Café am Neuen See — Restaurant in Berlin

WORST RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT GO!!!!!! I rarely write reviews but the staff did everything to ruin our evening. We gathered for my birthday dinner with 7 other friends. First, the waiter asked my friend with an arrogant attitude, "how can I help" after we were sat and we told him we had a reservation, and he replied irritated "how can I know?!". Instead of a warm welcome the evening started with this waiter trying to gaslight my friend into thinking she did something wrong and would keep coming back saying "are you ok?? all good? why are you like this? I can get another colleague to serve you!". he wouldn't let my friend explain that the problem was the attitude. Everyone was shocked. He indeed changed the colleague and we ordered our food. The food arrived 1,5h later and the portions were extremely small. Furthermore they served my vegetarian friend a regular burger instead of a veggie one!!! They changed the burger and it took them ANOTHER HOUR to serve the veggie burger and they made him pay for that?!?!!! At this point we were so exhausted and disappointed, I didn't even want to order a cake for my birthday, knowing that it would have taken them another hour... We paid and nobody tipped, traumatised by the terrible experience. The waiter comes back and asks "Is everything ok? Did something go wrong?" and I said "yes, everything went wrong" and tried to explain him the reasons. He didn't let me speak and STARTED SHOUTING AT ME "So you don't like my service?!? it's not my fault the food is late! I don't understand why you didn't tip!! If you complain about the food being late, go complain to the restaurant manager, not me!! YOU DON'T LIKE THE SERVICE?!? GET OUT OF HERE NEVER COME BACK!" and all of this waving his finger at me!!!! He just didn't let me talk!!!! The manager came and he gave a dry apology. I am so embarrassed by how this went. I honestly don't know what else to say but please PLEASE DO NOT GO HERE!!!!!!!!! AND SPREAD THE WORD THESE PEOPLE ARE TREATING THEIR CUSTOMERS TERRIBLY!!!!!! I WALKED OUT CRYING ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I WILL...

Insulted by a worker

My recent visit to this cafe with two friends was nothing short of a disappointment. We ordered a 1-liter juice, two slices of cake, and some fries.

To our surprise, the so-called "juice" was merely flavored sparkling water, a blatant misrepresentation of what we expected.

The service left much to be desired as well. The fries, which we had to wait for more than half an hour to receive, arrived cold and dry.

But what truly soured our experience was the unprofessional behavior of one of the workers. As newcomers to Berlin, we weren't aware of the local tipping culture, and we chose not to leave a tip. Instead of understanding our perspective, this worker not only insulted us but also left us feeling humiliated in front of other customers. It's important to note that we did not intend any disrespect; as mentioned to him, we simply made a different cultural choice regarding tipping.

To add insult to injury, this individual chose to conclude the interaction with a rude comment, by remember as that "karma is a b**" . While we were leaving, he also went so far as to use a different language to mock us, ensuring that we felt unwelcome and disrespected in front of the other clients.

Our visit to this cafe was marred by subpar service, false advertising of beverages, and a regrettable interaction with a staff member who displayed a shocking lack of professionalism.

As a word of advice to the particular staff member involved, we would like to convey that in Italy, a country renowned for its warm hospitality and appreciation of cultural differences, it's highly unlikely that anyone would ever resort to such unprofessional behavior. In Italy, where the emphasis is placed on genuine hospitality rather than just the act of tipping, the need for gratuity is often secondary to the warmth and respect extended to all customers, regardless of their background or familiarity with local customs. You are always welcome to Italy, to understand what the true...

I ordered the asparagus risotto and a glass of pinot gris. I also shared some sweet potato fries with the most delicious wasabi mayo dip. Overall the food and drink was really good!

The outdoor area on a sunny day is very lovely and well worth visiting but do book well in advance - I made a booking request on the same day and it wasn’t processed in time (my fault). We were therefore seated indoors instead which was also comfortable.

Unfortunately quality of the service was quite lacking. It might have been because they had a lot of bookings because of the UEFA football, so perhaps it isn’t always like this, but we were not treated as well as I would have expected? For example, the door staff were very young and a bit dismissive of our arrival, seemed quite causal and rushing around (but at the same time chatting and not appearing busy)? After being seated, we ordered water for the table, and a server rushed past us and dropped the bottle in front of us, but didn’t provide us with any glassware. We had to ask another server who seemed confused as to why we would want glassware? Finally, as we were leaving, another server was eating an unclaimed dessert at the main door as we were leaving. Overall the service wasn’t very unfriendly but also wasn’t very professional. This would be fine in a cafe setting maybe, but not in an establishment which is trying to be more upscale. Again, this could have been a one-off due to the football event, and I would maybe try this place again...