One thing I've noticed with Vapiano on my trip to Berlin is that the branches are either excellent or terrible which is a rather big divide in-between the two, to the point I've only been able to hand out either a one or four-star rating to the branches I've visited, sadly this branch is one I'd class as terrible.
Vapiano is a rather interesting concept where you get a plastic card, and go to different counters to get your food and pay as you leave.
This branch is located on Mittlestr and has two main entrances, one of which is through a slight bridge or tunnel and is rather nice with outdoor seating, the other is the typical street way in, which isn't anything spectacular.
When I came into the store, I was told to expect long waits as it was busy, I reluctantly accepted this due to struggling to find gluten free food in Berlin and having walked a good distance with the main purpose of that to find this branch.
Having enjoyed a pizza at another Vapiano branch for lunch, I decided to order something different so I ordered a Gluten-Free Spaghetti Bolognese, I was angered to find the format for pasta working out like this:
- 2 members of staff working
- You order your food
- They cook it
- You get your food
- They serve the next person
etc
Unlike with pizza, they do not use a pager or anything of that sort meaning one has to stand up to wait instead and hold your place in the queue, meaning you'd then have to join a separate queue for drinks and then possibly any additional food, meaning it could get cold, and due to having to wait in a queue, its frustrating as you can't sit back and relax as one would expect, and by the time you have your food, you might not even get a table.
When my food was served, I was angered to find I was served Penne pasta, instead of Spaghetti marked on the menu, as I really don't like penne pasta, and I was under the impression I would have spaghetti, after trying the pasta it tasted awful, it didn't taste fresh it was frozen and the same poor quality was also given to me from the sauce.
I tried to return my dish to the kitchen, but the language barrier was hard, the woman didn't seem to believe me or understand and made me bring my full plate of awful food to her to prove I hadn't eaten it, before still refusing to knock it off my bill, I refused to pay and had to fight my ground and spoke to a manager who seemed also a little rude but did reluctantly waive this off my bill, and I left, as I didn't want to waste anymore time with waits as long as I experienced here (half an hour for awful frozen pasta)
Quality of food was terrible, and so was service and so was the overall waiting experience, forcing me to stand up and queue and just wait and wait, so I sadly feel this branch is probably the worst branch of Vapiano, of which I visited during my time in Berlin and is indeed worthy of a single one star rating, and with so many branches of Vapiano in Berlin this is probably the worst and becomes Germany's first addition to my "Avoid at all costs" list. read more