Pace's Dairy Ann — Restaurant in Woods Cross

Paces' loyalty is to the dollar. Their bottom line is their priority, no matter what. Their loyalty to the customer is only undertaken insomuch as it contributes to their financial gain.

Charging at all for a refill on soda--regardless of how much you adjust the syrup/soda ratio in your drink machines--should be a red flag to any customer who knows anything about restaurant inventory cost. When factoring rough estimate costs of soda, and considering the costs of peripheral materials (straws, lids, cups)--if you, a customer, were to pay $2 for a 20oz soda WITHOUT ice (which is already cheaper than Pace's will sell you) , you would need to refill the cup without charge 15 times before the restaurant even breaks even. And only after that point would you begin to lose money. Until then--and especially if you are putting ice in your cup--that restaurant is making extreme profits off of you--for ONE purchase.

Pace's will charge you for refills, maximizing their profits over something that is truly inexpensive and unnecessary. Todd will try and tell you that it's the expenses that arise from using ice cream or other things (which it certainly has quality ingredients in some respects) but other foods and desserts are priced accordingly, anyway.

I am a former employee of Pace's. When Todd interviewed me to work here, he said, "My two biggest issues are retaining quality employees and keeping customers coming through the door".

There is much he could be doing to increase customer satisfaction and employee retention. He won't, though--because the changes that need to occur in order for that to take place would hurt his bottom line in the short run, even though it would be beneficial to the diner's success in the long run.

Working at Pace's, I felt uncared for and unnecessary--unless I needed time off, which was not often. Todd insisted on an entirely archaic form of schedule-keeping and time off requests. Employees received no discount whatsoever on food or drinks, even while working longer shifts. This is singularly absurd in the food industry. I have worked for mom-and-pop restaurants previously and this has never, EVER been the case. Nielsen's does not do this, and Cutler's does not do this, either. Pace's does--and their pay to their employees CERTAINLY does not make up for the way they continually demonstrate how little they actually care about their employees. I felt seen, appreciated with, and communicated to by some of my managers, but not by others and certainly not by Todd. Perhaps some of this has changed since I have been there, but I have heard that much of it has not in the slightest, except for pay increases that are small in comparison to the economic climate we experience today.

What's truly tragic about Pace's is that it is so beautiful, is in a wonderful spot, and has vast potential to produce such an inviting, hospitable atmosphere. It is rich in history, but it cannot ride this wave of community legacy forever.

As blunt as this is, it needs to be said: as a previous employee, I know for an fact that an enormous percentage of the reliable customer base this diner has are elderly. They grew up coming here, and come back because of the nostalgia that they experience here. Todd, these people aren't going to be around for too much longer.

If you would like Austin and other family members to come to enjoy the loveliness that is your glass block windows, classic memorabilia, blue tabletops (tabletops that I have wiped countless times) in an open restaurant that thrives in customer loyalty, young and old alike, you need to shift your priorities. The food is good, the rainbows are great, and the Coke is excellent. But it's not excellent enough to bring me back here to be reminded of your loyalty to profit...

This is not the food quality nor service level of the Pace's Dairy Ann that Mr. Ralph Pace provided when he was running this place. We know this as we grew up in Bountiful and Pace's was a frequent stop for good fast food and service for many years. My husband and I thought we would enjoy a treat by doing something we rarely do, eat fast food for dinner. When we placed our order I asked what the difference was between the regular and the deluxe cheese burger. The answer was you get pickles, lettuce, onions, mustard and mayonnaise, so I willingly paid the higher price for the deluxe. We placed our order, one regular and one deluxe cheese burger, order of fries, cherry chocolate chip shake, and a large cherry rainbow. Twenty-six dollars and change for the food; then my husband put a $5 bill in their tip jar. We went outside and waited while they cooked our food to "order". Everything from that point was down hill, we got our food... The burger buns were stale and dry, the meat was overcooked. The "deluxe" cheese burger we paid extra for did not have any condiments, just lettuce, pickles and onion, making it near impossible to swallow. I went to the counter and spoke with the girl who took our order. I asked her if I could get a small amount of mayonnaise, as there wasn't any on the burger. When she asked the cook, for a little bit of mayonnaise, the cook didn't ask why it was needed, she simply told the counter girl, it would be 40 cents if I wanted the mayonnaise or fry sauce. Seriously? I just asked for a small amount of mayonnaise which was supposed to have already been put on the cheeseburger. When I tried to reiterate the reason for request, it became very clear the girl at the counter did not care one whit about the reason for my request. Trust me, 40 cents is not going to break my bank account; this is purely the principle of the situation. I find it appalling how apathetic she was to the issue. She didn't appear to be this apathetic when my husband put the five dollar bill in her tip jar. Going back to the food, the fries are not fresh cut, they are the frozen reconstituted type that no matter how long they are fried, they will still be limp and flavorless... The cherry chocolate chip shake contained zero indication it had ever made the acquaintance of any version of a cherry. My dinner was introduced to the nearby garbage can. The only bright star of the evening is they did make the cherry rainbow to perfection for my husband. Due to the disrespectful way my request was handled and the lackluster quality of the food, we will never spend another penny at this shell of a former wonderful institution. Sad too, for Ralph Pace and his family were friends of...

It's definitely one of the grossest hamburgers I have eaten in my life. Service and Atmosphere was good, but the food was horrible. My wife got a chicken sandwich that was raw and chewy.

(Edit in response to Sebastian somehow giving this place a 5 star. Somehow, this is their only review on their profile, definitely not suspicious at all.)

You must be a family member who owns this because this place doesn't deserve a 4.2. The fact that not only me and a handful of other people had the same experiences proves my point. A raw piece of meat and poultry is a hazard and can make people incredibly ill, in case you didn't know. It's very difficult to undercook meat or poultry pop a thermometer into it to check the temperature. If it's not 165 for poultry, then it's not cooked. I would much rather chance mcdonalds that is at least fully cooked than get sick from someone who can't cook food, who is not only paid for it but has a food handlers license. If you can't tell something is raw and serve it, you should be shut down because it sounds / looks like training just doesn't happen. I am sorry about inflation, but people can't just throw accountability out the window because of it. We are all struggling, and if you can't cook food properly, your business shouldn't exist, or at least sell it off.

It also sounds like the owner just gaslights and takes no accountability in the slightest. The wording from my end seemed like a guilt trip. A review from 5 months ago from Mike said that the hamburger wasn't cooked properly. The owner said that they were understaffed and that they were sorry they didn't meet our or your standards, I forgot it was the customers job to run the business. Take accountability for your business you chose to run. I will always support small businesses, but I will not support businesses that choose to not be better and deflect...