Perkins
7 Locations across Winnipeg
I’m not a big fan of transnational chain restaurants but
sometimes they’re unavoidable. For some
reason, I can’t get the after-work crowd to go to a local sports bar, rather
than a Smitty’s. Then there’s my
parents’ generation which finds comfort in Salisbury House, which can do no
wrong even if they serve up dog crap on a plate.
Don’t get me wrong—not all chains are bad. There are some that serve great food, but
Perkins isn’t one of them.
Although the atmosphere feels cozy enough, the laminated
menus immediately give me the icky feeling.
The front cover features their current promotion, the Great SteakOut,
highlighting the Steak & Mushroom Flip.
The picture looks very enticing, loaded with big chunks of steak, fluffy
eggs, encased with a crispy potato pancake and topped with a dollop of sour
cream. Alas, the real thing looks
nothing like the laminated image. I can
count six chunks of beef, each severely overcooked, sere and desiccated. Despite the dish’s name, I find no more than
two slices of mushrooms in the entire concoction. The eggs taste light and fluffy, so the dish
isn’t a total write-off.
Another entry in their special array, the Steak & Crispy
Potato Stack is hardly a stack. While
the potato wedges come crispy as advertised, the nuggets of steak come from the
same source as the other dish, cooked so dry that it’s falling apart. The addition of the sautéed onions and green
peppers derives from the classic Philly cheese steak combination (minus the cheese). Although slightly greasy, the combination
works. The side salad looks crisp and
fresh; however, upon digging through the outer layer of vegetables, you find
some lettuce ribs and some browning leaves.
It’s a nice attempt to cover up the not-so-fresh.
From the main menu, the Fish & Chips comes with crispy,
home-cut fries—skip the gravy unless cold and coagulated is your thing. In fact, you should just skip the entire meal
unless you like overcooked fish that’s hard and solid. The pre-fab tartar sauce comes right from a
Kraft jar, smooth and homogenised. Most
mains come with a roll, which complements the meal quite well. The hardness and dryness of the bread matches
the fish perfectly.
I can’t understand how these places stay in business. I know people come because of the name but
why would you come back after you’ve tasted the food? It’s simply not good.
*¾ /5
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