I'm surprised to see so many negative views, but admit this was my first visit to this restaurant and it was just for breakfast, which was excellent.
It was a rainy day on a Saturday morning and there was a crowd trying to get in around 11 am. It was hard to find a place to stand and didn't want to get soaked, so a bunch of people started crowding the tiny doorway- not a great idea in a COVID era. My wife and I were about the 4th people in line, and we had just beaten the crowd I guess because soon enough, that doorway was jammed. Some old lady kept getting right in my face. Neither of us had masks on and frankly, I'm not that worried about catching anything, but damn, this woman was two inches from my face and it was getting to me. I'd like to see this restaurant invest the few dollars it would take to get some kind of seating system that uses technology to keep people from crowding the small area, not only due to covid, but because you have to fight for your spot in line and make sure you memorize who was in front of you and I saw a lot of awkward situations taking place- some old geezer decided to just march to the front of the line and a lady and her little son had to tell him they were next, etc. Just give people a pager or even an online seating system- all the old people that ate their had phones, so they could participate.
We were seated rather quickly as the servers, cashier, and cooks were really rolling people in and out and it reminded me of the diners I see back in my hometown in NY. Just a team of people working together to get their customers seated, fed, and paid up. They all did a great job.
My wife and I both had breakfast- she had French toast, hash browns and fruit I think, and I had pancakes, eggs, hash browns, and sausage. Our food was great- the French toast was not the huge, super thick bread that some places think is good but I don't, it was good old fashioned French toasted and it tasted great. The hash browns, I always prefer them over home fries, and PP is the rare place that offers both, were also very good.
The thing that stood out to me were the pancakes as they were really, really, excellent in my opinion. They were light, fluffy, cooked perfectly and they had a great taste. I could have eaten another stack for sure and I'd drive the hour to Winchester just to have breakfast at PP again.
Our waitress was a pro, a skinny little older woman who hustled her tail off and never forgot a thing, never stopped moving, yet found a way to be extremely friendly. She was awesome.
The cashier who rang us up (a dedicated cashier was a very good idea) was friendly and fast.
We'll be back one of these days! Thank you Papermill Place staff, you all did a great job with a very big crowd. read more