DONGNAM Coffee Lab — Restaurant in Berlin

Oh, where do I even begin? So, I arrived, ready to place my order, and naturally, I assumed the attendant would be, you know, doing their job—but silly me! Instead, they were deep in conversation with the people in front of me. Now, don’t get me wrong, chatting is great… if it’s about the order. But no, they were discussing personal things—endless, irrelevant personal things—while I just stood there, watching precious minutes of my life slip away.

Now, I tried, I really did. I politely asked if they could speed things up, if maybe, just maybe, I could actually be attended to, but apparently, that was too much to ask. So, I did the only thing I could do—I sat. I waited. And when I finally got my cake, it looked like it had been put together as an afterthought. At that point, I strongly considered just leaving it there and requesting a refund, because really, what was the point? But I decided, fine, I’ll take it with me, and I left.

To be fair, the cake was okay, the food was nice, and that’s exactly why this is so frustrating. I actually like this place. It’s decent, pleasant, has a good atmosphere—which makes it all the more unfortunate that the service does not match the experience. So, for the sake of every future customer who values their time, can we please ensure that the attendant focuses on, I don’t know, attending to customers? Some people walk in expecting quick service—especially when there’s no visible queue—not to stand there for 20 minutes while others bond over their love for cars or whatever...

I went 2 months ago and that was the only time. From the moment I walked in, something felt off. Others were being served, but when it was my turn? Silence. I assumed they were busy—until I noticed them casually chatting and laughing while I stood there waiting. They didn’t seem to think I understood their native language. Shocker, I did! I let it go, but when my friends arrived who were speaking their language, suddenly, service was no issue. They even got a stamp card—something I somehow didn’t qualify for. I tried to brush it off because I never give room for such, but seeing others mention similar experiences on other platforms made me realize it wasn’t just me. And sure, I get that they’re understaffed sometimes, but it’s different when you actually understand what’s being said.

Anyway, the food was great. Just, you know…...

It is a cozy little place, great for reading a book or work or just catching up with a friend. The atmosphere is really cool and as apposed to a lot of Cafés nowadays, it is not overly crowded or loud, which we loved. The Staff was friendly, and you order at the counter and sit with your order at tables afterwards. What I liked was they asked if we had dietary restrictions for the milk and such. We ordered the crepe cake and the mango cheesecake. They were ok, but not extraordinary good. The cheesecake was more to our taste as it had small cubes of mango in the filling. The star was the ginger hazelnut latte which was very refreshing, and the tang of the ginger was...