Note: This review is based on visiting the Pargo’s in Frederick, MD.
Last week my parents were in town and wanted to take us out to dinner. We were not sure where we wanted to go, and restaurants in Frederick generally tend to get crowded really quickly on weekends after 5 p.m. As we drove along the small road by Francis Scott Key Mall, we decided that the line looked the shortest at Pargo’s. What a way to pick a restaurant, huh?
After we had waited for about a half-hour to be seated, we finally got our table. Okay, so the wait was no big deal for us, but my daughter was starting to get fussy. Our waiter, Ryan, came over right away and took our drink orders. He was very nice and quite a talker. That made the beginning of our evening nice. While we were waiting for our drinks, my mother and I noticed that it was quite chilly and my daughter’s hands were like ice. Once we had ordered our meals, I asked Ryan if I could speak to a manager and made sure that he knew it was nothing to do with him. When the manager came over and I told him what was wrong, he said that many people had complained and that they had already cranked up the heat. Just as he left the table, things began to warm up there. Problem solved.
My father and I had each ordered a bowl of French Onion soup and it was taking forever! Ryan came by twice and said that he didn’t know what was going on back in the kitchen for the soup to be taking so long and apologized profusely. When he finally brought the soup out, it was obvious that he was not at fault because the bowls were piping hot. The soup was pretty decent, but my daughter ended up eating most of it. I think she liked the beef broth.
When Ryan brought out our meals, it was not too long after the soup had come. This did not make my father very happy, but he didn’t complain. My parents had ordered two different kinds of steaks and seemed to be quite pleased with their choices. I had ordered chicken fingers for my daughter and myself. They were excellent! Pargo’s likes to make theirs more flat and I prefer my chicken fingers this way. A small cup of barbecue sauce was on the plate and I asked Ryan if he could bring me some honey mustard. Well, by the time he came back I had tasted the barbecue sauce and asked for ranch dressing instead. You see, their barbecue sauce reminded me of a barbecue sauce from a long-closed restaurant in Virginia Beach. When I was younger, I used to like to mix their barbecue sauce with their buttermilk ranch for those chicken fingers. But I digress…I apologized to Ryan for making him run around so much because I knew how busy they were, but he said it was no problem. What a nice guy! Plus, my soda glass was barely empty before he was bringing me a refill.
Needless to say, I was quite satisfied with my dinner. The waiter was friendly and attentive and made the environment pleasant. The managers were taking care of customers’ needs and helping the staff to clear tables. Now that’s something of which to take note! In general I am pleased with my experience at Pargo’s and I will definitely dine there again. Next time I am going to try their baked potato soup. Yum!
For more information about Pargo’s history, their locations, and their menu, please visit their website.