Café Bel Étage — Restaurant in Vienna

On September 24th at 18:15 (Sacher management, may I please recommend that you check the manager on duty roster and review the young male floor manager/hostess on duty that day - he does you no honor), I took my wife and son to Café Sacher, one of Vienna’s most famous coffee houses. I must say, my experience was far from what I expected from a renowned establishment. Unfortunately, it felt more like a cattle pen for tourists than a five-star café.

Upon arrival, there was a long line of eager guests, all of whom seemed equally confused and frustrated, but at the same time, there were plenty of empty tables, and the cafe upstairs was half empty. Instead of having an organized system to manage the flow, it felt chaotic, with no one to guide us or provide any semblance of order. The manager, supposedly responsible for welcoming and seating guests, was nowhere to be seen initially. When he finally made an appearance, it was with a palpable attitude that was shockingly unwelcoming.

This lack of attention left many customers feeling neglected, leading to unnecessary and probably artificially produced long waits. It became clear that the establishment’s focus was less on hospitality and more on turning tables as quickly as possible without regard for the patrons' experience. The manager's dismissive demeanor was particularly disheartening—he treated customers with a level of disrespect that is non-befitting to a place that prides itself on its heritage and reputation.

In a city renowned for its charm and warm hospitality, the experience at Café Sacher was a disappointing outlier. If the staff, especially in management, continue to treat guests like an inconvenience rather than valued customers, I fear that the reputation of this cafe will continue to decline. I would recommend looking elsewhere if you're seeking a pleasant café experience in Vienna—it certainly won’t be found here.

It's too bad that at this point, I had already spent Euro 100 on gifts at the Sacher shop. This was a mistake that I...

for record : Out visit was on 8 July 2024 @ 8.25 pm : we waited in the queue like other people , then we were asked to go up . once my wife sit by the table , one lady of the team approached here asking aggressively ( who allowed you up ???? ) despite that my wife was shocked by the way of asking the question , she informed the lady that one of the team in ground floor requested us to go up . the unexpected answer came from the lady ( I dont think so …. ) thats when my wife replied to here ( well i think so … )

then again she asked us aggressively to change the table which we picked by the window because we were 4 adults + 1 kid ( 4 years old ) because she believed that this table wont fit us regardless that we explained to her we can fit the kid between us .

Well dear first of all you can check the cameras to see if we were leaded up or not .

second point , the table we picked was the last in the raw and wont bother any other guest if we used it as long as we are comfortable and not using any additional chairs. and for the record : i noticed later that 5 adults we sitting nearby on a similar size of table with no objection from the lady .

you really need to educate your team about customer service ethics . your customers are your asset and this information shall be passed to your team .

in the end you are not doing the customer a favor by letting them in . its a 2 way relation .

for me I took a decision not to visit your place again regardless that i used to come whenever i stop in vienna . in the end city is of full of other options .

the most hilarious point that i was planning to ask about the manager to complain about the treatment , to find out later that this lady is the manager on duty.

so i paid my bill and...

Not worth the visit. Had a reservation and were promptly seated - off to a good start. However, despite a morning reservation, we had to ask for the breakfast menu instead of it being offered right away. Overall, it was a horrible experience since we waited over 45 minutes just for the coffee to arrive, not to mention the food, which took more than 50 minutes. Additionally, the staff kept messing up our orders, e.g., ordered two cakes for AFTER breakfast, one randomly arrived before anything else did, even before drinks; hot drink was ordered without cream, which was disregarded, so it had to go back etc. The final straw was when an ear drum shattering alarm started, which nobody seemed to care about, even though it went on for about 5 minutes. Several guests left because of it, and since we were already finished with breakfast (avocado bread and an omelette with bacon), we asked for the bill and were charged with the cakes we never had - thankfully, it was no problem to tell them we cancelled them. Overall, I would expect much better and more organised service from an establishment of that calibre including much shorter waiting times. In the time it took for everything to arrive, I could have gone to the supermarket to buy all the ingredients and cook everything from scratch and still be done sooner than we got our food. To say that the prices are steep for the service you get is an...