Urban Plant Cafe — Restaurant in Edmonton

I was working on some homework since i used to come here consistently for months for school. i sat around for almost 1 hour and half? and was just wrapping up my work when I’m assuming the manager? came and sat next to the empty table beside me (there were lots of empty spaces since it wasn’t a crowded time) and asked if my ipad was a laptop, I said no it was an ipad and he basically dismissed that and said they had a no laptop policy now.

before coming i had no idea this new system was implemented because as i mentioned previously, i used to be able to work there without any trouble. I noticed there were some other people with w ipads as well so i was confused as to why he was only targeting me for this policy. nevertheless, it’s their business and i respected their wishes. the manager said he can let it slide today but in the future i should be more mindful. i understood and politely agreed because what else am i supposed to do in that situation. he then continued to sit beside my table and kept staring at me while i was trying to finish up my work. i kept working since he said he can let it go for today. Until he stopped me again for the second time and basically repeated the same thing to me again?

i was very confused and pretty uncomfortable at this point but i just nodded and said i understood. he then continued to sit next to my table making me feel extremely uncomfortable and pressured.

now i wasn’t going to make a big deal out of this but it kept frustrating me as there were literally 4 other people working with ipads. the problem is not the policy, i completely understand that this is their business’s wishes and i would’ve been more than fine to abide by them in the future, but the manager did not go about doing it in a respectful manner. if you’re a student wanting to find a nice cafe to study in, i would’ve recommended this place months ago but now i cannot stress this enough,...

Awe man this one hurts to write because I hate writing low reviews and I genuinely used to love this cafe so much.

I’m disappointed because I’ve been coming here for years. I understand not wanting customers to take up a table for a long time during peak hours when others are waiting for a seat but I was sitting for just under 20 minutes and I was asked to put my journal away because there is a no laptops/work/studying policy. I think the policy is a bit silly regardless but I wasn’t working or studying and I wasn’t on a laptop so it was confusing. I know the staff were just doing their jobs by telling me so I said thank you and left without any fuss but it’s just disappointing. The owner replied to another review regarding this saying the space “is reserved for those who wish to unwind and enjoy meaningful conversations without disruption.” to which I say this is my version of unwinding after work and I don’t see a world where anyone would be disrupted by me having a “meaningful conversation” with myself through writing. This is like an ugly breakup where they get full custody of the bingsu 😔💔

Edit: I do understand the policy because it’s a smaller cafe with lots of menu items that are sit down only but I just feel like there could be a happy medium like only allowing it on specific days or limiting it to specific times of the day. I never stay longer than an hour when I do this anyways and usually order another item or two halfway through. I was also at a small table with no one waiting for a seat.

Second edit in response the owners reply: Totally understand it’s stressful on the cashiers to enforce which is why I said thank you and left quietly. “This means no laptops, studying, reading, or other work-related activities in our café” still makes no sense as I was doing none of those...

Been getting takeout from here for awhile, it was always decent (bingsu) so I wanted to try sitting in and doing some work on my laptop for an hour or so.

I came in (laptop under my arm, not hard to see) and ordered my food and drink and then sat down to setup my laptop, when I went to grab my order THAT was the moment the girl behind the counter told me that the business doesn't allow people to be on their laptop (or study but that's apparently only in a certain area of the Cafe) but not before I ordered and paid, strange timing but whatever.

It sucked to hear that you can't use a laptop or study here because I figured the relatively high price was a way for the business to compensate for people who order one thing but stay for an hour or two. Oh well, I put my laptop away and went to enjoy my food and drink but both were pretty subpar, especially given that all together it was almost $20 for those two items, the drink just tasted like milk that had glimpsed chai rather than an actual chai.

The music was also INSANELY loud, to the point I could still hear it with headphones on, me and my partner tried talking but you couldn't really talk at a normal volume given how loud the place was (not a ton of customers at the time, except for a few people in the back corner). The staff also kept looking at me and my partner as we ate our food and played on our phones, this went on until we eventually left a half hour later since it felt very uninviting.

Overall, I was expecting more since it looked cute on the surface with all the plants, maybe I'll keep ordering takeout but I'll have to think about it after the experience I had.

Hopefully others have a better...