Café la Reine — Restaurant in Edmonton

Today, my dad and I ordered a couple of Americanos 'to stay'. Coffee is brought to our table in mugs. There is sugar on every table. I asked barista/server for cream. She told me to go up to counter (which is the 'to go' counter) to get cream. So I take my mug of coffee up to counter after they brought my coffee to me to put cream in it. This felt very odd to me. My dad ended up doing the same thing.

I called her over to speak with her. I asked her why and explained to her that was odd to bring our coffee and then not provide cream to our table as well. She became defensive in an arrogant and pompous way. She said that she has never brought cream to tables before. This was a lie because she brought it to the table for me when asked for it a week ago. Side note: one of the other baristas/servers brought cream to the table in a friendly and courteous manner with no problems about a week or two ago before that when my dad and I went there for the first time together (I had been there a couple times before that a long time ago). That time, we ordered coffee and some pastry. The barista/server, he brought out everything to us. We asked for napkins and cream - he brought it all out. He was a good guy. I also pointed out to her that there was cream sitting on another table for a couple of patrons a few tables down from us. The cream for them was sitting in a mini pourer just like what she brought the cream out to me a week ago in. Her response to this was something like 'maybe when they're not busy'. I guess her "busy" includes no one in line to order food or coffee. Because there was no one in line before or after us.

This place has a kitchen. They have a menu for food. If we ordered food as well, would she have told us to come up to counter to grab napkins, salt and pepper? Both me and who I was there with had an issue with her service last time I was there as well, even though she brought cream to the table that time. But I won't get into that now.

Anyways, the conversation was going nowhere today when I spoke to her about it - calmly I might add. So I ended the conversation with, "You are rubbing me the wrong way. I think we should end this conversation." She said, 'Sure'.

Great coffee, though. However, I may never...

Looking to avoid crazy Easter breakfast/lunch crowds, we headed to Café la Reine late on a Saturday morning and found it to be a generally pleasant, unhurried experience. We both had gluten-free frittata (skipped the croissant), and gosh it was good. It came with a big side salad (we had potato salad and bean and rice salad), and we complimented the food with a lactose free mocha (a bit too sweet) and a London fog (just right). All cutlery, plates, bowls and cups were perfectly clean, as was the bathroom. I can't give it 5 stars though because a) the drink part of our order was forgotten and we needed to nudge them on it, b) the table and chair where we sat wasn't clean despite the place only being at 65% capacity, c) we had to bus our own table to clear space for another order of coffees and a dessert item... Which isn't really an issue by itself, but when the wait staff saw me carrying up our dirty dishes and cups, he just pointed at the counter and said "there is fine"... Ah, glad to be of service. Still, the owner is super pleasant and happily chatted about gluten free options and sourcing gluten free products. Overall, good food, good drinks, good service....

After googling for a place to get eggs Benedict on a Sunday after 3pm, I decide to go to this cafe with my son. We arrived at 4pm, they close at 5pm. We ordered off their very small menu at the till, paid and tipped. We were then approached by the cashier to inform me that they could not do poached eggs for my eggs Benedict because it was so close to closing time. Huh??? They could not make poached eggs in an hour? She went to talk with the “chef”, came back and said they didn’t have the “equipment and supplies” to do it and I could have scrambled eggs on my eggs Benedict lol. I would have left but my son was very hungry and was looking forward to his sandwich. I ordered a breakfast sandwich. The sandwiches came out on very mediocre sliced white bread. Mine had a middle slice of bread as well. It was not good. There was two tiny slices of the end of a tomatoe and very little avocado. I decide to just scrape the sandwich fillings into my plate and discard all the bread. It was a minute amount for the $14 I paid for it. If you don’t want to make poached eggs an hour before you close and 3 of your 10 or so menu items have poached eggs, you have...