Paul's Pancake Parlor — Restaurant in Missoula

The food was honestly just terrible, totally inedible. We expected the food to at least be decent, considering all the awards they have plastered on the walls and the high rating. We did not finish our food and took it home in a takeout box, but we threw it away when we got home. That's how bad it was. So, let's get down to why it was terrible: -Coffee tasted like cigarette ash, it left a bad taste in my mouth and I would say coffee from a gas station is leagues ahead of whatever they served me. I do not exactly have high standards when it comes to coffee, as I drink instant coffee at home which tastes better than Paul's coffee. -My country fried steak was rubbery, and tough. It was flavorless as well, which could be remedied by adding salt and pepper and hot sauce, however, it was LEGITIMATELY RUBBERY AND TOUGH, as if it has been frozen for a year and overcooked once thawed. Was totally inedible! Disgusting! -The hashbrowns were actually flavorless. They needed salt, but the cook on them was fine. Could have been a bit crispier. -I can't have eggs, and they did not offer me a substitute for the eggs and instead made me pay full price for less food, instead of offering me something like extra hashbrowns like Ruby's does. -My husband ordered pigs in a blanket. He said the pancake was good, but the sausage was tough and rubbery. I had a bite of his sausage to taste it, and indeed it was very chewy and tough and rubbery. The actual flavoring inside the sausage was good, but it was so chewy and rubbery. Why? Was it old? Frozen? Overcooked? -The pancakes were the only thing that tasted good, but it's pancakes. It is sweet bread. Kind of hard to mess that up. -The biscuits themselves tasted good, they tasted like fresh biscuits. But the gravy ladeled over them was TERRIBLE. It was obviously instant gravy, not housemade, and there was NO SAUSAGE in the gravy. You expect actual bits of sausage in the gravy when you order biscuits and gravy, but it was clearly straight from an instant powder packet and they don't even dress it up to try to cover up the processed instant taste. It tasted like Waffle House biscuits and gravy which is pretty low quality, but at least that costs 5$ and not 15$. Unironically the biscuits and gravy from Town Pump tastes way better. -Meal came out to 50$ for a chicken fried steak meal, one pancake stack, and one order of pigs in a blanket. Way overpriced for instant, overcooked, frozen food. -We had no real server? For some reason, four different people were seeing to us. A different person brought drinks, multiple people checked on us, and a different woman took our order and brought our food. Who was our server? Who is going to take the tip? All in all, we were extremely disappointed with Paul's Pancake Parlor. I can only imagine they are running off old clout when the food used to be higher quality, they've most likely let quality slip while also raising prices, and people only go to eat there out of habit and lack of options.

Edit: To the owner, stop responding to people's reviews....

Paul's like to advertise itself as almost a kind of Hippie/Deadhead/TieDye kind of place, given its "Peace, Love, Pancakes" slogan but I think it's deceptive advertising. When you enter Paul's, it really has more of a small town coffee shop kind of vibe. The menu reflects that, the waitresses look like they belong in that kind of establishment and the customer base generally looks like that is the kind of environment in which they are comfortable.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. It's the kind of environment I'm comfortable with as well. The menu is pretty traditional American breakfast style, though they do specialize in pancakes. I'm not a real pancake guy but they make a good chicken fried steak with two eggs and excellent hash browns. I get mine with a side of a blueberry pancake instead of toast. It's a very filling breakfast. The hash browns are just as they should be, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. I mix them with the chicken fried steak gravy or with ketchup and hot sauce. Definitely my favorite breakfast at Paul's.

My second choice are the veggie browns, which is a smaller portion than the huge chicken fried steak plate, but still adequate for most people. Most of the other breakfast items are a bit too traditional for my tastes. I am a fan of Mexican style breakfasts, and though Paul's offers a "Breakfast Burrito", it is an Americanized version of a Mexican breakfast burrito. However, I think the menu offerings are what Paul's customers want, as it is never empty and always busy on weekends.

Missoula, which used to be a great breakfast town, has declined in recent years with the disappearance of the Shack, the Catalyst, Burns Street Bistro and the Hob Nob Cafe. I'm old enough to remember the Old Town Cafe, which I loved. I think it was in the same building where the James Bar is now. Paul's may be the best of the daily breakfast places that remain in Missoula. It is great value for the money, a stand up traditional breakfast place but I like a little more adventure with my breakfast than Paul's offers. As far as I am concerned, there is room for a "Jam" style breakfast place in Missoula, with a menu that is a little more daring. (Jam is a very popular breakfast restaurant in Bozeman) Nevertheless, if traditional breakfast and/or pancakes are your thing, Paul's will DEFINITELY...

If I could leave a 0 star review I would. Today I ordered the “Griz”. Country fried steak (which I’ve had and loved several times) with biscuits, hash brown and a poached egg all smothered in gravy. I don’t know where to start other than the fact that I have never had anything bad at Paul’s. Service is always spotty, but the food WAS solid. I don’t think anyone expects A-5 when they order a country fried steak, but at the very least it should be edible. What I was served today, was not.

It is absolutely embarrassing that the kitchen would send that food out. After attempting to send it back the server claimed that I ate half of it. 2 bites were taken if you count the one I had to remove from my mouth, then flipped the steak over to take a closer look. Maybe she didn’t recognize it? I don’t know but that was horribly unprofessional and inaccurate. Then the manager took a hands off approach peering from around the corner of the kitchen while he thought we weren’t looking. Stopping to wipe his nose on his long sleeve red plaid shirt, and continuing to do some kind of prep work which I hope didn’t directly involve food. After watching him do that, I’m actually glad he didn’t come speak to me nor look at me in the eye while I tried to get his attention. Absolutely embarrassing. Working in the food and beverage industry for world class restaurants has taught me to own up to my mistakes, not duck around the corner and take little peeks while guests are not looking. I’ve never left a review of a restaurant, or even complained about food to a server, but today’s Paul’s experience has prompted my first. To make matters worse, my pancake was cold and hard but still edible. The club sandwich my aunt got did look and apparently taste great! A little interesting that the tomato was literally a half inch thick, but whatever, I like tomatoes and she does to. lol… My grandma received a salad that was a pool of ranch with a few lettuce wedges. I just don’t know what to say other than customer service no longer exists at Paul’s. I can deal with condescending servers but when you bring bad food into it, it’s over. If the meat is messed up, 86 the item. Fire that manager, there are people out there who...