Perry's Café & Beach Rentals - Santa Monica 2400 — Restaurant in Santa Monica

Walking along the beach we needed somewhere to eat, and Perry's was conveniently located right on the seafront, so it only felt natural to grab a quick lunch there. After ordering we were fortunate enough to find a table (there were very few). We ordered a cheeseburger, margherita pizza, tacos, and a crispy chicken sandwich. Although it was a lovely location, the 45 minute wait for our food which followed was far too long, particularly for somewhere which gives the impression of a quick and convenient place to grab some food. It is not enough to put up some signs saying 'this is not fast food... etc', because even in a 5 star restaurant I would never expect to wait that long. It definitely isn't fast food - it's the slowest food I've had in California. To make matters worse the burger was very rare, if not undercooked. There was also a thick cross section of an onion inside my burger - no idea why but I hope this was just a mistake. The pizza came 10 minutes after the rest of the food and tasted claggy. I understand that it was Sicilian style, but it was just not good enough. It was also enormous, even as a medium. One slice would've been enough. The crisps which came with the sandwich tasted like they came out of an old packet stuffed at the back of a cupboard. Our experience at Perry's was only saved by its fabulous location on the beach. I would never go there if not for this.

Also, don't ask for a tip when there is no table service. This is a personal grievance of mine in the US, but I find it ridiculous being prompted for a 20% tip after I've just ordered a burger over the counter. There is no table service, so why should I add a service tip? I hadn't even tasted...

I had to wait 1 hour to rent a surfboard and wetsuit because they were not done setting up by the time they opened and the equipment was very poor quality.

Came here on a Tuesday morning at 9:30 am, which is when they open, with a friend who wanted to surf for the first time. I went up to one of the employees and told them we wanted to rent equipment for surfing. They told me they were still setting up and it would take about 30 minutes until they could rent out the equipment. This was shocking to me because there were no other patrons and it was not busy, but I begrudgingly waited because I did not know of any other surf rental spots around. 30 minutes later, I asked again, and they were still setting up and told me it would be another 20 minutes. I was already at the end of my patience but my friend did not want to cause a scene.

Finally, after waiting an hour, they opened the rental room. It took them 5 minutes to write down my friend's name and pay for the rental. Why did we have to wait 1 hour for them to set up when it only took us 5 minutes to rent!? Terrible service.

Not only that, but they just showed us the disorganized equipment and told us to grab what we needed. The wetsuits were all tattered and not in order of size. My friend had to try on 4 different wetsuits before finding one that fit her (and if you've ever worn a wetsuit, you know that those things are hard to put on and take off). They only had three foam surfboards, and the outer layer was broken on two of them where the foam is exposed.

Don't waste your time renting anything for surfing here. Their rental equipment is damaged and the...

Back story:

The mother hasn't had many chances to ride bikes, so I wanted to take her to my favorite bike trail in LA. Didn't think she could handle riding by herself, so we rented a tandem from Perry's near Lot 7 for the bf and the mother, and off we went on our beach cruise.

About 2 minutes into our ride, I decided my mom's inaugural bike journey should be documented. Against my better judgment, I started recording a video of them riding along the beach. Soon after that--8 seconds to be exact (it's on video!)--my face was planted in the pavement, blood oozing from my hands and knees.

Fast forward to later, we lugged the tandem back to Perry's hoping for a refund, as I was unable to continue riding. Unfortunately, we barely missed their 15 minute grace period for refunds (we were gone for 20 mins). The employee (Tom Ray) and his supervisor (Jonathan Flores) refused to understand that the time we were away was mostly spent frantically running around looking for band aids, not happily cruising the shore.

Lesson:

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it." -- Warren Buffet

Is it Perry's fault I was injured? Absolutely not. However, their customer service mishandled the situation and should have made a circumstantial exception. Instead, Perry's will lose 3 customers for life. And hopefully, your patronage as well.

Oh, and don't ride your bike one-handed.

Epilogue:

Yes, I have recovered, and no, the video is...