Moorhead Fryn' Pan Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Moorhead

I went to Fryin' Pan in Moorhead on Sunday, October 8, 2023 to have breakfast. There was a waiting list, but since I was alone, I asked to sit at the counter and was seated immediately.

I asked for and received water and coffee. There were no menus on the counter and I was not offered a menu, but since I knew exactly what I wanted, that was not a problem.

When the waitress arrived, I ordered a ham and cheese omelette, wheat bread (they do not have sourdough or rye) and hash browns. I told the waitress that I had a special request. I told her I realized that they were fairly busy, but I was in no hurry and happy to wait for my special request. I asked her that the hash browns be cooked to order. She wrote something on her ticket and left the counter.

I could see the pass-through from my seat (I estimate I was 10' away from it) and noted that some orders sat in the pass-through for longer than I would have anticipated, while others were picked up immediately. I understand - the waiter/waitress cannot always get to the pass-through immediately after his/her name is called.

My order seemed to be taking longer than average, which made me happy, because I was anticipating hot, fresh hash browns to go with my hot, fresh omelette and hot, fresh wheat toast.

When my order arrived, I was deeply disappointed. Not only were the hash browns not hot, and not fresh, all components of my breakfast (with the sole exception of the coffee) were at best, warm. To double-check my visual impression, I put my finger in each of the items on my plate. I confirmed the hash browns, and to my surprise, the omelette, were only warm, not hot.

I asked my waitress for my check. When I got it, I looked at her notes on her order pad. Hastily scribbled (and barely, barely legible) above the "hash browns" (or "HB") noted was the word, circled, "Fresh". I really wasn't sure what it said, but by considering what i had requested and closely examining what she had written, I concluded that the word must be "Fresh".

First of all, I don't know if the cooks could have read it as it was hastily written (in my opinion). Second, I don't know how the cooks interpreted "Fresh". I did not has for "Fresh" hash browns - I asked for my hash browns to be "cooked to order". That means, do not take my hash browns from the pile of hash browns you have already cooked and moved off to the side of the grill to keep them warm, cook them when I order them and not before.

Disgusted, I left the entire order on the counter and paid my check. I never even took a bite.

When I specifically asked for my food to be cooked to order and specifically stated that I was happy to wait and in no hurry, I don't expect simply "above room temperature" food, and I will not eat it because it wouldn't be enjoyable.

I don't enjoy stiffing the wait staff, but the waitress should have seen that the hash browns were not cooked to order (I could see it by looking at them and only touched them to confirm my visual inspection) and rejected them. Instead, she served them. The fact that the omelette and toast were also "above room temperature" was just a slap in the face. I actually...

Wednesday, October 12 we were at your establishment for lunch. Actually we went there to have breakfast. We were seated by a very nice young man. He explained to us the specials for the day. Menus were placed on the table. He said Linda will be your server and she will be with us. About 2 minutes later, Linda (server) came to us and asked if we wanted a beverage of any kind. We said, Yes, coffee for both with lotz of cream. She left and a few minutes later came back with water. She left and helped several other tables who were already seated. Two men came in and were seated, behind my friend. They ordered pop/soda and received it within a few minutes. Linda walked by us again with no coffee for us. We waited for our coffee as Linda walked by us at least 4x. Well by this time I was timing everything with my phone as to what she was doing and who she was taking care of and how long it was taking. Well 10 minutes went by and my friend said to order a breakfast off the menu for her as she went to the bathroom. While my friend was in the bathroom, Linda walked by me again, this time getting the gentlemen their lunch to them. Linda came out at least 3x with food for other customers. The gentlemen that served us seated a elderly couple behind the gentlemen that were seated behind us. They ordered coffee and she left, came out with 2 waters and 2 coffees for them. She proceeded to take their order. My friend came out of the bathroom and looked at me at the table and said she hasn't been by? I said oh yes, many times and she has walked by me without bringing our coffee or asking if we were ready. Finally I said after about a 1/2 hour waiting, let's go, we aren't going to be served. As we were getting up, the manager came over and proceeded to clean a table behind me and I said, "are you the manager". He confirmed he was. He was wearing a pink button up shirt with a dark tie. I said we have been waiting for our coffee and to order some food, but since she isn't helping us we are leaving. To our disbelief, he said, "oh ok" No let me help you, or I will get your server, or hold on one second. But instead, we get a "Oh ok". Well that really threw us for a loop. So with that, we will not visit this establishment again. Poor service all the way. I will not recommend this...

We eat at this restaurant several times a month and overall would rate this restart as fair to good depending on who is managing it. However, last night (11-12-19) was not a pleasant experience. My husband and I arrived at 7:25pm. The restaurant was maybe half full with plenty of wait staff and one assistant manager and one manager on duty. For whatever reason we waited 15 minutes to be seated. We watched wait staff, the manager and assistant manager stand and talk and interact with each other and help customers who came up to pay their bills. I will note that there was one customer at the counter at the time we entered the establishment. Several more customers came up during the time we waited to be seated, that included a woman who came in 5 minutes after us, approached the counter and spoke with a waitress, then the assistant manager and the manager about an order they had called in. Not once in the 15 minutes were stood/sat there were we asked if we had been helped, were waiting for others to join us or ask to be seated. There was a lot of eye contact from the employees but that was it. After the manager finally seated us, we watched a large group of people (8-10) walk into the establishment. Within less than a minute this group of people were seated. As smaller groups arrived they were immediately greeted and seated and yes, this was all while other people were at the front counter waiting to pay their bills. My point is they seemed able to seat people coming in all while helping people check out and yet we sat there for 15 minutes in a 1/2 empty restaurant and not one employee could help us. We were fortunate to have a waitress that we have had in the past. She is always friendly, helpful and accommodating. Sadly the salad bar was not very pleasing, we found black mold on 90% of the broccoli and the carrots were store-bought baby carrots that had not been cleaned well and had brown gunk on some of them. The manager looked constantly annoyed and only seemed happy when dancing and joking around with the assistant manager and some of the waiters standing behind the cash register. I would add the pictures I took of the broccoli but this site doesn’t give me the...