Park & Rec DTSP — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

This is the Glazed & Confused for $15 at Park & Rec in Downtown St Pete! I drove and walked across two streets in the pouring rain just to pick this up. And let me tell you, it was WORTH IT.

Ever since my old friend and I saw that one episode of The Boondocks, we swore to someday have a legitimate “Luther Burger.” But then we went on a few health kicks, I lost 150 lbs, I got a job, he got a better job, and before you knew it, I lived 4 hours away and still had not tried the famed lunch-dessert. Thank goodness for Park & Rec for making my fat-kid dreams finally come true and offering this beast!

The doughnut was solid and hefty without being too doughy. This was important to support the weight of the sandwich, and there was a LOT of weight. The cheese, egg, and bacon were savory and went together very well just as you’d expect from any breakfast sandwich, but these were real and freshly cooked ingredients unlike your standard #14 at McD’s - you can easily tell upon first glance. I asked for the burger medium and, wouldn’t ya know it, I received it medium! The meat was juicy and flavorful with a nice freshly grilled char to it. The most amazing part was that the whole thing actually had a very well balanced, albeit unhealthy, flavor profile! I didn’t know how egg and donut could work, but the saltiness, sweetness, and oiliness came together just fine! If I had to describe it, it’s kind of like the more successful younger brother to the McGriddle - they manage to work the same way. The fries were fries. Not much to say about those. Freshly made but clearly not the star here.

Since I was NOT going to eat it all in one go, I have to include a bit about the take home experience. I feel like it actually got BETTER, mainly because the doughnut soaked up some of the savory juices from the fillings. This obviously meant that I had to eat it with utensils, but whatever, who’s going to judge me at home? My cat? The answer is yes, but I digress, it was positively delicious and I highly recommend the leftovers lightly microwaved. However, if presentation is important to you, you should just skip the take-away part of this meal. Send them my way.

Also, I have to commend the staff for being friendly, attentive, quick, professional, and remembering our names and faces in what is literally the most busy establishment in the whole city. They have some winners working there, that’s for sure. They, and the fun loving atmosphere, always make me feel right at home no matter when or why I stop by.

To the owners: Whatever you’re doing here, I highly suggest you carry it over to your sister establishment next door, where my experience was so unpleasant that that my review got me kicked out of the foodie group you sponsor. No need to play that game here, though! Because...

This monstrosity of a diabetes-delivering demonwich gets an artery-clogging 5 out of 5 quacks! I got this thing in order to feel my circulatory system shudder, and I got what I came for. I wouldn’t rather eat anything else while partaking in the first Friday madness and drinking your establishment dry. See you there in a few days!

Tampa...

Parks and Rec and their employees are shady, dishonest scammers. They will attempt to steal from you and hope you don’t notice. They prey on preoccupied/drunk people and seemingly encourage their staff to do so.

On Saturday night, we were told it was a $5 cover charge for guys. No problem. But, while paying this, the door lady took it upon herself to charge my card and, before handing the device back to me, slyly clicked the 25% tip button to give herself a $1.25 tip. Let me be clear: no one in the history of life has EVER nor would EVER tip on a cover charge. It's asinine! This is a horrible business practice that borders on theft. It is essentially stealing, and I have no doubt that she scams hundreds of people every weekend by sneakily clicking the tip button when people aren't paying attention.

When she handed the device back to me, I immediately noticed the extra charge. I laughed in disbelief, said "no," and clicked the no tip button. However, instead of accepting her fate that she didn't pull one over on us, she had the audacity to get security to kick us out because we didn't let her get away with her scam.

After reading other reviews, it's clear that this isn't an isolated incident. The last three reviews here have complained about the same thing, indicating that this is part of their business model. It seems the employees are trained to do whatever they can to steal tips from customers. The girl at the front was dishonest and incredibly nasty. The literal only reason we got kicked out was because she was a hater, scammer, and (hopefully) embarrassed that she got caught doing something she obviously knows is wrong. She was so concerned with her $1.25 tip that she did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO EARN that she cost the business money from what we would’ve spent on drinks. Her entitlement was insane, her energy was toxic, and she became legitimately angry at us for choosing to forego the tip. NEWS FLASH: TIPPING IS A CHOICE, NOT A REQUIREMENT. NEWS FLASH x2: YOU TIP FOR SERVICES, NEVER FOR A FING DOOR CHARGE!!!!!!!! She really thought she did something to deserve a 25% tip LOL! Not even the standard 20%… 25%! For doing ✨nothing✨ And then she used the .000001% of power she has to bully us out of the bar before we could even step foot inside. If tipping on a door charge is mandatory (an oxymoron), they should tell you that instead of bullying and punishing you when you decide not to. Oh, it’s not mandatory? Tell your stuck up scammer door girl that.

This place hires thieves, scams their customers, and teaches their staff that it's okay to steal from people and retaliate when their tricks don't work. The staff is unprofessional and clearly more interested in ripping off customers than providing a decent service. Save your money—avoid Parks and Rec. There are plenty of other bars in town that won’t try to swindle you out...

While in town visiting family, my sister recommended coming here for a couples night out. We went as a party 6. Upon arriving, the venue looks pretty cool. You have a large beer pong field, arcade games and multiple bars. There are a lot of steps so this could be an issue for some. But the layout and games were not my issue. The food service and quality was.

Bar food doesn't need to be fancy or gourmet. However, if you're going to serve it, it should come out hot and delicious. We ordered wings, tots and nachos. The wings were out fast and hot. They were by far the highlight of the night. The tots (ordered at the same time) came out 20 mins after the wings and they were just warm. Almost like they were made, left to sit around because maybe someone forgot them and then were delivered. The taste was really good though, just missing the bot factor. Lastly, we ordered the chicken nachos. These were just not acceptable as nachos. There was so many wet ingredients that you needed a spoon to eat it and all of the chips on the bottom were soggy. Ot would have been better with less drizzle or at least make this a dipable nacho.

Drinks were plentiful and you had your choice of beers (draft and can, craft and general), can wine, white claws, and mixed drinks (done right too!). The husband was very happy about this and sipped Old Fashions the...