Today, I decided to eat lunch on this Sunday rather than our more usually desired breakfast so that our college-aged daughter could join us-- you know those college kids trying to wake up early!
We had tried to get into the new PJ Whelihan’s Pub a few times, but the place had been extremely busy with some long waiting times so we had kept it in reserve to “circle back to”. We arrived at Whelihan’s at noon and I was in a bit of a hurry because I wanted to get home to see the Eagles/Giants game at 1:00. The place was not too busy so I didn’t think this would be a problem.
We were seated almost immediately, but it did take more than 5 minutes for a server to come over. At this point, we placed the entire order rather than simply drinks because we wanted to expedite the service. The drinks came out relatively quickly, but it took almost 25 minutes for our food to show up.
I ordered PJ’s world famous buffalo wings with a mild sauce. There are several types of sauces to choose from. Ten wings were $8.99. As I put the first wing almost to my mouth, the wing sauce almost knocked my nose out and I knew they were going to be a lot hotter than what the mild sauce is in most places. I finished the first wing and had my dining companion try one. She again, is one who likes hot foods and she indicated immediately as well that these wings were in a much hotter sauce than a mild. I ate about two or three more (remember I am a die-hard Eagles fan!) and pushed the rest away. My partner ate one more and chose not to finish the others still sitting there. I debated whether to say anything or just let it go.
My first dining partner ordered the Smokin’ Port BBQ with spicy fries ($8.49). This was served on a nice roll and was a very good sandwich. Too bad I hadn’t ordered this instead! My partner was very happy with this choice—she liked the fries as well, but I didn’t try those since they were deemed spicy.
My daughter ordered the PJ’s Burger ($8.49) which was topped with cheddar cheese, bacon and fried onions. A small point to add here is that she ordered the burger with the fried onions on the side and while there was a small cup of fried onions on the side, there were still fried onions on the burger!?! She is generally not a big eater and I only ordered the wings knowing that my partner would eat a few and I would finish the burger. This plan went awry as soon as I tasted the cardboard like texture of this burger! Albeit she ordered the burger medium, this burger was well done. Since I was now thwarted in my attempt to have any redeeming morsels from this lunch, I chose to ask for the manager at this point.
The manager came over and I told him of our aforementioned experience(s). He was rather short with me and simply said, “If it’s not to your satisfaction, we take it off the bill for you—it’s what we do here.”
The check was adjusted and the meal ended up being $13 before tip, but the entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth (both figuratively as well as literally). There has to be some quality control coming out of the kitchen! Whelihan’s has a dozen locations and is becoming a nice regional operation and they need to have better quality coming out of the kitchen.
My own belief is that Whelihan’s doesn’t care all that much about the food on a Sunday like I just described because they are a sports bar and the place was becoming extremely busy with fans gathering for an NFL Sunday to root on their favorite teams around the numerous screens in the restaurant. As one who is not a drinker, I am also concerned when I witness small tables of 2 and 3 people ordering what looks like a small draft/tap setup for the table which easily must be 60 to 72 oz of beer. “Downingtown’s finest” will have a field day with people leaving the bar with these types of drinks!
I don’t know that I will give Whelihan’s a second chance. This is the site of the old Primavera Pizza Kitchen and although there was a lot of money put into the location to renovate it, I will be curious to see how they do here in the long run with the formidable competition around them.
1 Brownie
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