Per Diem — Restaurant in Warwick Township

I don't know who gave this place 5 stars or how it can be averaging 4.6 stars, given all of the much better places to eat in both Lititz and the Lancaster area in general. Frankly, this place makes fast food dumps look great and anyone employed there should be ashamed. I haven't had food this bad since elementary school cafeteria lunches, and if you went to Lancaster School District in the 80s, you would know that is saying something. This was by far, the worst experience at a restaurant I have ever had. No, that may wrong to say, this is the worst experience in a restaurant anyone in the area has had. First, it was the only place I could get reservations for on Valentine's Day weekend. It was highly rated and in the Rock Lititz hotel, it was a mystery why other restaurants were telling me they were booked until Monday, but they could fit me in. I actually thought i struck gold and was anticipating eating at a hot new venue and was awaiting the heaps of praise by my wife. Well, after eating there, i can tell you the mystery was solved--it was easy for me to book there because everyone else in the area already discovered that it was overpriced, foul smelling, and too damn expensive. My wife and I got there and we were seated. The menu came out and the offerings were sparse. But that didn't stop us. We ordered a cocktail for me and a glass of wine for her and an appetizer of bacon mac and cheese (a special not on the menu). The cocktail, the up and downer, was great and the mac and cheese surprised my wife as it was pretty dam good. Unfortunately this was the only part of themeal that was enjoyable. For an entree my wife ordered the steak and fries (truffle fries) and I ordered the impossible burger. I also asked for a milk stout to brought out with the burger. My wife wasn't really happy with the selection on the menu, but I didn't notice, since I order vegan 90% of the time, and was eager to try the impossible burger. The food came out. Not my beer, just the food. I waited, for a minute thinking it was coming. It wasnt. I notified the girl that brought my food out and told her to bring my beer. She got the waitress who came over and apologized because my food came out quicker than expected. I said I was fine with that. And the waitress left. Now, before I go on about the beer, let me tell you, when they brought the burger out, I was shocked. It was a burger on a smashed bun. It literally was on a gigantic platter with a cardboard box of fries. Now, I wasn't expecting much, but for 14 dollars, I at least expected what the menu said. The menu said tomato jam--thats code for ketchup. The menu said shaved onions--that is three pieces of half inch diced onion. The menu said lettuce, that was 2 wilted, yellow leaves (not lettuce, maybe spinach) smaller than the patty. The vegan roll, well, to say it looked like the cheap store brand hamburger roll would be doing it a favor. If I worked at a McDonald's I would be embarrassed to serve this the way it looked. But it gets better (or worse). The top of the patty (which despite the chefs best efforts was pretty good) had a layer of salt. Not salted, but a crust of salt. It was obviously pressed very hard as both the patty and bread broke apart into 4 pieces when I bit into it. Thank God there was an abundance of ketchup --i mean tomato jam--in a little dish for me to dip the sandwich in, because it was way too salty. My wife had a similar complaint about there being too much salt on her steak. Who makes a crust of salt on a steak, let alone a veggy patty? Now the beer. I was trying to wait for my beer. So I was trying not to eat. But I was also starving. The beer just wasn't coming. The waitress came over after about 5 minutes and asked me what beer I ordered. I told her, even though I thought she already had the order in, since she told me earlier that the food just came out quicker than the beer. Still I waited. The beer only came when I was done eating.

There was also a foul odor wafting through the place. Just a terrible experience. And the table beside us...

I wish I could say that this was a good experience but it just wasn’t. I came here for twice for brunch before on a Sunday around 1PM and it was great. Great food, friendly waitress and reasonable time of food service. As of recently I came here to try their dinner menu since their brunch food was so delicious. All the food we ordered was delicious, no doubt. We ordered 1 appetizer of the Brussels sprouts, two sides (French fries and squash) and three entrees (pizza, salad and gnocchi). We also ordered 3 drinks (wine, cocktail and beer). Total came to about $160. Yes I said $160! Insanely high. The prices for the dinner menu are expensive and yes I know it’s Lititz for the bad & boujee but still. Felt like we got a little robbed considering how terrible the service was.

When we arrived at 8:30pm, we didn’t get to leave until close to 10:30pm. Not because we sat there and chit-chatted. No we wanted to leave sooner actually, but between our food taking 30-35 minutes to be in front of us and never being acknowledged by our waitress whatsoever, it dragged the night on. When we came in it was busy, I will admit that.

However, our waitress (some short blonde lady with glasses) ignored us majority of the night even when we initially were seated by the hostess. She didn’t even come over to us for 15 minutes to take our drink order despite her frequently visiting her other tables right next to and behind us. When we got our drink order in, she didn’t even bring it to us…a man from behind the bar did. He gave it to us 10 minutes after requesting it. But because he wasn’t our waiter, we couldn’t put in our food order. We waited another 15 minutes until she acknowledged us (she was very much around just didn’t come over to us until we stared her down and waved). Our food took a while to get to us from that point. Then after we were done, she STILL didn’t come back much. Finally like around 10:15pm she came back and asked if we wanted a box and all.

Us ladies at the table were TRYING to be empathetic and still gave her 20% tip. But with that being said, I’m letting everyone know to not expect great service at this restaurant during...

My family and I swung by Per Diem for a Father's Day brunch. This place came recommended, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm definitely going back! Their menu works with the local, seasonal availability, so the menu varies slightly depending on when you go. Today's specials were lemon berry pancakes as well as a steak-and-eggs combo. We also ordered up the biscuits and sausage gravy. All were delicious! (We share bites around the table.) I was the one who ended up with the steak -- it was a flat-iron steak cooked just perfectly (medium-rare)! Because it was Father's Day, the place was a little busier than normal, I think. Our server, Trinity, was super-friendly. She also came around a few times to be sure we were OK since the place was busy, and she was up-front in letting us know that things were going to take just slightly longer than normal, especially since there was a party of fifteen that had come in before us. Most servers wouldn't say a word and let you get frustrated with the wait. She was very kind in letting us know and also with staying on top of any drinks we would need while we waited that little extra. The place is clean and nicely decorated. There's a large bar right as you enter with counter seating as well as normal table seating. We actually had a table that backed up to a booth-style bench. There's outdoor seating as well when the weather is nice. All in all, I'd recommend giving this...