Sam's Club, St. Petersburg, FL

Some restaurants are posh, decorated and have an ambience of luxury. The food courts at Sam’s Clubs are a bit different. Almost as if an afterthought and in space available, they are usually placed next to the exit door and adjacent to the cash registers. The open warehouse architecture makes for high ambient noise levels, the nearby exit makes for perceptible drafts, and the high traffic density from the checkout counters makes for crowding and congestion.
On the other hand, if you have favorites on the rather limited menu, it is a convenient place to get an inexpensive bite to eat after filling your basket with all the house-goods staples. As soon as you have the receipt in hand you shove the basket to an empty table to claim it as your own. If there are two of you it certainly is easier. One gets to guard the basket and table while the other goes and stands in line to order the food.
One of the wife’s favorite foods is pizza, pepperoni pizza to be specific. A slice of pepperoni pizza is $1.88. It is well covered in pepperoni slices. It is a crispy thin crust pizza. With all the pepperoni sausage on top, it is just a little greasy but all to the liking of a pizza lover. There is adequate cheese and the sauce has a nice flavor. It appears to be a 14- or 16-inch pizza and cut, I believe, into sixths, a generous portion. It was one of those overbearingly hot Florida summer days so to go along with her pizza, the wife ordered a 32-ounce ICEE, $1.08.
I chose the combination, a large hot dog and bun with a 32-ounce soft drink, $1.70. This Sam’s Club serves Nathans hot dogs which is a good thing. It is a large hot dog and a large bun to match. I have never seen the large Nathan’s hot dogs like that in the supermarkets. Also, in this store, adjacent to St. Petersburg, diced onions are available on request at the pick-up counter; they give you a nice little Solo cupful. Mustard is a pump dispenser on the condiment table and the relish is in those little tear open bags that I hate so much. If you are from New York, there are larger tear-open packages of sauerkraut if you desire. Soft drinks are Coca Cola products and the two machines feature most of the popular brands.
The kitchen and food service area always appears clean and well cared for. The dining area is basically clean but the majority of the table bussing is the patron’s responsibility and I am afraid some of my fellow diners are not really up to the task.
Although we didn’t partake on this day, one other menu item worth mentioning is their Four-Berry Sundae, $1.50. It is a large cup of soft-serve ice cream swirled with a chunky four-berry sauce. On really hot days it is really a life saver on the long trip over the hot asphalt paving to the car. More than once I have been on the verge of brain freeze.
All in all, it was a quick and simple meal that we both enjoyed. And after all, where can you take the wife for lunch and treat her to one of her favorite foods and have the bill come to less than five dollars? A pretty good deal after all.