Perkins American Food Co. — Restaurant in Winter Park

My husband and I have gone to a Perkins end of last year. Everything there was great, from the greeters, waitress, timely matter of food being served, how the food was platted, and did not feel rushed at all. Our bill was good for two meals, and they too our AARP CARD. Which was an added bonus. This trip, we ended up going to another Perkins because of the area we're were traveling to. It was a bit out of the way, but being a Perkins, we chose over other restaurants. Plenty of parking, it was not full, but a lot of customers in there. We were greeted right away and taken to our table. It was in the back corner, which was fine. They had booths and tables. We chose a table being just the two of us. Three booths were full of people, around five or six each. Three tables had five, and one table had one person. Than us. So the waitress was busy. Her name is Victoria. Very pleasant. But she was running around. She had four booths and six tables that she was serving by herself. She was very good at it. Bringing drinks to three tables at once, then taking everyone's orders, In the order that they came in. She knew the menu very well. My husband ordered the Turkey, with stuffing, mashed potatoes, Mac, and cheese with some cranberry sauce. His all-time favorite. Year round . I ordered the chicken fried steak with potato tots and fresh fruit. She brought out the food in the order she had taken them. All looked great. Ours came in a timely matter. My husband dug right in. He was pleased. The chicken fried steak was a very good size and , very crispy, but top with , sadly a processed gravy. Not freshly made, as I was hoping. But it was very tasty. The potatoe tots were hot and crispy. Deep fried and cooked evenly. The fruit was alright. It was cut up into tiny pieces to make it look like a lot. Seems the cut it tiny like that to look like a lot in a small shallow bowl. It was cantaloupe, honey dew, with two grapes. All in all the meal was great. Victoria returned to all the tables to check on everyone. She spoke to everyone at the tables or booths. Answering questions, commenting about the cute children. She was quick and very friendly. When it came time, she asked if we needed or wanted anything else. We ordered a whole pie to go. For two slices, it would have been ten dollars. A whole pie was fifteen dollars. Made moe sence, and we would hove more for the morning with coffee. Plus , we figured it would be better than a store bought one. Our bill came to fifty-six. Dollars and ninety two cents. $ 56.92. Not bad for two filling meals, drinks, and a whole pie. So we went to pay. Even though I knew they should take AARP, I was told NOT ALL do. This one did not. I looked it up and Googled it. It does state that not Perkins take AARP. So on that note, all in all, everything was great. Portions were good, very flavorful, and the right temperature. You can tell the food was fresh, not microwaved to reheat. Free refills on the drinks. The only disappointment was that the gravy wasn't made fresh. It is a commercial product. Which I understand, being a busy place, you can't keep up with it. I'm a gravy person, though. But it was ok. Another disappointment was the fruit. It was good, but the way it was cut to fit the small shallow dish was very disappointing. Last but not least. Although not a real big deal, they fact that some take the AARP CARD was disappointing. I know some of you will laugh and think it is stupid. But when you are on a budget, every little bit helps. Had I known, I would not have bought the pie there. But if you go to this one, hopefully you will have Victoria as your server. She was truly the best server. I hope they...

So we decided to try this place because a random person had highly recommended it. As you enter the restaurant you get the vibe of old folks congregating in musty old fashioned place where nobody will bother them. Fine. The place was stylized in the 70s and is kept clean, so it’s fine. The staff were prompt and kind and courteous, so we liked that. The place was certainly not busy. Parking was plentiful. As we were ushered to our table we passed by the desert display which showed the pumpkin muffins which looked delightful, so I inevitably opted to have one of those rather than the pancakes. Our waitress did an excellent job, and we liked her just fine. She brought us a high chair which was to our surprise… clean! Something that even some nicer restaurants neglect to achieve. The food was brought out quite quickly. Unfortunately the hash browns were substituted with tater tots, and my meal looked like it was a rapidly slapped together mess out of ready to microwave freezer containers as you can see from the photos. We felt like the only thing that was actually “cooked” rather than pulled out of a freezer and warmed were the pancakes and eggs. The entire meal immediately reminded me the mess hall meals I had once enjoyed so many years ago when I was a young soldier in the army, except rather than a naïve 18 year old getting free slop so that I could survive through brutal training, I’m now a 42 year old doctor with a family in tow, spending $70 on similar quality food but now accompanied with buyers regret and an overwhelming desire to never listen to a kind random strangers breakfast recommendation ever again. Crazy fact, this place is pretty much the same price as first watch and keke’s. (Definitely less than Briar Patch)

Verdict: we do not recommend this place, wait staff are great, food isn’t, I simply cannot fathom the existing reviews here, and the pumpkin muffins are...

I just left the restaurant and I was so sad with their service this time. This is the Perkins I always go to with my husband, and for the first time we took my mother in law because we wanted to show her how good the service and food was. We got there at 8:40pm and the manager immediately asked us if we were taking it to go because the restaurant was closing at 9. I have often gone to restaurants before their closing time and they usually take people until the closing time because it is the time they stop taking people in. Unfortunately, this time we couldn't order dessert because they desperately wanted us to leave. The server was very nice to us, but the manager was definitely not at all. As soon as we got our check, the manager was looking at us from the register and she even rolled her eyes. When my mother in law got up to pay because we figured out it was too much of a pressure, they declined her card twice because they wanted her to pay cash instead of with card, probably because they did not want to add in this to their system or i do not know the exact reason of that. Just to add in, they probably thought that we were all visiting town, but it is so sad that we were so happy to take them to Perkins, which we absolutely love, but they made it one of the most uncomfortable and disappointing...