Review: Perkins Restaurant (Spokane Valley)

East 9019 Mission Avenue, Spokane, WA 99212 (509) 927-2640

I will admit upfront that I had a preconceived notion that Perkins has bad service and mediocre food. Before this visit, it had been about 10 years since I dined at Perkins. However, I was dining with a group and did not choose the location. I also thought I would give Perkins the benefit of the doubt and try them again. Unfortunately, no improvements have been made in the service or food at local Perkins during the last decade.

I thought the visit was off to a good start when I approached the front door and an employee standing outside greeted me with a smile and opened the door for me. I was feeling optimistic as I joined my group, which was already seated. When it took about 20 minutes and someone beckoning a server to place an order, my hope was diminishing. I ordered the Heartland Omelette. The menu boasted diced ham, applewood smoked bacon, sausage, American cheese and diced fresh tomatoes in the omelette. It included hashbrowns and toast on the side. The server was friendly and able to answer questions during the ordering process.

My order arrived in a reasonable amount of time. The omelette was hot, but the cheese was only partially melted. The sausage was more plentiful than the other meats and it over powered any other flavors. It might have been balanced by the fresh tomatoes, if they had been included. The hashbrowns were a greasy, undercooked pile of what tasted like the frozen variety of potato. Even something as simple as the toast wasn't done well. It was under toasted and over buttered. I might have pointed out some of these inadequicies or at least requested the missing tomatoes, if our server hadn't abandanded our table after delivering the food. We didn't see her for about an hour and at that time she only made an appearance to drop of the check.

Just when things didn't look like they could get any worse, two employees began vacuuming and cleaning next to our table. Concerned that our group was delaying their closure, we inquired if that was the case. The employees told us they don't officially close until 10 p.m. (the time post on the door), but if it's not busy they close early. Apparently "not busy" and "early" qualifies as 9:15 p.m. when there are still customers in the restaurant.

When it came time to pay the bill, the hostess at the front dished out a lecture about using a coupon. I had clearly stated to the server that I had the coupon and would be using. The server had no problem with it, but the hostess had other ideas. She claimed because we had a group, we had to have a minimum order and coupons don't qualify. The problem is, no one in our group was ever told about those requirements when reservations were made or during the meal.

I left Perkins reminded why it's been so long since I've set foot in one of their restaurants. It also made me wonder how they have stayed in business for so long. I can't imagine they have a large following of repeat diners with such poor customer service and frankly, unappetizing food.

Review: The Iron Horse

On a rare occasion, I like to treat myself to a steak dinner out. Most of the time we pick up a good cut of meat at the store and cook it on the grill at home. Every once in a while even that seems like too much work and we start thinking of where to go for good steak. My first thought is always Mr. Steak, the long defunct family steakhouse in Coeur d'Alene. I think it's been a parking lot for almost 10 years, but I'm still mourning the loss. My second thought was Wolf Lodge, but Saturday night during graduation weekend brought to mind tortuous hours of waiting while drooling over the smell of the open pit fire.

It was a somewhat difficult decision to make. We wanted a local, non-chain, good, old fashioned steakhouse meal that didn't cost a fortune. After considering G.W. Hunters and Sargent's, we decided on the Iron Horse for it's convenient location near the movie theater (we were out on a real date night). We also knew they served up decent steak, since we have been frequenters of their Wednesday night special in the past.

We completely missed the crowd with our 6 p.m. arrival. We even snagged a parking space right out front on the street (they have a parking lot in the back). About half the tables were empty when we entered the restaurant. Our waitress greeted us quickly and gave us the choice of a table or booth. It's been a couple of years since I've eaten in the restaurant and was surprised to see casual seating arrangements of leather couches and chairs in the middle of the dining area. Otherwise, the old railroad signs and pictures on the wall are just as we remembered.

Our waitress seated us and told us about their three specials: a 12 ounce prime rib, 16 ounce t-bone or salmon dinner with all the fixings (salad, baked potato and garlic toast) for $15.95 each. Even though we had started out in search of steak, we ordered a prime rib special to share (to ensure plenty of room for movie popcorn). We also took advantage of the two-for-one drink special and ordered whiskey and cokes ($3 for two).

The salad arrived quickly. I was happy to see the Iron Horse has upgraded their salads with a fancy lettuce mix combined with your standard iceberg mix. Mushrooms, tomatoes and homemade croutons topped the salad. The salad was a good sign of what was to come.

I saw the giant plate of prime rib heading our way and knew we were in for a treat. The slice of prime rib took up so much room on the oval shaped platter that the potato and toast had to have their own plate. The meat was cooked exactly as ordered (medium) and was nearly an inch thick. This prime rib was all meat with just a hint of marbling. I could taste the quality as I dipped each delicious bite in the Au jus (DD opted for horseradish).

The potato was no miniature itself. It was a true Idaho russet served with sides of sour cream, butter, cheese, green onions and real bacon chunks. My only complaint was the potato had a bit of a microwaved texture, but had good flavor. The garlic toast was a large piece of good quality bread with just the right amount of garlic butter grilled in.

The meal really hit the spot and was just what we had been searching for. To top it off, the service was excellent. The experience in the staff shows. The courses were well timed, the food prepared just as we ordered and our waitress gave us just the right amount of attention. The Iron Horse will definitely be at the top of the list next time we're in the mood for steak.

Review: WingStop

DD loves hot wings, so I stopped in at WingStop on Government Way to pick up dinner tonight. Word of mouth is the Atomic Wings are dangerously hot. I took the cautious route and ordered a split of Original Hot and Garlic Parmesan.

The Original Hot were, "Almost as good as Chili's," according to DD. That was after I had to reheat the wings, since he got a late dinner break. My Garlic Parmesan wings were good - the first couple of ones anyway. After that, the excess of cheese and garlicky butter was too much.

I was impressed with the service. The employee who took my order was friendly and polite. Plus she paid extra attention to Munchkin and gave him a balloon. That always earns points in my book.

I got a side of carrot and celery sticks (a must with wings). I was surprised by the quantity of veggies in the order. It's not often a restaurant offers a healthy choice that is cheaper than fries. Then again, they have to counter balance the deep fried, oil/butter drenched chicken wings somehow.

Cost: $10.99 for 20 wing pieces; $.69 for carrot/celery sticks