Somewhere in Vienna, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is rolling over in his grave.
Wow, was I disappointed with my choice to have brunch here a few weeks ago. I had so looked forward to trying Amadeus for awhile and had high expectations for a lovely meal. Indeed, just judging by exterior appearances, it seemed to have all the makings of a terrific little cafe. Well, I was clearly wrong and left bitterly disappointed by the experience.
I had been looking forward to dining at Amadeus for some time before finally having brunch here last month. I had bookmarked this spot months earlier and thought it looked so charming just from the exterior and the online menu. I had even peeked inside a time or two. I had basically disregarded some of the less than stellar online reviews for this place and figured I'd make up my own mind about it. In retrospect, I can see where some of these reviews were coming from.
I stopped in for Sunday brunch with pretty high expectations that began falling flat almost immediately. The place was not crowded and had just opened a few minutes prior to my arrival. After joining a friend and her family at a large table near the kitchen (they had arrived a moment before I did), we were largely ignored for about an hour. The entire table shared a menu for quite awhile while the wait staff seemed in a fog, never bringing drinks, additional menus or checking on guests at any of the tables. We sat there for about a half an hour before getting extra menus for our table and glasses of water. The whole time we sat there, the wait staff acted like we weren't there, but it was largely the same situation with every single table. After about 45 minutes, we managed to get a server (not sure which one or if it was even our specific server) to take our order. When she asked if we wanted to order and we replied, "yes," she actually sighed and rolled her eyes. Wow.
I settled on the Pierogi Breakfast (vegetarian) with an order of Viennese Coffee, as did a few others at our table. Our brunches came with unlimited baskets of rolls/bread with assorted jellies. That was a joke. Another server dropped one tiny basket for the five of us and it was never refilled. That amounted to exactly one roll per person. We were starving. That was hardly satisfying, but it was better than no rolls at all. The rolls were okay, but tasted store-bought. They were clearly not freshly baked on site.
About 25 minutes later, my food was served, but no one else's. The way it was served was extremely unsettling. Yet a different server tossed my plate across the table and dumped it in front of the empty seat next to me without a word. The plate actually spun around the table momentarily. I've never seen food dropped off so unceremoniously in a restaurant before. This was bizarre. Was this my dish? Did she drop it off here for a moment while dropping off plates at the table next to me. Everyone at my table looked completely baffled. I wasn't even sure if I should start eating or not. A few minutes later, the other plates arrived at our table, along with our drinks.
Three people at my table alone ordered the same Viennese Coffee. Every single one of them looked and tasted completely different, as though not made by the same person or following the same recipe. There's something to be said for consistency and Amadeus was utterly lacking in this. The coffee was supposed to be topped with caramel and cinnamon. One had cinnamon and no caramel, another had a tad bit of caramel and no cinnamon and another had all the caramel pooling at the bottom of his drink. None of the coffees even looked the same and they certainly didn't taste the same. The coffee cups they were served in seemed to be of completely different sizes, too! Mine was the largest, but the other two were dwarfed in comparison. Mine was okay, but with so many great places to grab a coffee in town, it definitely seemed pretty average.
My Pierogi Breakfast was decent, but not great and by no means worth the exceedingly long wait and abhorrent service. My pierogis were lukewarm and one was missing the obligatory dollop of sour cream. I've had better at parties hosted by my step-in-laws, who are part Polish. The eggs were served barely warm and had a nice flavor/texture to them, but it was obvious they were sitting under a heat lamp for awhile. The side salad was served with ranch dressing whether you wanted it or not. I guess there was no other choice? I wouldn't know since we weren't asked.
At no point during our meal were we asked if everything was okay, etc. Not once. Again, very baffling. After we ate, we were eager to get the checks. We had to practically strong arm our server to prepare our bills. We were ready to pay immediately. We had to shove the bills into the hands of another server just to get out of there. By then, we'd been there for at least two hours!
The ambiance was lovely and the decor looked very old world Vienna, but the service and food are totally lacking. read more