Peppermill Eatery

Be advised - this is no longer the Peppermill. It is now called Chicadees. It's a typical diner with nothing out of the ordinary other than the neon green shirts that the staff wear. I had Breakfast and it was pretty much a run of the mill breakfast. Nothing great, but not bad.

I had a coupon for $10 0ff $30 at Peppermill Eatery that was expiring soon so after reading a bunch of good reviews online, Gabriel and I decided to go there for dinner last night. What a totally pleasant surprise when our waiter came over to take our order and it was someone I know as a client from my day job at Bear Creek Veterinary Alternatives. (<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bearcreeksarasota.com&s=98fb211a0f10c3f2a11705594fe20b5587ce10dbd569394e95235f6315a7a991" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.bearcreeksara…</a>)
After chatting with him a bit about his awesome pack of dogs, I asked him what his recommendations were and he emphatically suggested a dish that I had already been leaning toward. Well, that made for a very easy decision indeed! I ordered the shrimp and 'Lobstah' pasta and a small side salad with blue cheese dressing and Gabriel ordered the stuffed shrimp.
Our salads came out quickly, along with some bread (which was the ONLY thing that wasn't great as it was served cold. If it had been warm it would have been worlds better) It was, however, served with a brown sugar, apricot, whipped butter that was SO delicious that I didn't even really care about the cold bread anymore. Craig, our fantastic waiter, was nice enough to bring me a little cup of it to take home that I can't wait to put on waffles or pancakes this weekend. The salad was simple, but good- and I'm always happy to find restaurants who do NOT serve boring iceberg lettuce. This was romaine, red onions, cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes with a side of creamy blue cheese that was fine- but not particularly remarkable. I personally love a good blue cheese with big chunks, but this one was smooth.
After finishing my salad, it was just a few more minutes before the entrees arrived. WOW! What an impressive presentation! From the looks of the outside of this restaurant which is totally nondescript located in a strip mall, I would have assumed the food inside would be generic, unexciting and maybe one step above edible. I was VERY happy to be proven dead wrong. The food was presented as if it was in a MUCH classier place (the interior could definitely use a bit of sprucing up so that it matches the quality of the dishes). The shrimp and very generous chunks of lobster were super tasty and fresh, and the peas and mushrooms that decorated the linguine were cooked perfectly and the perfect touches to this creamy, buttery, parmesan-y meal. I ate until I was stuffed and STILL had plenty to take home for lunch the next day. I also tasted Gabriel's stuffed shrimp which were equally impressive.
When we received the check, it was almost laughably low for what we'd just eaten. After our $10 discount, we paid UNDER $20 for the 2 of us. We will most certainly be back.

Definitely not a 4 or 5 star establishment. The decor is clean and non-obtrusive but it is in a strip mall and the booths and tables were not the most comfortable. We arrived just after 5 on a Friday evening and although there were many empty tables/booths we had to wait more than a few minutes for the understaffed crew to finally seat us in the back. It was not a pleasant experience to start the evening. The evening clientele was definitely older Senior. There was a lack of wait seating available for the older people waiting.

It took several minutes (less than ten more than 5) to even get a beverage order taken. Finally, a cold loaf of a white bread arrived which was doughy and less than fresh. After 15 minutes (and almost leaving ) a waitress with a zero personality took our order. I will say that the menu was well  organized and had more than a few tempting items from appetizers to entrees. I chose the Turkey wrap and my wife chose the Selma chicken. Again we waited almost 15 minutes and was about to leave when the waitress looked over at our booth and saw that our dinner was not there. She found it on the waiting/warming table in the kitchen and in a "oops, I forgot all about it" moment she brought it out. The food was warm but not freshly hot. It was tasty but nothing to rave about or a reason to return.

Just a note on "class". If you call yourself "Pepper Mill", do not have supermarket type pepper mills at the table. It looks tacky and takes the appearance of the establishment down a peg.

All in all, the food was better than a 2 star and it saved this rating from a one star review. Very much over rated.