Picket Fence Cafe

The waitress was great. We came here from out of town at the recommendation of a local. The waitress was very friendly and I even thought she might be the owner with the way she was very personally and warmly taking care of the customers. My daughter ordered pancakes and the she was happily surprised with a large, warm, Mickey Mouse shaped pancake! My son ordered a cheeseburger and being a picky little guy, he was very pleased. I ordered the soup and salad. The salad was smaller than I thought it would be, but the ranch dressing was delicious. The soup was larger than I thought it would be, and it wasn’t very good. It was a “steak and potato” soup and, I didn’t finish it. We also enjoyed a chilled piece of cherry pie and it was very good. The decor is dated in a “Grandma’s front porch” type of way, that I think is unique, relaxing, and sweet. I noticed a few other patrons enjoying sandwiches and I’d definitely come here again and try the sandwiches. All in all we would recommend this little downtown stop, we would come here again, and the waitress is a doll.

Unfortunately, I’m certain there is black mold in the ladies bathroom. I usually love coming here when we visit family in Columbus. I remember coming last year and smelling something off in the bathroom. Now one year later it is undeniably a mold infestation. The paint near the toilet is peeling and the wall chipping and you can see the black mold in the wall. Not to mention the toxic smell. I couldn’t even use the bathroom and had to leave immediately. Unfortunately this is really bad for your health and not good for food as mold spores can spread on food and be ingested. I hope they can get this handled as it is a sweet place otherwise. It is likely a leak in the piping/toilet - while it can be dangerous it is possible and important to address it.

Decor needed help. Waitress was clearly in training and a mess. The water was good; the food - not so much. We ordered two of the soup & salad. Today’s soup was turkey and rice. That’s what’s in this bowl. Was lukewarm if thinking positively. We waited for quite a while for the soup, only to be told that it had been sitting out at room temperature all morning in a soup warmer that was turned off. Good customer service looks like offering us an appetizer while we wait or letting us know we would be waiting forever for our food. Also took forever to even take our orders. The place was not busy but the service was super slow. No refills were offered either. This is definitely a can of undiluted cream of turkey & rice condensed soup. It was super salty and tasted terrible. The poor excuse of a salad next to it had large pieces of the bitter lettuce mixed with brown lettuce and subpar cheese and veggies on top. We had a piece of coconut cream pie and a piece of the apple, both freezing cold. The apple pie was runny and the coconut was not even average. Nothing at all was homemade or yummy. We had high hopes for this place, as we are not from the area but we will sadly not be back. The food has not set well with our systems. 🤢