Green Elephant Café — Restaurant in Kingston

I am profoundly disappointed by today's visit to the Green Elephant Cafe.

I came in at 10:30 this morning with my husband for a late breakfast. When our waitress came over to give us menus and ask what we wanted to drink she couldn't recount what Green Elephant has for drinks. So having been there in the past, I knew that the drinks were on their board at the front counter so my husband and I quickly checked the board to see what we wanted to order. The waitress acted like this 30 second task was tremendously inconveniencing to her that we had to check the board (for anyone who hasn't been to The Green Elephant before, they have normal cafe drinks but then also have "specialty" drinks on the board for Christmas season, Valentine's, Fall, etc...which is why we wanted to check). I ordered a London Fog and hubby ordered a cappucino with a vanilla shot and whipped cream.

We then waited for quite a period of time for these drinks to arrive...we were getting ready to leave, as the whole reason we visited was to order breakfast and the wait was cutting it close to the cutoff time to order breakfast, when the drinks finally arrived.

When the waitress brought our drinks over she couldn't remember who ordered the London Fog and who ordered the Cappuccino, and it turned out it was just a plain Cappuccino...no vanilla shot, or whipped cream. We were asked what we wanted to order (she was more flustered on where her pen was than the fact that we were even there) and we told her what we wanted to get.

We then spent the next 45 minutes waiting for our food...which never came. We watched our waitress (along with several other waitresses) walk into the dining area at least 5 times in the course of the 45 minutes we were waiting, and didn't come over once. She knew we were there as she would look over. Our cups were empty and we could've at least ordered another coffee or ate the toast that we had ordered but there was nothing.

We watched other tables get waited on, most of folks that recieved food had arrived after us. They received their food and drinks despite us being there long before and we still were not even asked for another drink.

After 45 minutes of waiting, we got up to leave and pay for our drinks. When we arrived at the front counter to state we were leaving and would like to pay our waitress looked at us and asked "What, your food never arrived!?"...like it was supposed to gravitate on its own over to our table. When my husband politely explained we've been waiting for 45 minutes the waitress at the cash register sighed loudly and snapped at my husband that they "make everything by hand" as if this was supposed to excuse the amount of time we wasted. By this time our waitress had chimed back in to say "well what do we do with the food" (suddenly she must've had a moment of clarity that our food actually exists and it doesn't magically gravitate to the table by itself) and the other waitress at the cash stated "doesn't matter, give it to someone that's hungry".

In all of my visits to many establishments, this was by far the most deplorable. The waitress' actions, or lack thereof, were very poor in taste. She made us as customers feel unworthy of her time when speaking to us. Our drink orders were incorrect and she couldn't remember who ordered which drink. After we placed our food orders we were avoided instead of given some sort of explanation/apology for the amount of time we were waiting. And to top it all off we were treated like a hindrance when leaving instead of being treated with a modicum of appreciation and empathy for deciding to choose The Green Elephant for breakfast and waiting for 45 minutes.

I will never dine at The Green Elephant again, or recommend it.

But all is right in the world of breakfast. We continued on to The Oaken Barrel in Greenwood for brunch and had an all-around phenomenal experience with a...

It is rare for me to write a negative review. However, I am making an exception. Yesterday, at just after 11a.m., I entered the Green Elephant and waited to be seated, per the 2 signs. It wasn't busy. A couple was paying at the counter and a gentleman was waiting to pay. Customers with menus were seated at 3 tables. Not full, by any means. A server came from the kitchen area, looked right at me, then through me and walked over to the occupied tables. No greeting, no smile, no acknowledgement, not a word. I watched as she passed me again and returned to the kitchen area. Still, not a word. Meanwhile, the paying couple left and the gentleman was being attended to at the counter. The staff member behind the counter looked at me a few times, made eye contact and said or did NOTHING!! It was as if I were invisible! She even came around to the front of the counter, a few feet from where I stood, yet no: "Welcome, we'll be right with you", or "have you been served?" No acknowledgement whatsoever. The first server then returned to the dining room, looked at me without expression, then averted her glance and proceeded to the occupied tables again, without a word! By that time I'd been standing there befuddled and ignored for over 5 minutes, before walking out. A 3rd staff member had emerged from the back and then turned back. In other words, they certainly weren't under staffed. How appalling and upsetting to be treated this way. Such a simple situation to attend to. I used to consider this place my "go to" for breakfast in Kingston! No more. I'm happy to give the benefit of the doubt, but this is either an extraordinary exception, a comedy of errors or it's cultural!! Restaurants are part of the service industry. What a great example of poor service! Had I not had somewhere to be, I would have stayed to have a conversation. Instead, I resorted to the nearby drive thru, so I could...

Arrived at the restaurant 1055 am wanting to have breakfast, the menu stated it was available until 1100 am. However, was told kitchen was no longer serving breakfast, huge disappointment!! I had spent several decades working in food and beverage establishments and in my experience if a customer arrives before 11am they are never told the kitchen isn't serving breakfast. Had my partner and I been able to order breakfast we would have also ordered momosa,(which resulted in a loss of revenue $26).

We have been visiting this establishment for over 4 years, the food is always good, never had any issues there, the atmosphere is generally nice and clean.

However over the past while I have noticed the service has gone downhill, others in the community has noticed also. Today was a perfect example...the only person who seems to be happy and welcoming is the little lady with the bun and glasses! Everyone else is grumpy and looks very unpleasant. We didn't get the water we asked for, the server who brought the food just dropped the plates and walked away even as we said thank you to her, there was no you are welcome or enjoy your meal, nothing!! We were 3 quarters finished eating when the original server came by and said everything is okay here I take it? Then preceded to walk away, when she came to collect the plates didn't offer anything else just told us our table number and walked away.

This is very disappointing service in a time when people are very conscious of where they are spending their money. Many other establishments that focus on customer experience as a priority are available and it's sad that a local community establishment may lose support due to lacking customer...