During our vacation in Panama City Beach, FL area we have discovered that most of the restaurants are really run down, in poor shape inside and out. Pappy's German Restaurant was no exception.
It is difficult to find. We went to the Marina before and never saw it. This time we mapped it out and knew the location and still almost missed it. It's small, on the corner, and their sign on the roof is covered by the tree branches.
Once we walked inside, I wanted to turn around and walk out - very much run down, "dive", "hole in the wall" - you get the idea. But we stayed knowing that most of the restuarants in the area are also run down but usually the food is good.
The people working there were friendly. We made reservations but did not need them as there were only 2 other people when we went at 5:30pm. Two more came in before we left. It was a Friday night and there was a downtown party that night so perhaps that is why business was so slow.
The interior is nothing to rave about. An open hole in the ceiling, another hole in the ceiling due to a water leak which was attempted to be patched, fake plants covered in dust, table cloth not totally wiped off but mostly clean. The table cloths were like picnic table covers that we hand cut to fit the tables. It was so odd seeing some of the other table covers with holes sew in them - as if purchased that way for a patio table with umbrella stand - yet they cut them to use on these tables and just slid the sewn hole to the side - still noticeable though. Definately nothing fancy what so ever about the interior. There was even mildew on the table cloth in front of us - it was a table cloth covering up a stand that had the plants on it - so I figured it was from someone watering the plants to much. But realizing the plants were plastic, guess it was from the water leak in the ceiling. We just aren't used to dining in such places that aren't kept up very well at all. The carpeting was torn and the front screen door was torn and falling off, even the door knob was covered in live ants.
That was the atmosphere - not so good. Now the food.....the selection on the menu is very limited. One side of a piece of paper. There were maybe 8 choices of meals. The meals do come with 2 side choices. Our food was ok though, pretty good. But I will say the portions are very, very SMALL and you will leave HUNGRY! Perhaps those are the portion sizes in Germany but not in the US for the prices we paid! $15-$18 per meal. Maybe they just want you to order dessert, which we didn't. They serve 2 desserts only. But by that time, we were ready to leave.
Did I mention the noise from the pool table? This restaurant is small, seating for no more than about 12-14 people. There are refrigerators in the corners, noisy A/C units sticking out of the walls, and a pool table taking up 1/3 of the seating area. When we were there, 4 youths were playing pool. They were talking but we couldn't hear their words due to the AC noice but we heard the pool balls being hit around.
An interesting experiece. I didn't like the interior or atmosphere but that is how nearly every place is in the Panama City & Panama City Beach area. The food was good but you don't get a meals worth.
