I was in in Allentown PA recently. It was dinner-time and I was hungry, so I drove up and down Schoenersville Road a few times but nothing looked interesting until I passed Gregory’s, which had a big sign in front about “Voted Best <something>” in a local paper.
The waitress gave me a table next to the door (that’s always a good start) and gave me a regular menu as well as a letter-sized sheet of “specials.” The specials had no prices listed (at least I didn’t see any) but since it looked like bar food and the restaurant had a distinct “sports bar” feel to it, I figured “How much could it be?” Let me just say that’s the last time I’ll make that mistake.
I ordered a Blue Moon, Crab Bisque and Chicken Parmigiana.
The beer was great! It was fresh and cold and served in a nicely chilled glass.
The bisque was nicely seasoned but didn’t seem to contain any actual crab (the “crab” had a very smooth non-crab texture). I’m guessing it was surimi, not crab. In any case it was nice and thick and hot and well seasoned, and had a nice taste even if it wasn’t really crab.
Unfortunately the salad, the garlic bread and the chicken didn’t fare as well and each thing was worse than the last.
The salad was just some bagged chopped salad mix with some canned sliced black olives. The crumbly blue cheese I ordered added a little taste (and an unexpected $2) but as I ate it, I just couldn’t figure out why I was bothering. It was just cold, wet, boring and flavorless.
The garlic bread was a submarine roll sliced in two and completely soaked in butter. I’m guessing there was at least half of a stick of butter on it. Probably more. It was completely soaked and completely revolting. Considering that I really like butter, that’s saying something.
Saving the worst for last, the Chicken Parmigiana was raw inside. And astonishingly tough. Beef Jerky tough. And did I mention raw? Beef that’s pink in the middle is tasty. Chicken that’s pink in the middle is nasty.
Finally, I just gave up, asked the waitress for my check and left.
However I saved the best for last.
I’m thinking maybe $20 for the whole meal. Nope. Not a chance. Including tax and tip (can’t punish the waitress for the cooking) it was $35. For $35 I could get dinner at Rico’s or Dominics. For two, not one. And everything would be yummy.
Just to give you an idea of the food, you’ll probably drive by Burger King on the way to Gregory’s. If you’re smart you’ll stop at BK.
The place is called “Gregory’s Steakhouse.” Maybe the steaks are better than the chicken.
If you’ve eaten at Gregory’s Steakhouse in Allentown PA, feel free to post a comment.
The food was mediocre, but incredibly over-priced, and the service was acceptable, although the atmosphere was absolutely TERRIBLE (it was the loudest restaurant I’ve ever been to). The biggest problem, however, didn’t come until it was time to pay.
We had a gift certificate that would cover most of the cost of the meal, which we presented to the waitress. When she returned she said the gift certificate was invalid because it had already been redeemed the past weekend. This was impossible since none of my family members had been there since February, so we asked to speak with the manager. The manager apparently called the owner because he asked my father to come back to the office since the owner wanted to speak with him.
When my father returned he was literally in a state of panic. Since the gift certificate should’ve been almost enough to cover the expense of the meal, we hasn’t brought a lot of money with us and, therefore, weren’t prepared to pay the full cost of the meal. The owner had threatened to call the police if we didn’t pay, so we had no choice but to sit there and wait.
We continued trying to reason with the manager. The waitress even knew my mother and knew we hadn’t been there the previous weekend, but that didn’t seem to matter. Soon enough, the owner arrived a commenced with berating us in front of the entire restaurant (which was incredibly embarrassing). He accused us of making fraudulent copies of gift certificates and trying to pass them off as legitimate.
Considering my father brings Gregory’s a lot of business every February, we figured an owner of a restaurant would try and placate a situation like this in order to keep that business—but no, the owner of Gregory’s seemed to be doing everything he could to ostracize my father. The owner of the restaurant just kept trying to tell my father that he didn’t understand how a business worked (even though my father has been a highly respected business owner for 40 years).
After being screamed at for over an hour by the owner, I went out for air. So I’m not quite sure how the issue was resolved (I do know my father even offered to wash dishes to pay off our bill). I do, however, know that there is nothing that would lure me into Gregory’s ever again.
Most successful business owners know that you sometimes need to extend a courtesy to loyal customers when they’ve had a bad experience even when it’s no fault of your own, but not the owner of Gregory’s. So if you want good food, reasonable prices, and not to be treated like a criminal, stay FAR away from Gregory’s Steakhouse in Allentown, PA.
I wouldn’t recommend that place to my worse enemy,the way he treats his customers is the same way he treats his employees. Like the door mat he wipes his feet on