First time writing a review towards any establishment, but it's warranted from my experience with Café Delamar on the Island of Palm Beach.
As a resident on Palm Beach Island you would expect the cafe's and restaurants to appreciate the locals (also visitors), and ANY feedback given would be welcomed instead of acting in a condescending and arrogant manner.
Some neighbors on the island had mentioned on many occasions that the cafe's soup was outstanding, but one would have to deal with the atrocious customer experience...I love soup so I gave it a try.
As I entered the café there were two gentlemen behind the counter, and some staff back in the kitchen area. I arrived just before the 'rush' at 11:30 a.m. I had planned on meeting a friend at the café so I decided to get a soup and a sandwich. I immediately asked what soups they had. A grumpy older man pointed to a board (to much for him to engage in conversation). One soup "Cannellini Bean" was posted. I then asked if the soup was made on the premises, if it was 'fresh'. Well a rude, unprofessional reply came from the younger guy, you would have thought I asked to see the health certificate the way he answered me. He looked up, and with a condescending tone, a slight accent (French I think), and rolling of the eyes said 'everything was fresh'. I was stunned, but wanted to try the soup so I ordered the larger size cup. I also asked if the Chicken salad was also made in house and if I could have it on a French Baguette. No French Baguettes came the snotty reply (after all it's a French Café LOL), so I selected the 'Italian bread', and again I was rudely reminded everything is made from scratch.
I sat outside where I was going to eat. The younger guy came out and gave me my soup, which was served in a Styrofoam cup, and a little plastic spoon...Pathetic! Try serving it in a ceramic bowl with a 'real' spoon? BUT all that didn't matter as the soup was out of this world, absolutely delicious, definitely made in house, the flavours in this soup were scrumptious and delicious. I could see why my neighbors had raved about it.
My taste buds were in heaven from the soup, so I was eagerly awaiting my chicken salad on Italian bread. It arrived in a plastic basket with a bag of chips and a pickle, not exactly a Champs-Élysées French Café experience, but when in Rome...and I quickly remembered my rush to judgement on the styrofoam soup container and utensil...alas, the chicken salad was awful, no flavor whatsoever, it was "mushy" sort of like tasteless tunafish, and the bread was hard (hard as in old). I took two bites and that was one bite to many. I asked a staff member who happened to be outside if the bread was fresh, he said that they toast the bread and that's why it was hard, LMAO it was not toasted! I took the plastic basket that was now void of a pickle and half a bag of chips, and a full half and one quarter of the lifeless chicken salad that was spread on the infamous 'toasted' Italian bread back into the café. When I bought up my concern to the younger man at the counter about the hardness of the roll, he gave me a stare that would shatter a statue, but even more comical, an older lady from the back of the kitchen approached the counter and informed me that French Baguettes were normally crusty in texture LOL, Yes dear, French Baguettes do indeed have those characteristics, BUT the bread I had was not a baguette!!
How can you argue with incompetence, rudeness and zero customer service as this...and I'm a local!!
The younger gave stuck his hand in the register and refunded me for the sandwich. I gave him a bit of my British sarcasm right back at him telling him that at least the chips were good! I thought he was going to jump the counter and knock my block off...but he deserved my snide remark.
It will be with trepidation rather than warm familiarly that I hear the name 'Café Delamar' ever again!!! read more