Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Memories of Perkin's

Next to Ryan's was a nice, little chain restaurant called Perkin's which specialised in bakery items and a standard sit down restaurant menu. It started out great with baked chicken, roast beef and roast turkey entrees that were all first rate and you could get a selection of vegetable sides with your meal which made it more popular with us than the burger joints. The kids loved Perkin's creamed spinach and wanted to go there just for that. We went there several times and then just quit going to Perkin's for a while for reasons I can't remember at this time. What a surprise we had the next time we ate their.

The last time we went to Perkin's was a fiasco. There were few customers there and I guess the restaurant was training a new waiter who had no idea what he was doing. I had to get up and remind him we were waiting to order. All the time we were there we smelled a sewer odor which came from the back. I noticed that the manager and cashier were joking around and did not seem to help the poor guy trying to wait on us. Of course they did not have the creamed spinach the kids wanted so we substituted with some tasteless carrots. The food took a long time to come out and it was almost cold but the waiter did not have a clue what was going on so we went ahead and ate. When I paid for the meal the manager didn't even ask how the food was, probably noticing my demeanor at the register. It was one of the few times I did not leave a tip because we did not plan on coming back.

Some time later I read in the Tribune that the Health Department closed Perkin's for seventeen violations, one being sewer problems that backed up in the kitchen. The manager was quoted in saying they were going to get everything fixed and reopen as soon as possible. I do not know if they ever did. Soon after that we were visiting Disney World in Florida and needed to eat. We were tired of double cheeseburgers from McDonalds so we decide to take a chance on the local Perkin's. We were seated promptly in a very clean dining room. The food came out hot and the kids had their creamed spinach. It was a good experience from and old, lost friend. I have heard good things about the Jefferson City Perkin's but never wanted to drive up there to check it out, even for there creamed spinach.

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