literally felt like I was in a mosh pit) and kindly offered to bring me a plate, but at that stage, I’d already lost my appetite. Additionally, I was shocked to see that they used vegetable oil for the omelet instead of something of better quality like olive oil, which seemed out of place for the price.

The food was underwhelming, and my husband, who never complains, said everything he tried was subpar.

I requested to speak to a manager about the issues. I requested that they lower the heat and expressed my concerns about how many people they booked at one time. As a business owner myself, I believe customer feedback should be handled with care, but unfortunately, that was not the case here. She did lower the heat however, I blatantly saw her walk up to multiple employees and talk about me!

After two emails and a week later, I still hadn't been contacted back, which I found very unprofessional as a local business. I also had to call two times to hear back from anyone. Someone by the name Rachel finally got back to me and I told her what my experience was like. She outright told to me, over the phone, that the restaurant was trying to pack in as many people as possible on a busy holiday weekend. She also told me she would only refund my plate because I stated I didn't eat anything. I told her half of our bill would be appreciated since my husbands food was cold and not very good either. She continued to tell me she would only refund mine ($40). She then went on again telling me, yes, they do try and fit in as many people as possible and that they had over 400 that day and no one else complained...so 16,000, I am the only complaint and you are only going to refund $40 of the $180 I spent. That didn't sit well with me. Her attitude and lack of care or concern was a huge turnoff. Obviously, they care more about money than keeping the customer happy. Which is not who I want to support moving forward.

We won’t be coming back, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone looking for a pleasant dining experience. The restaurant has clearly gone downhill from the food to the staff and also the people who were eating around us. Just not the upscale, clean feel we had been used to during...

My family and I have been going to Wm Penn the Saturday after New Year's for many years. We always look forward to the beautiful Christmas decorations, wonderful service and delicious food. This year was such a disappointment that we've decided to not return and move our annual lunch tradition to another restaurant. Our reservations were 2:00 (the only choice for lunch is 11:30 & 2:00). A couple members of our party arrived at 2:15, so that may have contributed to the poor service we received. Through the years, the Wm. Penn servers have been consistently gracious, accommodating, and pleasant (almost as if they were trained in Disney World) - our server lacked in all those areas. The consensus at the table was that our server seemed extremely bothered by us from early on. There was an automatic 20% gratuity included due to our size - no problem there. However, when the bill came, someone missed a zero and only charged us 2% gratuity. We could have easily not said a word and only paid the 2% (as he barely earned that), however we did bring it to his attention, whereby his response was basically, "Oh yea, someone messed up, I'll bring it back." He brought it back and we said thank you, and he said "you're welcome", but never a "thank you for catching that" or anything with a 'thank you' for not leaving him a 2% tip. The food was ok at best - shrimp scampi was extremely oily and filet tips had way too much sauce. The 8 oz filet which used to be less than $50, is now $62, and  there were no scallops wrapped in bacon which is one of our group's go-to. Their dress code doesn't exist - people walking in wearing sweatpants, hoodies, construction boots, knit hats - certainly not how we remember the atmosphere. We felt rushed as their dinner crowd started to arrive - nothing new there as we always get the stink eye as their dinner crowd arrives. Again, Wm Penn allows a 2:00 lunch reservation for 13 people and they also allow more time than needed between courses - why look at us crooked?  The only reason I'm giving the Atmosphere a '3' is because of their beautiful Christmas tree. We wanted to get a picture in front of it, however we were so disgusted we just wanted to leave. Unfortunately, It's clear the Wm Penn Inn, once a well respected fine dining establishment is living on a legacy that is no longer. It's overrated and nothing more than a facade of yester-year and hopefully one day it can be the next...

This was our second time dining at The William Penn Inn. What happened? The first time was a great experience but this time was a total disappointment. First the good news: it’s clear that this place has a loyal and eager following. People entered with us in sizable groups with looks of genuinely happy anticipation. We did as well but our happiness quickly turned to abject disappointment. After being seated we waited for close to ten minutes for someone to come over and offer us water, a cup of coffee or the usual “Have you ever dined with us for brunch before?” so we could get the lay of the brunch here. No one came. Ever. So we finally got up and went to explore and found the usual brunch spot offerings which dot throughout a rabbit warren of small rooms. In one room there was a table for cold items like Cesar salad, smoked salmon, shrimp and bagels. Around the corner, in another room, there were multiple stations covering everything from prime rib, custom-made omelettes, chafing dishes filled with items ranging from edame-filled dumplings to scrambled eggs and bacon. A lot of the items in the chafing dishes seemed pretty tired and like they had been warming in their various sauces too long or the sauces were turning gloopy or alternatively were starting to dry out. The dessert table was visually somewhat attractive but it was clear that the kitchen or dessert supplier vendor favors that odd chem cream - that wasn’t real whipped cream on many items. The chocolate dipped strawberries were misshapen, haphazardly dipped and sweating from condensation. What should have been a grand finale to what should have been an amazing meal was just more disappointment. And speaking of disappointment, our waiter when he finally did materialize was very kind but he was never attentive. He refilled our coffee once, never asked us how the meal was and we had to flag down another waiter, an annoyed teenager, for a second tiny cup of coffee since our waiter just never materialized except when it was time to present the bill. We may give this place one more chance since everyone can have an off day, but it’s hard to believe that our experience today would merit many...