The Place Downtown — Restaurant in Panama City

This review is a long time coming. I kept saying I was going to leave it, but just never sat down to do it. I am new to the area and always laughed about the name and said I would tell relatives to meet me at The Place Downtown, knowing that would confuse them. On New Year's Eve of last year I had some relatives in town and we were going to the escape room across the street from The Place Downtown.

My cousin looked online and saw that they had a New Year's Day promotion special so we decided to eat there prior to going to the escape room. Two of us went ahead and we ordered appetizers as we waited on the other five to come. Once the remaining of the group came my cousin order three of the New Year's Day specials. The guy that was waiting on our table became rude and said that special did not was not valid. My cousin said that it's on your website and it say it is a New Year's Day special. She pulled it up on her phone up and he refused to read what was on the website and would not honor the special. She asked to see the manager and he said she is not going to honor that either. So we look at all of that as bait and switch. It is unfortunate because for a holiday the restaurant was pretty empty, not being from the area we don't know if that is normal which would say a lot about the food or service or if it's just one of those days where people were not eating out.

Now I will review the food I do not like to lump aa bad service experience with the quality of the food. Overall I will say that the food was pretty good, typical bar fare. We had quite a few entrees and appetizers on our table since it was six of us and overall everyone like the food and everything came out hot. My cousin made sure her boys ate but she refused to eat there because of how rude the waiter was and the bait and switch routine. It is a possibility the restaurant ran a special on their website and did not notify the staff but in that case the proper thing for him to do was to verify it since it was on the website but he refused to do.

So even though this is in walking distance to my house and it would be a convenient place to eat since there are no quick restaurants in the downtown area, but because of this experience I probably will not frequent this particular restaurant. I hope they improve customer service since the downtown area is going to be a popular place...

Was really excited to try this place out based on the positive reviews but ended up disappointed. Both my guest and I took 2 bites of our food and then just talked for a bit before leaving to catch a movie and get something else to eat elsewhere. We decided to split the cheese bites appetizer, not much flavor and the ranch brought out to dip it in was a Ken's to go thing instead of a regular bowl or ramikin of ranch. Ate 2 and then gave it up. All for unhealthy but it's got to taste good to be worth it! They came out piping hot but weren't good. Regretted ordering them. Basically watered down kraft Mac that got fried. My friend got the greek gyro. The meat on it looked like plastic pho meat. He took one bite and then just nibbled on his fries. I got the Philly cheesesteak and paid the upcharge for sweet potato fries. The Philly meat had no seasoning or any flavor. Was just weirdly moist. I think I had 1-2 little diced peppers total when I looked at it. Equivalent of tipping a penny. Can yall not afford to put actual veggies on the thing like menu promises? Bread was pale and soggy, clearly hadn't been toasted. I took a few small bites then gave it up as a lost cause. Sweet potato fries were sold to me as "tossed in brown sugar and butter" which sounded unhealthily intriguing and nigh-dessertish. They came out as dry, over-cooked thin sweet potato fries with a random scattering of brown sugar on top. I think i maybe had 3 nefore i gave up on them as well. The whole meal was a huge letdown. Waitress was nice but not very attentive, didn't really ask how the food was. Offered to take gyro off receipt but never said anything to me about mine or apologized or asked if we wanted to swap for something else. We sat there about 45 minutes and she gave no indication that it was odd we weren't eating. Seat booths were disgustingly covered in crumbs. Maybe you have to be drunk to enjoy it or we just got the worst things on the menu. I don't know but I will not return and will actively warn people away. PC is limited, especially in terms of good food within a reasonable distance of the base, but this place is definitely not it. Do...

Been wanting to go to The Place for some time. Last night was the night. Downtown Panama City has decided to totally rip up Harrison Street for beautification. It will be beautiful eventually but for now. Where to park???? Behind the building there is a parking lot and you can enter the back door via a stair case. No problem for our group

One of the reasons I wanted to go to The Place is because their menu covers a plethora of cuisines. Burgers, Wings. Salads, Pizza, some Cajun and seafood choices. It’s a long narrow restaurant that is more sports bar towards the back and casual dining in the front. We liked the vibe and we felt welcomed.

I went with a great friend and we did more talking and drinking and just grabbing bites. We highly recommend the zucchini fries. If y’all are a one app kind of people that order is huge. We couldn’t decide on the sauce we wanted so they brought us several. You can also get the zucchini fries as a side.

I had read about the antipasto egg rolls and they had intrigued me. YUM! I’m one of the rare people that if not considered completely wrong I will eat dessert before my entree. And I don’t always order dessert but the chocolate dipped key lime pie… had me thinking Key West. And it was really good. I don’t often order Key lime pie because if I want key lime pie I will go to Winn Dixie and get the Mikes key lime pie. Save a few bucks It was all about the chocolate and key lime. So good. We did end up ordering the Cuban and splitting that. By the time we made that decision I was full and not into taking photos. Usually, I get the servers name but again I was off my game last night but I did get his photo when I was taking a photo of the overhead sign. He was wonderful and funny and engaging and perfect timing. I think we’re best friends now hahaha.

The Cuban was good. Actually dang good. I may have had better at some time in my life but definitely better than some

Mostly local clientele for you wanting to find somewhere the locals go. There were families eating, business people, sea captains and groups of girls or guys

10/10...