Flavors Around The Square ~ F.A.T.S. — Restaurant in Painesville

Not really sure what happened to this place. My husband and I started going here early in the mornings about 8 months ago. Usually always had the same waitress (think her name is Sam) and she was always FANTASTIC! Food was always good. But the last two time we have been there it's like a whole different diner. We went a little later than usual and the vibe in the place seemed so off. About a month and a half ago we went in for a late breakfast. I don't remember exactly what my husband ordered but it came out wrong. The waitress (not the usual one we had in the past) even noticed it wasn't right. She then told us that the cook was in a bad mood and she didn't want to make it worse. Thought that was really odd and not really a great way to deal with customers, but we let it go. Just chalked it up to an off day and maybe an inexperienced waitress. Like I said, prior to this we had had nothing but outstanding service and food. We went to eat breakfast about 2 weeks ago and had the worst experience we've had. My husband's food was fine. I ordered the fajita omelet or fajita scramble. Waitress asked how I wanted my steak and I said medium. When it was brought out the waitress vanished before I could look at it and the steak was WAY over cooked. It wasn't even edible it was that over cooked. Waitress was nowhere to be found so I couldn't even let her know. I pick off all the steak and eat my potatoes, eggs and toast. I then over heard a customer complaining that his steak isn't cooked the way he asked as well and when someone came over to try and "fix" the issue the waitress starts to say "well medium rare here means....." And at that point I knew that even if I could find my own waitress to ask her to rectify the situation it wouldn't be rectified because apparently at this place they cook steaks differently than the rest of the world. Then I notice there is dried food all over one side of my water glass. Few minutes later a different waitress sees we must be done and asks if I'd like a to go container. I said no and she asks if I'm sure because there's still a lot of food left on my plate. I say "no thank you I'd just like the check so we can leave" and she asks if there was a problem. I say to her "the steak is not cooked how I asked and it's not good so I'd just like the check so we can pay." She then calls over, what I'm assuming is the lead waitress, and tells her what I just got done explaining. This waitress then asks me if I let my waitress know so she could try to fix the issue. I tell her I'd just really like my check. Even if I had been able to locate our original waitress I still wouldn't have said anything again knowing the cook cooks his steaks however he feels and from the previous experience of knowing that if the cook is in a bad mood the wait staff apparently doesn't like to confront him about poorly cooked food. In general I won't send food back because I don't trust there won't be some sort of gross retaliation. I just assume pay for the meal and not go back.

And that was just the food and service part. At one point a waitress was arguring with another customer (same guy who had a steak not cooked right) about something and the argument got loud enough that everyone in the diner could hear it. I'm assuming this guy is a regular since he seemed to be chatty with the whole wait staff like hes known them for a while. I have nothing against that. I do have an issue with an argument being so loud it interferes with other diners experiences. When I go out to eat I don't want to listen to people arguring.

Hopefully this place gets back to good service and good food. Sadly, I won't be back and I need to find a new...

3-24 Edit: Made the mistake of trying lunch. I planned on my usual breakfast detailed below but had recently talked about the burger from Highlander, and that had me wanting a good burger. It sounded like it was going to be similar, so I gave it a shot. It was the double-decker burger with special sauce, and it was actively bad. The sauce was essentially non-existent. Not only was there only a small quantity, but it was generally flavorless. The patties were really anemic and kinda tasted like they were boiled or sat in chafing dishes of warm water waiting to be ordered, no char, texture, or flavor. The whole thing was just kinda wet and sloppy. The bottom bun was so waterlogged, chunks of it were literally falling off the burger as I was eating it. I'm not really a "send food back to the kitchen" or "take this off the bill" kind of person, so I just ate it, but it was really pretty terrible. Was it just an off day for them? Who knows. But I find it next to impossible that anyone would think what I was served was good. So, still needing my burger fix, I'll have to drive out to Highlander Tavern for the best burger I've found in at least 50 miles and just stick to breakfast here, which is always very good.

So this will be my go-to spot for breakfast now. Was super into Market Street, but their prices went up A LOT, prompting us to start looking around. This place hit all the marks. The Corned Beef Hash was homemade (they also have canned, but why), the fried biscuits and gravy were homemade and good (but not a 10), and I added over easy eggs. I wanted everything stacked up, and I think it makes a difference with how the yolk spreads out over everything, but it came kinda separated. I'm sure they'll get used to me soon, though. I was so excited to eat that I forgot to snap a picture for y'all, but I'll get one next time. Service was good. The prices were really good. Can't...

Stopped in during a trip up North and after seeing the reviews we stopped in. The first thing that hit us was the noise which I didn't mind but was overwhelming for my elderly Aunt. But as it was the skies were about to open and the lunch crowd was leaving, we hoped the levels would drop a little. So we stayed. And they did, a little. The staff was friendly and our beverages arrived quickly, we gave our our order that's when things went South. A family of 5 came in after we did and they got their order before us. We didn't order anything complicated. Eggs Benedict and an omelet. Finally, our order arrived. I am still gobsmacked to this day! Never have I been served Eggs Benedict with shaved luncheon meat ham under my egg. The level of saltiness this adds with the Hollandaise sauce ruins the whole beautiful dish. It's kitchen blasphemy!! As for the omelet, report was it had a good flavor but was so over cooked as to be rubbery and quite possibly able to be classified as a weapon. The ends were inedible altogether. I watched my Aunt struggle before finally just taking some from the middle and then looking at me with a confused look on her face and asking me "How is it that this is so overcooked and yet the cheese is not melted?" I didn't dare tell her. Waiting and waiting for staff to return, I finally just waved my arms in the air like I just didn't care. I did manage to catch the eye of one but she blatantly ignored me. At last our bill showed up but alas we then had to await yet another to check us out. Obviously, we weren't regulars. We weren't included in the party in the rear and that's OK. We didn't come in to interfere with your good time. Really we didn't. We didn't know. But we do now. It's ok. We still left you a great tip because my Aunt and I did enjoy the time we got to spend together seated in this establishment. Even if we didn't enjoy anything...