Frank. — Restaurant in Brussels

I strongly do not recommend this place, unless you fit the profile of a big tipper. Only then might you enjoy the favour of its snobbish and fussy staff (which was certainly not my experience)

I normally do not write negative reviews, but this experience was unpleasant enough to make me change my mind. This place is located close to my home, and I used to invite people to Frank for business brunches or spend here my oof hours. After my last visit, I would rather drive extra ten kilometers for another coffee shop than come back. The reason is the complete lack of proper service. That day there were two ladies working and one man (no interaction with him). My colleague and I took a table; both floors were empty, but we had to wait for a while for someone to take our order as the staff were chatting at the counter. When a waitress finally came over, she rolled her eyes (seriously, what?) and, without greeting or a smile, asked, “what you chose?” I ordered my brunch and asked for a coffee with caramel syrup. She rolled her eyes again (…) and replied, in a passive-aggressive tone, that they only serve “normal coffee.” I politely asked for sugar, which never arrived. It was embarrassing in front of my colleague, as I was the one who invited her there and it was clear that the staff were not happy to host us at all. Even worse, the same waitress served two tourists at a nearby table, smiling and being friendly which was clearly absent with us. So as you can imagine the unpleasant atmosphere was deliberate. Later, my colleague asked to repeat our drinks, but the coffee came with the wrong milk. When we requested to have it changed, the second waitress argued that “repeat the order” does not mean “repeat the instructions for the order.”

It seems that either the staff are demotivated and underpaid or the management does not value loyal customers. I had been coming here about once a week and was already used to the staff being forgetful (and the hollandaise being overly sour). However, this visit completely removed any...

Frank was recommended for me by a friend (apparently the other branch). This particular branch was a terrible experience, I couldn’t believe such absence of service is still possible. So we came over at 14:30 (1,5 hours before they close) and asked for a table inside as I was with my wife and our 4-year old daughter. The inside was literally empty and we thought we can choose any table, but guess what? The waitress told us “We already closed that part, so you can only take this table” (where everyone passes by and near the toilets). When I said “it’s rather inconvenient” she’s made a face if I’d said something wrong about her relatives. We were already ‘surprised’ but hungry and the place was recommended for me as a tasty one. Then the other waitress brought us the welcome bottle of water and guess what? A fly under the cap, what a pleasant welcome, they don’t even bother to check. Now, the food came relatively fast and it was actually not bad as well as the coffee, but guess what? I had to fight the eggshell with my teeth, see some on the picture. And theeeen, the “closed” part was suddenly opened to a couple of boys first and then the other couple. Maybe because they came without children? (I’ve not seen any notice that the place is not welcoming children, but based on the menu and the attitude of the stuff, it does not). Then I went to pay the bill and was waiting near the cashier for a good minute as the busy staff was discussing something much more important than letting me pay my bill and leave the unpleasant place for good. And guess what? No one asked how was the food. No one asked how was the experience. No way, they just don’t care about the experience of the guests. They only care about their day finishing in 55 minutes and counting seconds until those annoying customer get out and let them rest, poor things. So yes, my worst...

I'll go against the flow of the very positive reviews.

The food is too overpriced both for quality and quantity. The place seems popular, so there's a queue but even in a smaller group – after waiting in a line – you are not able to get your own smaller table. The place also does not accept reservations for the weekend so in a way, having too crowded space is a conscious decision. The counter-like desk we got placed to (sitting next to other people) included fresh coffee circles from previous customers.

Salad wasn't washed properly and included a bug in it, which I understand can happen but at the same time, for 22 euros I would either expect that we receive a new one or some sort of discount at the end. Neither happened, the plate was just taken away.

The yoghurt & granola was nice but I did not exactly see something justifying a 13 euro pricetag for it (almost the price of a lunch in Brussels). However, at least the coffee was good and the staff reasonably speedy.

Your mileage may vary, but the neither the food, the service or the atmosphere justify the final bill and no matter how hard I try, I cannot really see something that makes the experience worth ~€26 per person for a brunch food, coffee and tap water.

I honestly believe you can find much better places in each category (or combined) elsewhere in BXL.

If I had to conjure an ideal image of a "hipster place for instagramable photos of an overpriced food" Frank. would probably be it. You are paying for the "sustainable", "artisan", "organic" buzzwords here, rather than the...