Perkins Restaurant & Bakery

It took over ten minutes to get waited on and get some coffee… I might never see my breakfast. Oh well, I could stand to lose a pound or three…

Perkins is one of the only mainstream chain restaurants I really enjoy, not that I won’t eat at some of the other places, its just I prefer perkins because of their care free environment, friendly, staff, and above average service. With this being said, this specific perkins location lacks all of those things. You’re more likely to catch a bus at 2am in Shoreview then your drink being refilled.

Great for a Perkins and while a chain that I like to avoid they are great late night when nothing else for the most part is open.

Avoid! Food is below average. Service sucks. They get most of their business from the local bible colleges and the hipster children of Christ, so there is constant Christian rock playing: P If you are there late watch the servers chat with their friends and have a sit down!
Only thing good about the place is the free Wifi and the leather chairs they put in for the affluent Christian college students… As with all Perkins the only real benefit is that they are open 24×7 and I think 365 days a year, so truckers rejoice!

Chain review disclaimer: I won’t do ‘em. You can’t make me. Well, ok. Yes, you can. But not easily. I’ve sworn off chain reviews because chains are supposed to be the same wherever you go. That’s the beauty of a chain restaurant. So I’ll only do a review if there is something out of the norm for a chain, or the particular location. This will happen if there is something unique, if they are extraordinarily good, or extraordinarily bad.
Unfortunately, this review falls in the last category. And it applies *only* to this location.
I don’t know what it is about this place, but every time I eat here, I get the worst service. The wait staff is grumpy, the register monkey is unfriendly, and the management doesn’t care. We keep going back because of convenience (it’s 5 mins from my house), and somehow, we always seem to get a different grumpy waitress. Every. Single. Time. I don’t know how that’s possible. It’s not like Shoreview is full of grumpy people. Look at me. I’m not grumpy… usually.
The food is worse than the usual Perkins food, too. I don’t know if they get the cooks from the same place as the wait staff, or if it’s just that the service puts me off to it.
After each experience dining here, I give them a few months so that the grumpy staff can clear out. But even with new staff, they all have the same attitude. Is this the proverbial Siberian Perkins where all the bad apples get sent? I don’t get it. I’ve been here about half a dozen times and have had enough. Next time someone suggests meeting at this Perkins, I’m going to tell them to pull my fingernails out instead. That would be much more pleasant. If they insist, I’ll be at a Perkins in a nearby suburb, even if they’re not.