Sofia Oostende — Restaurant in Ostend

Pretty food, ugly customer service

This cute little place promotes itself as "the most instagrammable place in town“ but fails completely to deliver. Now, the food was nice and looked pretty, and it was tasty, too!

However, the customer 'service' was the worst I have ever seen:

it took 20+ minutes for us to order in a half-empty restaurant, only for our order to be mixed up when we asked for the bill, we had to wait 15 minutes until we had to ask again just to be told that we had to pay at the front (just say it directly and not let us wait?!) at the front, we discovered that you can’t pay by card - only cash and some app, meaning that I was forced to go search for an ATM upon my return, I got literally screamed at for not replying quick enough to "was everything okay?“ because no, it was not. Just don‘t ask if you don’t want me to tell you that I was not satisfied.

It‘s one thing not to offer card payment in a restaurant in 2022. it’s something else to let you sit 15 minutes around, have you ask twice and THEN tell you you have to go and get cash from some ATM in a town you don’t know.

Apparently, at Albrecht’s, it’s "disrespectful to staff“ for noting that my order was mixed up. It’s apparently disrespectful for not seeing a small flyer at the entrance or literally scouring the internet for the café’s website just to check their payment options. (And yes, that’s what I should have done according to the screaming lady at the till). And apparently, it‘s me who is disrespectful, but not the lady yelling that "Karma will strike back at me.“ Like???

Just don‘t work in customer service if you don’t have a clue what customer service means. (Hint: it‘s not yelling at customers).

Additionally, I am a disabled customer. This place asked me to see things I physically can‘t, never gave a heads up, and on top of that, I got literally screamed at. So yeah, I'm sure karma will...

As a big matcha latte aficionado I ordered one from the menu at Albrecht and it tasted terribly sweet. I kindly asked if I could return it after one sip and the drink was removed from the table, but the restaurant charged for it anyway. When I complained to the restaurant I got a rude reply: "In Belgium it is so that if you order something and you drink from it that you will have to pay for it. If it is not your taste, than this can not be our problem. On our menu every drink is described what is in it. So therefor we will not refund you." So basically if you are not happy with something at this restaurant, they claim it is your fault. Also, there was no soap or paper towels to wash or dry your hands at the restroom and the service was slow. Sadly cannot...

Looks like it could be a nice place. At the moment they're still learning how to run a place like that. We went there on Father's day and booked a table inside beforehand. Unfortunately upon arrival (on time) there was no inside table à a able and we had to sot in the terrace. Luckily for us the weather was nice but still we weren't prepared clothing wise. It was very busy and in stead of a nice fresh coffee we could only order a drip coffee. Luckily the bar next-door has nice cappuccinos. Other than that all was good, but nothing was over the moon special. I also don't understand the bizarre choice not to have rashers (bacon) with the English breakfast.

As a tip I would suggest to do a fixed menu on days where you know it...