I really try to find something positive about every establishment I patronize, and I certainly don't like to "badmouth" establishments in the city I call home. I especially don't like to when the establishment has as noble of a cause as helping people with mental illnesses. I give this Cafe lots of credit for being involved with a cause so noble.
With all that said, I feel something has to be said about the paltry level of service I received. This was my first visit, and probably my last.
Upon walking in the door, I was amazed by how new and clean-looking everything was - and this is the only reason why the Cafe earned the two stars in this review.
Upon walking in the door, not one person greeted me, even though there were at least 3 employees behind the counter in my view. I proceeded to walk up to the counter, grab a menu, and start looking at what I wanted for lunch. Even while doing this, the counter person stood with her back turned to me the entire time. I made my decision, put the menu down, at this point she turned around, and just stared at me. She did not even say hello.
I had a simple order, a salad and a sandwich, called a "Pick Two". Instead of asking me which two options I wanted (soup, salad, sandwich) in a polite manner, I was immediately asked what type of soup I wanted. I did not want soup, only a salad and sandwich, so not sure why there was this initial miscommunication. Once I stated that I wanted a salad and sandwich, all I got was a simple "okay" with another blank stare. It took about 4 minutes to enter a one-dish order and complete payment. Unsure if the register system is new or not, but the counter employee had absolutely no knowledge of how to properly use it. Please have training for your employees - Clover offers it on their POS systems. I could have rung out the food faster myself. She even asked if I wanted a receipt, I said no, then proceeded to hand me one anyway five seconds later. I watched her do the same to the next gentleman in line.
I ordered to-go but waited in their lobby area. The cook was working hard getting orders out, and started immediately working on my order - so things were now looking up. The gentleman behind me suffered through the long ordering & checkout process as well, then I watched as the cook put his dish he ordered in the microwave - a slice of a breakfast quiche. Nothing wrong there until I watched that same counter person remove the quiche slice from the microwave, slide it off the plate with her bare hands, then place the now-dirty plate back in the microwave. Seriously?! Nothing drives me more insane when restaurants do not take sanitation seriously!
Once I got my food (the food wait was reasonable), I got a "here you go" from the counter person, then walked out with my food. Upon getting back home, my sandwich was just okay, and they forgot the dressing on my salad. Two items in the whole order, and they messed up one.
From my point of view, I simply cannot understand all the positive reviews of this place. Maybe everyone was just having a busy/bad day, but there were quite a few strikes I witnessed within my 10-15 minutes there. Quite a few of the employees were more worried about going on break than serving their customers in a courteous manner. read more