I've been half a dozen times over the last year (spanning maybe 12+ dishes) because I REALLY want to like something at this place (St Johns is desperate for good brunch joints and the location is stellar).
Service is always great but the food (the star of the show) is absolutely lackluster and inconsistent (and always takes quite a while to arrive (I don't really care about this but worth noting if you're in a hurry)).
At their absolute best everything lacks any meaningful flavor. Slims (a dive bar nearby) somehow pulls off much better biscuits and gravy (paiku biscuits may, in fact, incorporate concrete into the mixture given how hard they are). I literally can't recommend anything here and feel good about it.
It's unfortunately not worth the visit for me despite the rock bottom bar for St Johns breakfast/brunch ☹️
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Lucas Haustein
First of all, wait staff, cook staff, any one else back there….awesome!
I order the Chicken Pot Pie based on a recommendation from a friend. When I walked in I was the only one there, nothing on them it is a Thursday @11:30 and it is weekend brunch spot, service was great and super helpful. After I had placed my order they came back and said they didn’t have any pies ready and it would be 25 minutes. That’s no big deal for me, but it could end up disappointing others I suppose.
All that being said, the food is electric. The pot pie is thick and chunky with the proper ratio of filling to crust. The crust is flaky and buttery and just perfect. The side salad with pickled red onions is nothing to sneeze at either.
Last but not least, the house made hot sauce is nearly a perfect sauce. Hot enough to make your nose run but not too hot that it murders your taste buds. It also had a great smoky flavor.
Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Pot Pie
Nick Weivoda
Need to come again so I can try all the delicious things on the menu, I had such a hard time choosing
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Michael Gillis
Great homestyle tasting food. Really good coffee.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Conor Kennedy
Terrible customer service. Waited over 30 minutes for an order of biscuits and gravy. Not worth the price. Never going back.
Update: 50 minutes and no food. They had to cook one pancake for my order. Absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable.
I walked out.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Ernest Patterson
Food was amazing! Potatoes, biscuit, elk gravy was delish. French toast was great too. Never saw a mimosa that was fluorescent orange before, but tasted great. Only downside is it took like an hour to get our food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Honey Sage French Toast
Dominique Audrey
This is definitely one of my favorite breakfast spots. They have a great variety of food and have multiple vegetarian options. Also, the staff are always amazing.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
michael morrison
I did a poached shift as a dishwasher. I got a chance to interact with the employees as well as try the food. Both were amazing. Check em out!!!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
David Cullen
Madison the bartender is incredible, will be back
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jonathan Jett
I've been eating breakfast at Paiku on occasion for years. Delicious and health-conscious food that has options for everybody. The cooks put genuine love and passion into their food. I've never had a bad experience.
Small, chill place to stop for breakfast or brunch in downtown St. Johns. Self-serve, strong, tasty coffee. A gem, Love it.
I had the vegan hash… very, very good. Too bad they don’t have more veg options.
Chris G
This visit made me long for their old strange waiter Jefferson, he was odd but he tried.
My glass of water was served in a rocks glass, the kind you would serve a shot in. The table next to us had a carafe of water, I could see 5 empty carafes but they told me that water was self serve and they could not give me a carafe. I made 6 trips filling my tiny glass from their tepid water station. I could have used more to get through the dry biscuits.
Still the worst coffee in town.
On the up side, they got some silverware to my table shortly after my food arrived. It wasn't busy.
I used to like Paiku, been a customer since they were a cart but I'll never go back.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Val Iven
I guess I need to read the menu descriptions better. But, I was underwhelmed with my dish. I thought I was getting baked eggs, instead I got slimy sunny side up eggs (yuck). When I saw the option for a veggie hash, I was hoping to get a lot more veggies. Kind of like the Beaterville like vegan option. Nope, just over cooked potato’s. I had to scrape off the cheese ( that was my fault, otherwise no cheese for me).
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
Marci Butler
This is one of my family's favorite go too!
Parking: Parking is very limited
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Biscuits and Gravy, Chicken Pot Pie, Classic Breakfast and Pow's Breakfast, Sandwich
Dade Wheless
This place is ok but incredibly disorganized. It’s a “wait to be seated” place but the hostess stand in literally in the doorway blocking the path of anyone including servers attending folks on the patio. Even though there were 3-4 open tables we were told that a table wouldn’t be open for 5 min. We overheard that the server forgot about other people who had been waiting for a table as well. They made us wait for one of the “2 tops” that are essentially tiny end tables crammed together so you’re sitting shoulder to shoulder with a stranger. About 18”x18” they are comically small and are really suitable for one person. Walk a block and go to John street cafe, you’ll thank me.
I've been half a dozen times over the last year (spanning maybe 12+ dishes) because I REALLY want to like something at this place (St Johns is desperate for good brunch joints and the location is stellar).
Service is always great but the food (the star of the show) is absolutely lackluster and inconsistent (and always takes quite a while to arrive (I don't really care about this but worth noting if you're in a hurry)).
At their absolute best everything lacks any meaningful flavor. Slims (a dive bar nearby) somehow pulls off much better biscuits and gravy (paiku biscuits may, in fact, incorporate concrete into the mixture given how hard they are). I literally can't recommend anything here and feel good about it.
It's unfortunately not worth the visit for me despite the rock bottom bar for St Johns breakfast/brunch ☹️
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
First of all, wait staff, cook staff, any one else back there….awesome!
I order the Chicken Pot Pie based on a recommendation from a friend. When I walked in I was the only one there, nothing on them it is a Thursday @11:30 and it is weekend brunch spot, service was great and super helpful.
After I had placed my order they came back and said they didn’t have any pies ready and it would be 25 minutes. That’s no big deal for me, but it could end up disappointing others I suppose.
All that being said, the food is electric. The pot pie is thick and chunky with the proper ratio of filling to crust. The crust is flaky and buttery and just perfect. The side salad with pickled red onions is nothing to sneeze at either.
Last but not least, the house made hot sauce is nearly a perfect sauce. Hot enough to make your nose run but not too hot that it murders your taste buds. It also had a great smoky flavor.
Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Pot Pie
Need to come again so I can try all the delicious things on the menu, I had such a hard time choosing
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great homestyle tasting food. Really good coffee.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Terrible customer service.
Waited over 30 minutes for an order of biscuits and gravy.
Not worth the price. Never going back.
Update: 50 minutes and no food. They had to cook one pancake for my order. Absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable.
I walked out.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Food was amazing! Potatoes, biscuit, elk gravy was delish. French toast was great too. Never saw a mimosa that was fluorescent orange before, but tasted great. Only downside is it took like an hour to get our food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Honey Sage French Toast
This is definitely one of my favorite breakfast spots. They have a great variety of food and have multiple vegetarian options. Also, the staff are always amazing.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I did a poached shift as a dishwasher. I got a chance to interact with the employees as well as try the food. Both were amazing. Check em out!!!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Madison the bartender is incredible, will be back
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I've been eating breakfast at Paiku on occasion for years. Delicious and health-conscious food that has options for everybody. The cooks put genuine love and passion into their food. I've never had a bad experience.
Small, chill place to stop for breakfast or brunch in downtown St. Johns. Self-serve, strong, tasty coffee. A gem, Love it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Wild Boar Chili Hash
Restaurantji Recommends
I had the vegan hash… very, very good. Too bad they don’t have more veg options.
This visit made me long for their old strange waiter Jefferson, he was odd but he tried.
My glass of water was served in a rocks glass, the kind you would serve a shot in. The table next to us had a carafe of water, I could see 5 empty carafes but they told me that water was self serve and they could not give me a carafe. I made 6 trips filling my tiny glass from their tepid water station. I could have used more to get through the dry biscuits.
Still the worst coffee in town.
On the up side, they got some silverware to my table shortly after my food arrived. It wasn't busy.
I used to like Paiku, been a customer since they were a cart but I'll never go back.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
I guess I need to read the menu descriptions better. But, I was underwhelmed with my dish. I thought I was getting baked eggs, instead I got slimy sunny side up eggs (yuck). When I saw the option for a veggie hash, I was hoping to get a lot more veggies. Kind of like the Beaterville like vegan option. Nope, just over cooked potato’s. I had to scrape off the cheese ( that was my fault, otherwise no cheese for me).
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
This is one of my family's favorite go too!
Parking: Parking is very limited
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Biscuits and Gravy, Chicken Pot Pie, Classic Breakfast and Pow's Breakfast, Sandwich
This place is ok but incredibly disorganized. It’s a “wait to be seated” place but the hostess stand in literally in the doorway blocking the path of anyone including servers attending folks on the patio. Even though there were 3-4 open tables we were told that a table wouldn’t be open for 5 min. We overheard that the server forgot about other people who had been waiting for a table as well. They made us wait for one of the “2 tops” that are essentially tiny end tables crammed together so you’re sitting shoulder to shoulder with a stranger. About 18”x18” they are comically small and are really suitable for one person. Walk a block and go to John street cafe, you’ll thank me.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
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