Where Not to go in St. Augustine, FL

Village Inn & Denny’s

St. Augustine, FL

 Late on a Sunday night in the tourist town of St. Augustine, Florida is a difficult time to find a quality restaurant. Typically the reviews that we will be doing with Pie’s Plate are going to be either more of an independent style restaurant and not a chain…unlike in this review. (For this review, we aren’t even going to list the addresses; just know that these are the only restaurants by their name in St. Augustine)  However, finding ourselves in St. Augustine on a Sunday night after a concert, we were hungry.  Like most small southern towns, St. Augustine is one of those that closes down early. This left us with the option of the Village Inn to grab a meal.

 As we stood in the entrance of the restaurant and waited to be seated we noticed that they not real busy. But we waited to be seated nonetheless. We waited for a few minutes, which was ok. The manager took us to the very back of the almost empty restaurant to be seated. The tables near the back are also right next to the kitchen. So, that section was very warm with no fans or air circulation of any kind. After asking if we could move to a cooler area, the hostess said to go ahead and pick where we would like to sit. After finally grabbing a booth near the front we were told that our waitress is named April and would be with us soon. After waiting for a few minutes and looking over our shoulders for ‘April’ we were finally recognized. We ordered our drinks and listened to a story about people asking April for her “pie” (yep, we didn’t need to hear that).  We were ready to give our food ordered then, but that would have to wait because April left to get our drinks. April returned a few minutes later with our drinks and with absolutely no exchange of words as she turned and walked away. We finished our drinks and waited. Numerous times we turned to get someone’s attention. Then finally, frustrated, we decided to leave. As we got to the counter the manager/hostess greeted us at the register and asked if there was a problem because she saw us looking for assistance. (Personal note here, if you are a manager and witness such a scene, take the matter into your own hands and speak to the customers before they decide to leave) Even though the manager/hostess told us she would comp our meal, we were not ready to endure the poor service and turned to walk out. On a lighter note as we left, April made sure as we were on our way out the door to tell us thanks for stopping in.

 As we turned out of the parking lot we noticed a Denny’s. We were hungry, so we decided to give it a try. As with most Denny’s we parked in the motel/hotel parking lot. Upon entering we noticed they were very busy, with customers and several dirty tables. The wait for us to get a table was a little longer than you should expect but not too bad. The waitress came by and introduced herself as Jennifer. She came back a few minutes later with our drinks and to take our order. Denny’s is not a restaurant that I visit on a regular basis. As a matter of fact it has been more than five years since I have last been to one of their many restaurants. One of the reasons I do not visit them is the factory theory. You know (for the most part) exactly what meal you are going to get, and to me that gets boring.

 With my lack of recent visits to Denny’s I was not aware of the new menu items. Of course I knew there would be the Grand Slam or the Moons Over My Hammy. What I did not expect was the new ‘Rock Star Menu’. This new menu gives you a little info on when the item was created and to which ‘rock star’ or band it honors. As I read over the new menu I had a challenge to find exactly what I wanted. Would it be the Rascle Flatts Unstoppable Breakfast, Good Charlottes Band of Burrito’s (which I really was thinking about), or Sum 41’s Sumwich. I went with the Sumwich. There was a fourth item on the menu called the Gym Class Heroes After School Special, but I was not in the mood for the onions and peppers on Texas toast. But the Sumwich offered a French toast sandwich with sliced ham eggs and American cheese along with a side of their famous shredded hash browns and syrup for dipping.

 Now I have got to tell you that this meal will make me want to go back to Denny’s again. However the service never picked up to a status that I would call satisfactory. We were never offered a refill on our drinks and Jennifer forgot to bring my syrup. Even after asking her for the syrup a second time it took her a little while to get it to me. One of the things I do want to point out is that she was very sweet, just not as attentive as I would have liked.

 On the way out of Denny’s I picked up a customer survey card. Here are my results of (and from) the Denny’s comment card:

On a scale of 5 to 1. 5 being excellent and 1 being poor

Greeted in a friendly & immediate manner  (4)

Server introduce his/herself                             (5)

Enjoy Food                                                                (4)

Service Timely                                                         (3)

Server Attentive                                                      (2)

Restaurant Clean                                                     (3)

Thanked and Asked to Return                           (4)

Review by Pie, email:  pie@piesplate.com