Critic's Review
With my initial idea squashed due to a lack of interest, I was driving up Oakland Park and decided to try lunch at Peter Pan. I'd had breakfast a couple of times and it had been a few years.
They have a big lot in the back, but the rear entrance is for the 'lounge". I'm not sure I'd want to even see the lounge in this place. The door to the dining room is on the side of the building.
I walked in and there was some dude with a baby; great. I seem to remember this being one of those deals with the family hangs out at the bar. As someone led me to a table, I detected a nasty stench. This was starting out badly. I almost bolted, but you get used to the smell and don't notice it after a few minutes.
Not much has changed here in recent times.
I ordered an iced tea and took a look at the menu. They had a lunch special: Filet of Sole $8.25. Really, and it comes with a salad. Ok, I'll bite on that.
The tea comes out quickly and I order the fish.
You get bread, too, with your $8 lunch. Not very good bread, but it's bread. Disco music fills the are. David Guetta and Nicki Mina. Considering the average age in the place was like 60 it seemed to be a bit of a mismatch.
The salad was a typical old time diner salad, but it was a decent portion with a lot of cheese. I was almost finished with the salad before the fish came out.
The fish came out on a plate by itself. I dumped what was left of the salad. Small, frozen filets. Well previously frozen.
The fish tasted like those frozen filets you get in the bags at Publix; it served as no more than some protein. Edible, for the price I suppose.
Overall a pretty lame meal. But it was pretty cheap.
Diner food; food without imagination. This is it.
Review 9/10/12
Peter Pan diner is a busy place mostly frequented by locals. There's a "lounge" area and a "diner". They are open 24 hours and serve everything under the sun.
The diner area has a modest decor with a counter up front and some rows of table and booths.
With a fairly empty dining room, the hostess tried to seat me right next to a baby carriage; I just shook my head and said "how about over there", as I pointed to a empty row of booths. Note to Hostesses: Don't seat people next to babies or big groups in a largely empty restaurant. Use your head please.
I opened their fairly extensive menu to find a smallish breakfast menu, which was surprising for a 24 hour restaurant (the menu we have here is a bit out of date). A server didn't come over for awhile; usually in a diner they ask what you want to drink as soon as you sit down, but here I didn't have coffee until after I'd ordered. Eventually the coffee, water and ketchup came out in 3 separate visits from my server.
Standard industrial cups and plastic drinkware. This place is the topper; that is they come by every few minutes to top off your coffee, which required that I continuously re-sugar my coffee. You have to ask for sweet and low if that's your thing.
The eggs came out within minutes.
It was a pretty good sized pile of food. The eggs looked a bit strange and small; why don't diners charge 10 cents more and use extra large eggs? But eggs are eggs as long as they're not burnt. The had better sausage than the last time I was here; the big plump ones, overdone from sitting around but good nonetheless. And the potatoes were excellent; they had buttery flavor that was a welcome change from the bland plain potatoes that you get at most places.
Service was clunky; the wait for coffee, the dropping stuff off at the edge of the table and then scampering away, and the check was left on the table with the eggs. It's a true "diner" dining experience.
The damage for all of this? $6.88. before tip. The last time I was here about 3 years ago this same breakfast was $1 less. But this was a lot better. If you can tolerate the uneven service; this place is a really good value.