I don't like writing bad reviews but I feel like my experience should be shared. I would like to say, there were a couple times that I was at fault and I understand that but I feel like I made honest mistakes whereas, the management made worse.
So when I first came in, I parked in what seemed to be an alley of the parking lot (totally fine since the cafe is in a neighborhood) and I was confused on where to go inside since there were 2 different doors from that I could see. For reference, I parked behind the outdoor seating area but the sign said to go in through the front foyer. I wasn't sure where that was since, from my point of view, I was in the front (Looking back on it and how the house was designed, not the owners fault of course, I should have deduced that the front foyer was on the opposite end of the property. However, I feel like that should have been clarified or had more signs showing the direction of where to go because there were multiple doors). Therefore, I go in a door that I thought was an entrance and I ended up in a closet/kitchen/bathroom area. At this point, I wondered if I accidentally just let myself into someone's house but I heard voices and cooking so I kept going inside. However the hallways were very small (not even a single arms reach wide) and it was very busy so getting through was a mess. Eventually, I got up to a counter to order and as I ordered, the lady made my food. I specifically wanted to check out this cafe because I heard it had gluten free cinnamon rolls and I'm gluten free so I was very excited but when I was looking at the menu (which had very very small font and was formatted weirdly) I couldn't see the cinnamon rolls. However, I noticed that to my left was a shelf that had a lot of stickers and whatnot, and intermixed with the stickers, there was a piece of paper with the ingredients of the gluten free cinnamon roll (think of an ingredient sheet). I believe it said gluten free cinnamon roll on it but the text was so small and nothing was bolded so it was hard to decipher.
While that was not a big deal, what comes next is the customer service. Since this was my first time there, I wasn't aware of any "rules" (like if you sat yourself or if they would seat you) so I just picked an empty table and ate my cinnamon roll there. However, they were very very busy and I looked around to see that many of the other tables didn't have food (I don't think any of the tables had food and the cafe was filled). I was in a room/area with only 2 other tables and a couple at one of the tables also looked confused. I overheard them talking and they were saying how they were there for 20 minutes and nobody had checked up on them. They were also wondering if they were supposed to go to the counter and order or if someone was supposed to take their order. As I was taking a bite, the lady that took my order (I assume was the manager) had come up to me and asked me to leave. I was very surprised because all I did was order a latte and a cinnamon roll and sit down to eat. She said that she thought that I was ordering it to-go (at no point in my order did I say that was ordering it to-go and at no point in my order did she ask for here or to-go). That was when I realized that she had given me a to-go cup for my latte and my cinnamon roll in a styrofoam container. Since this was my first time here, I didn't know that they would typically use actual plates and a mug for guests that were eating there and I had nowhere to look for reference since no one else had their food.
Furthermore, the lady told me that she already sat someone at my table (I don't know how because I was sitting for a total of maybe 2 minutes and nobody had come by) and that I needed to go. She looked behind her to see if the couple was still there but they had left. Once she realized they left, she swore out loud and still insisted that I needed to go. At this point, I was frustrated because the people who were supposed to be taking my seat had left and I was already sitting there first. While I recognize that maybe I was supposed to order at my table or with a waitress (none of which that they had on the floor), I feel like this was a management issue. There was no sign saying that I was ordering at a takeout counter, it was also the only counter that I saw that you could order from and additionally, you couldn't see the front foyer (which I found out later was the place you were supposed to go to get seated) from the restaurant area. Overall, while the food was good and the ambiance was incredible, this poor management really showed. There was no one out taking orders from tables nor were there people actively getting seated however I saw at least 7 workers behind the counter making food. All of this to conclude that the service (more specifically, the management) was awful read more