Mad Rona's Coffee Bar — Restaurant in Area B (DeCourcy/Gabriola/Mudge)

I’ve lived on Gabriola for half a decade now and been visiting for almost 30 years. Unfortunately this place has been steadily going downhill. The desserts are great, the food is decent, and the coffee is subpar. This has always been the case and I was fine with that. However, the staff has changed and the service over the past two years or so has plummeted to being downright unacceptable. A couple of the girls working there now are just plain grumpy whenever I’ve gone in and consistently give off the vibe that they don’t want to be there. The straw that broke the camels back for me though, quite literally, was when I asked for a straw with my drink and it was chucked down onto the dirty wet counter right in front of me instead of handed to me, so I politely asked if I could have another and if it could be handed to me so it would be clean. Pretty reasonable request, no? Well, the girl looked at me like I was nuts, audibly sighed, rolled her eyes, and reluctantly handed me another straw before whispering something to her co-worker who then gave me a weird look. It was a very unnecessarily uncomfortable exchange and I tried to lighten the mood by saying “sorry, I’m a germaphobe!” and they both just continued to stare at me without saying anything until I left. It might seem silly, but suddenly I felt like I was 16 again getting bullied by the mean girls in high school for no reason other than simply existing. It really soured my entire day and I decided I would never return to Mad Rona’s. Maybe they could have gotten away with this kind of treatment when they were the only coffee option on the island, but there’s a place with much better coffee and much friendlier staff just up the street, and that’s the only place...

It’s over priced for one, food and drinks other then regular coffee is fair.

Second, we ordered a sandwich and the older lady and or the girl at the desk did not put a number on it, which corresponds with the order, their was 3 people ahead of us and someone had a similar order, actually the exact same sandwich,

The girl at the counter called for the sandwich name not the number, so my wife went over and picked up the sandwiches, no body said anything and off we went back to our seat.

The older lady proceeds to come over and say did you not listen to the number called out? And spoke to me as If I was the person who made the order and grabbed it, I retorted “ Uhm not I just figured when you called the sandwich name out it was ours “

She replied “ no, you have to look for the number, and wait for it to be called out so we don’t get confused”

And took my sandwich away.

Glad I won’t be back, but this cafe just wasn’t for me, even if I wasn’t the one put in the order and or forgot the number on the sandwich packaging.

So I leave you with a lecture of my own.

Lower your prices and get off your high horse and you will learn the art of respect is given when gave.also don’t forgot to put the order numbers on the packaging and or receipt.

Off...

I've been coming to Gabriola every summer for 30 years. Mad Rona's was always a reliable place for decent food and drink. I don't know if ownership has changed or what but quality has declined in the last couple of years. I was there yesterday for a quick beverage. We ordered an ice latte, two smoothies and a sandwich - cost over $40 with the minimum 15% tip option. It's a self service type of place. Nothing was particularly good but the smoothie I had was especially awful - tasteless and basically was a slush puppy. I took it back to the counter and asked what was in it. It's fruit syrup and pre mixed slush and "yogurt" base. I wasn't mad and didn't make a big fuss about it but told them it was really not very good. The staff member who told me the ingredients was nice and didn't seem surprised that I didn't like it. The woman who took my order - and tip- was standing right there. I left it on the counter and said sorry, but I can't drink this and went back to my guests. Nobody offered me anything else. Nobody said sorry you didn't like it. Just nothing. Simply offering something else goes a long way to restoring a customer's faith and loyalty. Sadly, I...