Vapiano — Restaurant in Berlin

I love vapiano and I will gladly go to any other location in Berlin or whatever city, but after today, I will never return to this location at Alexanderplatz. I stood in line for more than an hour in a line that wasn’t even long. The cook (I believe his name was Tayyab, but I couldn’t see the name tag that well) was the slowest of them all. All other lines were moving along because the cooks were cooking two dishes at once. Tayyab, on the other hand, was cooking just one and seemed to be more focused on conversing with customers about clubs and with his fellow employees about other things. I assumed the whole time that the second burner was just broken and it wasn’t completely his fault. He proved me wrong as it was finally my turn to order and he looked past me at the guy behind me to ask him what he would like to order too. Only then, after this hour of waiting, did he take out a second pan to start cooking with. I don’t get it.... the normal questions were asked like „would you like chili and garlic?“ and I gave my usual answer: „garlic, yes. Chili, no“. But the guy behind me did want chili. That’s why a bit of chili ended up in my food too. I found this out later when I tasted it. By the time the pasta was ready to be put in the plate, he had forgotten which pasta was mine and which was the other guy‘s. I don’t know if he was a new employee or just having a really off day. But wow.

After finally sitting down to eat, a drunk man walks up to the table I am sharing with two other people and starts asking if we’re prepared for „the ice cold blue angels“ to arrive. We simply ignored him and he continued his rant, even reminding us twice that „we can look in whichever direction we like because he’s still there“. I finished my meal and left the man standing there while he continued to talk.

When I got to the register to pay downstairs, I used the card that I always use at any vapiano and anywhere else in Berlin. The card reader simply displayed the message „system malfunction“. So the man at the register tells me my card isn’t working. I try it again and the same message comes up. Although nothing is wrong with this card. I’ve used it before and after this visit to vapiano. I’m lucky to have had cash in my pocket to pay for my food.

I walked out the door, never to return again, and I see the drunk man from upstairs being escorted out forcefully by...

I don’t write reviews very much, so that should capture how terrible this was. Tonight me and my partner went for dinner here (we’re from Canada and wanted to try something on alexandreplatz) I chose this restaurant because they have an informative allergy guide… I THOUGHT. We looked through the menu and allergy guide very carefully, and when it came time to ordering, we told the cashier what we wanted, and expressed in detail our allergies. To start the staff don’t speak much English, so there was a big translation barrier, which is okay as English isn’t the spoken language here. After using google translate and clearing some confusion, he assured us that our allergies would be accounted for. Well, it really wasn’t. To start I requested no garnish or extra toppings in my pizza, as I’m allergic to raw veggies and herbs. Right when I want to grab my pizza, I noticed a raw cherry tomatoe on top. When I told him, they picked it off thinking that was good enough…. That’s not really how it works. Regardless I had a new pizza made in a matter of moments and I moved on. My partner on the other hand, this was the real problem. He’s severely allergic to cashews, and ordered the pesto basilica, which is made of pine nuts. The cashier told us that it would be okay and there wouldn’t be any cashews. Come to the last few bites, and he begins to notice something is off. Slowly he began to start feeling sick, and his fight or flight kicking in and not knowing, he paid the bill and quickly left to a corner store to get a water bottle. After taking an extra antihistamine, and remaining vigilant that it wouldn’t become life threatening anaphylactic reaction, we moved along with out night. My main cause of concern is the lack of diligence around allergies at this restaurant. A manager didn’t come to speak with us about allergies, and no one from the kitchen really made sure the dishes were created with careful consideration, considering my partner get sick from what we believe to be cross contamination. We chose this restaurant as we both know the EU has strict allergy laws, and that his establishment provided online an allergy guide for their clients.

My take away here is if you have allergies, please be careful about eating here. Getting sick isn’t worth the pasta or pizza and sickness that comes along with having...

We came in the middle of the afternoon to eat. We start with an aperitive at the bar since all the lines to get food were full. It was already strange that the bartender was alone on the 1st January in the middle of the afternoon. Obviously he was already struggling to serve the guest. After a while we decide to queue to get some pasta and risotto and after 40 minutes and 2 beers that we decided to get while we were waiting we changed the queue to get pizza and antipasti. I was queuing for the antipasti while my friend was queuing for the pizza. I observe again one chef working alone while all the guests were waiting. After 20 other minutes queuing my friend came back to me saying that we need to wait 1 hour for the pizza. Obviously we decided to give up and we went downstairs to pay. As soon as I arrived at the cashier I asked Mido if we can speak to a manager and he asked me what happened I explain it quickly and he told me my apologises it is a busy day it is like that. Here this is my experience in vapiano alexanderplatz so at least the name of the concept is correct vapiano but come on you guys have no clue how to handle even a complain and especially you have no clue what is hospitality which is your main job. A lack of professional and taking people as a fool. I recommend you really to do a blueprint of your business and quickly. If you need some help let me know would be my pleasure to help. And never forget to communicate to your guest about the waiting time this is absolutely easy for you with your concept I just let you put a screen. Waiting for your job...