We Love Food - Day 6 - Wed 18th May 2022 - Perkins, Papa John's

[Fuellady]

We Love Food - An offsite dining report - May 2022

Day 6 - Wednesday 18th May 2022

Perkins, Papa John's

Perkins, US192 near Marker 6

We decided to go to Perkins for breakfast today, partly because it's an old favourite of ours, and partly because they do BOGO Wednesdays! The one closest to our villa is on the US192, between the Walmart on Lake Wilson Road and mile marker 6. We've been to this one many times before and were happy to do so again.

A few menu pics...

We both had coffee to drink, and we both chose the "Build-a-breakfast", with Neil choosing the options of bacon, hash brown and pancakes and I picked ham, breakfast potatoes and a strawberry muffin.

The food was just ok here, not amazing. I found their ham to be very smoky flavoured, not my favourite one that I've had so far. That said, the strawberry muffin was very nice.

This Perkins used to be great, but it's so run down now, really in need of an upgrade. It's dingy, the furnishings are old and stained and it had a musty smell. The window we were sitting next to looked like it would fall out in a puff of wind. I felt quite sad as we left, seeing it in this state - I know they recently closed the one down by Posner Park, so maybe they're struggling a bit financially? Whatever the problem is, I hope this Perkins is restored to greatness soon. Our breakfast came to around $26 (no receipt, they keep it at the checkout), but with the BOGO we only paid around $16 + tip.

Walmart, Old Lake Wilson Road

After leaving Perkins, we popped into Walmart across the road to top up our supplies for the villa. We only needed bread and fruit, and we somehow managed to only buy these 2 items and not half the shop! $8.90 (no receipt, self service printer was out of paper). No pic either, oops!

Papa John's, corner of Lake Wilson Road and Osceola Polk Line

We'd spent the afternoon by the pool, and couldn't be bothered getting ready to go "out out" for tea, so we decided to drive up to Papa John's for takeout pizza.

What is going on with the American service industry? If you've been reading along, you'll know that we've had a few issues with mediocre service, wrong orders etc. But the guy in Papa John's just took the biscuit!

He was standing at the register when we went in, so we didn't approach it as we thought he was busy. After a few minutes it became clear he was just ignoring us, so I stepped forward and asked if we could place an order. He just kind of gave a minuscule nod, so I went ahead and ordered my 12" regular pizza with fresh tomatoes added. He just kind of stared at me and mumbled something, so I took a step closer and asked him to repeat what he said... it was "anything else?" So Neil then ordered a 12" meat pizza as it comes. Total $29.94

It was a tiny building, so we had to wait outside, which was fine - it was a nice evening, although you could see the storms building up in the distance. Since they had asked for a name for the order, and they knew we were just outside the door, we assumed that they would let us know when our order was ready. We had been told 15-20 minutes, so when 25 minutes had passed Neil popped in to ask when it would be ready. And there our order was, sitting on a shelf waiting to be collected - they hadn't even bothered to let us know! There was another woman in there collecting her order, she had quite a few things, and they didn't give her a bag or help at all. Neil held the door open for her, and she rolled her eyes back at the staff and said "helpful, huh", so we weren't the only people noticing the lack of interest from the staff here. Sorry for the rant, but I wanted to accurately report our experience here.

On the upside, our order was correct - yay! And it was delicious too, a really lovely pizza with a nice crispy base and tasty sauce. Neither of us could finish it all, so we popped the leftovers in the fridge for another day. We ate outside on the lanai, enjoying the evening warmth before the storm came.

I hope it doesn't come across as if we're a right pair of old whingebags! We still love it here, but we've definitely noticed a dip in standards.

Total food/drinks spend today $54.84 + tip

[ClaireNJ]

OMG I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that Perkins has a weird smell especially the one on IDrive, your muffin looked good though & they do good pies too 🤤🤤
Your pizza looked FAB 😊shame about the service

[WIGGYSMUM]

What a shame about Perkins , I have always loved their breakfasts
You did so well in Walmart to stick to the few items you needed!
The pizzas do look good , even if the service wasn’t great
I really hope things pick up for you service wise 🤞🏻 Xx

[MarionG]

I didn't know the Perkins near Posner had closed down, that's sad.

[Holiday time]

Was considering going Perkins a go this summer but after this report I think I’ll give it a skip. The pictures do look nice though. Thanks for post8ng

[mrsdjh]

I noticed the same about service even in Disney. Staff stood around appearing just to be talking when there were queues or having to attract their attention. Glad the pizza was good though.

[Goldia]

The pizzas both looked yummy, but what a shame about the service. I can't believe they left you waiting not once but twice. Crazy!

[Lisa29]

What rubbish service in Papa Johns 😞. The pizza looked good though x

[Fuellady]

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

OMG I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that Perkins has a weird smell especially the one on IDrive, your muffin looked good though & they do good pies too 🤤🤤
Your pizza looked FAB 😊shame about the service

See more...

Can't say I'd every noticed a smell in Perkins previously, but this one really seemed in need of a good airing and spruce up! The muffin was nice, and yes, we've had pie there before and it was nice. That branch on the US192 is a busy one, I really hope they get it sorted out.

Originally Posted by WIGGYSMUM

What a shame about Perkins , I have always loved their breakfasts
You did so well in Walmart to stick to the few items you needed!
The pizzas do look good , even if the service wasn’t great
I really hope things pick up for you service wise 🤞🏻 Xx

See more...

Perkins has always been a favourite of ours as well - the experience left me feeling sad for them. I know, willpower at its best

Pizzas were very good, and that was definitely the worst service we had all trip.

Originally Posted by MarionG

I didn't know the Perkins near Posner had closed down, that's sad.

See more...

I think it closed during Covid. It is a shame, as it was a nice one, a bit less busy than up on the US192.

Originally Posted by Holiday time

Was considering going Perkins a go this summer but after this report I think I’ll give it a skip. The pictures do look nice though. Thanks for post8ng

See more...

Obviously I can only comment on the one branch that we visited. There is another one further east along the 192, and someone previously mentioned one on I-Drive. They might be better? It's always been very good before, but is just looking run down now.

Originally Posted by mrsdjh

I noticed the same about service even in Disney. Staff stood around appearing just to be talking when there were queues or having to attract their attention. Glad the pizza was good though.

See more...

There has definitely been a dip in service standards, no doubt about that. We were very happy with our pizza's in the end.

Originally Posted by Goldia

The pizzas both looked yummy, but what a shame about the service. I can't believe they left you waiting not once but twice. Crazy!

See more...

The pizza's were great but this was definitely the worst service we encountered. I know it's a takeaway place, but the level of disinterest from the staff was off the scale.

Originally Posted by Lisa29

What rubbish service in Papa Johns 😞. The pizza looked good though x

See more...

Terrible service, but yes, yummy pizza so that made up for it

[caitlinsmummy]

This is the same Perkins we went to also, we weren't too impressed either which is a shame as we loved the one on I-Drive near the Rosen Inn on our 2019 trip. Such a shame, but at least it was a nice cheap breakfast.

Your pizza looks so nice but such a shame about the service x