Penny's All American Cafe — Restaurant in Pismo Beach

Don't know why this place is so busy. 45 min wait for a table on a wednesday. high prices, quality is low (cost me 17 bucks for coffee, eggs bennidict with pre cooked rubbery ham and "out of a can" hollandaise sauce, worse than Denny's) and the waiters bumped into my chair about 20 times as they sprinted to serve the totally over packed tiny dining room (felt like sitting in a tornado).

When the waiter litterally chucked my bill in front of me from about 2 ft away without saying a word (then or my whole meal) I decided I was writing this. Do yourself a favor, go to Honeymoon Cafe two blocks south, cheaper, better service, friendly staff, cleaner, fresher better prepared food, much better coffee. Done w Penny's.

As a side note two young girls w peircings and colored hair were asked 4 times "why are you here!?" (Like they were homeless or something) They were picking up a to go order. When their food was ready they were told loudly ”22 dollars!” About 3 times, when they didn't get their money out fast enough. I talked to the girls afterwards, they were hard working locals, nice people wearing cool cats sweaters. They felt mistreated and nobody spending their money should walk away feeling like that. Owner can talk about her wonderful staff... I'm not seeing it.

To the owner's response: No, Beth was NOT my server, she didn't say anything to me, though maybe she picked up the check my waiter chucked at me. My server was a heavy set dark skinned guy, with a flat top in a black shirt. There were only two male servers, shouldn't be hard for you to figure out which one. Maybe you should check your security cameras and follow your own advice about facts.

I sat at the end of counter because I didn't want to wait for a table, you know, the part of the counter where the kids crayons are left around to spill from cups and the menues and used newspapers pile up (because the staff are too busy to bother with putting them away) and fall off the counter when your workers rush by.

I was quiet but had no attitude. zero. I said nothing but my order. But I guess when you've got a lot of people annoyed with very long waits, over rushed bad service, and are angry about cold or flavorless food you could mix em up pretty easy.

The one big thing I learned at Penny's was some people are sheeple that will still flock to an old restaurant, and still write 5 star reviews, long after it went from great little dinner to overpriced overcrowded over valued rip off.

And my last post on this, Penny's truth... Read the negitive reviews here, read her responses... Does she seem like an honest or sincere...

We got to the restaurant around 10 a.m. We waited for about 45 minutes after signing in with 8 groups ahead of us. They had a lot of seating for waiting patrons, which was nice. One of the benches was sticky, and people avoided sitting there, so I let a staff member know. It wasn't dealt with in the about 90 min we were there. Before we left, we let the waitress know, and she seemed to make note of it again.

We initially got water, but it tasted like mold or chemicals. I couldn't continue drinking it. The ice was ok. I wonder if they need to change filters.

I got the pismo pier omelet and added spinach and mushroom. Their home fries come with onions, are cooked nicely, and are not very crispy. The lobster and shrimp were cooked beautifully. And I was offered a gf pancake when I said I was gluten sensitive. She charged me an extra dollar to do that instead of toast.

The other person got the chicken fried steak and home fries with over-easy eggs. The gravy had sausage in it and was well seasoned. We both added something to...

Visiting the area and saw the reviews, so we decided to try. We sat down before it was busy and it still took nearly 10 mins to even see a waitress. No water even after asked for it, had to wait to ask a second time after our food arrived. There were 2 gentleman came in 15 mins after us who had water and coffee in a couple of mins. They even received their food right after we received ours. I had the slab of ham and eggs with hashbrowns and fruit instead of toast; it was excellent. My wife ordered the chicken fried steak and eggs with homefries; it wasn't very good. The gravy tasted like flour and the steak was tough and dry. The potatoes were ok. Fruit was tastey, especially the strawberries, however there was a $2 per plate upcharge for fruit. What soured it was she didn't mention the upcharge, rather made it sound like it was a straight up no charge substitute. I'd rate better if service was better and food lived up to hype. In an area with so many visiting guests, quality needs...