La Mercerie — Restaurant in Vienna

Food was ok. Prices were ok. Service? Another story.

If you want to be exposed to racism and unnecessary aggressive behavior, you can deal with the blond waitress lady who has glasses. It is going to be a very long story since I am pretty pissed, and If you dont want to read it, you can skip to the last paragraph.

There was no room inside, so we sat at a table at outside. We sat on one table, but since the weather was very cold, we changed our table and sit to a new table, where the sun was shining more. When we sat to this new table, OUR ORDERS HAD NOT BEEN TAKEN YET, IT WAS ONLY COUPLE OF MINUTES AFTER WE CAME TO THE CAFE. Since we were a large group, we took the concrete weight between the two tables to the side and brought 2 tables together. THE WAITRESS DIDN'T GIVE US ANY INFORMATION ABOUT WE CAN’T DO THIS AND SHE TOOK OUR ORDER NORMALLY. We ate our food without any problems and went inside to pay and use the restroom. While we were waiting in line for the restroom, the same waitress lady suddenly started yelling at us saying THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, YOU ARE BLOCKING MY WAY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING and started scolding us. We were shocked and thought ‘Why was she scolding us, if she had said nicely, we would have moved aside anyway’. Later, the cafe manager asked if we had placed the concrete block to the side. We said yes, we had. She said we should move the concrete piece back to its original place, because it is really heavy and the waitress lady couldn’t move, also it is forbidden to move tables together. We said sorry, we had no idea it was forbidden and of course we will move the piece back to its original spot. After we were done with payment and bathroom situation, we went outside and separated the 2 tables and WE CHANGED BACK the concrete piece to ITS ORIGINAL POSITION. While we were almost done with moving all the chairs where they were belong, the waitress lady came and started to SCOLD AND SCREAM US AGAIN, saying “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, I HURTED MY ANKLE BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU SHOULD MOVE THAT PIECE TO ITS ORIGINAL SPOT, I DO NOT DO IT, YOU SHOULD DO IT, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, THIS IS NOT TÜRKİYE” etc. We said please calm down lady, we have already put it back to its original position and we are sorry that she hurt her ankle. But SHE KEPT SHOUTING AT US. She kept saying THIS IS NOT TÜRKIYE, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT, HERE IS NOT TÜRKİYE. I tried to stay calm and said to her “why are you behaving so aggresive and rude, also why are you keep saying this is not türkiye? Do you also say to your other international customers this is not italy, or this is not spain? I am sorry you got hurt, I wouldn want you to hurt yourself, why would I want that? But there is no need to be rude, you can not yell at us. And you can not be a racist”. As an answer, she kept us yelling and making awkward hand and arm gestures. So I said I want to speak to her manager.

When I talked to her manager, the manager lady said she is sorry about her behaviour and she will talk to her about it. And the waitress tried to defend herself by saying we were wrong because we changed our table at first and it is forbidden to change a table once we sit :D. I said If she would have tell us at that moment, we would happily move back to our first table of course. Is this a logical excuse to behave extreemly rude and racist? I dont think so. There is no excuse for racism anyway.

After leaving the inside of the cafe, another customer lady who were sitting behind us and saw the whole scene, came to us and said she is really sorry about how that waitress behaved to us, that was unacceptable and unnecessary. She also said that the waitress definitely have some problems, because she was so agfressive and racist. This is not how all the Austrians are, she added. I am glad that there was a person who witnessed the unfair behavior we faced. I really regret that I didn’t get the waitress’s name. Tomorrow I am going to go there again to learn her name, because I am going to file an official complain to the police and...

Located right at the beating heart of the French quarter on the corner of Bergasse and Servitengasse, arguably the most charming pedestrian street in Vienna. The service is unfailingly courteous and friendly (a true distinction in Vienna, let me tell you!), and the general ambience suggests you could be somewhere in Paris. I used to drop by regularly after my morning jog or cycle. But I stopped going when I found that it was worth taking a hike to Parémi just for the delightful crispy croissants.

What lets this place down is the quality of the pastries and the coffee on offer. It’s just not right that a ‘French’ style bakery should serve croissants that are often soggy, limp, and very oily, accompanied by coffee that will convince you that it is better to be elsewhere.

Big plus for Vienna: the service is friendly and accomodating:-). And if you get lucky to get one of the bay window seats, you will find overall vibe is cosy and very Parisian.

Important: bring cash because it...

If you want French baked goods, go to L'amour du Pan. I was disappointed here twice. The first time was when I saw the beautiful éclairs in the window. Don't be fooled - they don't taste half as good as they look. Today I ordered a croissant for dine-in. The two customers who ordered at the table next to me got some decent-looking croissants but the one I got was a dud. See photo! It was only 80% the size of the other croissants (not fully risen), totally misshapen, and didn't have enough egg wash. I tried to send it back but they wouldn't let me. I used to work at a bakery and we would never let such a hideous croissant be seen by a customer. But I guess this is what you can expect...