Trafik kávézó és reggeliző — Restaurant in Budapest

Visited today for brunch due to a multitude of exceptionally positive reviews here. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the following points:

• the food (avocado toast, ham and egg sandwich) was good but nothing special nor memorable. I wouldn’t recommend this place for a repeated meal because it tasted surprisingly cheaper than expected (like something you easily make at home) and “plain”. If you’re looking for something more “foodie” focused, I’d recommend you try a different brunch spot. Perhaps this cafe is aiming to be better known for its drink menu.

• service: the waiter did not repeat the order despite it comprising 5 different drinks and 3 dishes. Seems like common practice to double check, especially if it’s a long order. In the end, we were charged for a muesli/granola yogurt dish that we never ordered. When consulting with a waiter, they rudely insisted that we had, in fact, ordered it and there was nothing more to be done in this regard. “Take it or leave it” mentality is outdated in the service field, especially in 2024, considering this capital city has a large expat and tourist flow.

• atmosphere: I was disappointed with the fact that no background music was playing, like I’d imagined a place described as “cozy” would have, or as cafes typically market themselves. If you prefer loud conversations and laughter as the soundtrack of your brunch, you’d be at home here. This is, of course, up to personal preference but it’s better that you know...

The place has a chilled atmosphere and pleasant music (not too loud).

The service is always courteous.

Their best breakfast dish is the home made granola yoghurt.

It is very creamy and perhaps the best I had anywhere in Europe at the mid price range.

The cakes and shakshuka are fairly priced but a little disappointing.

The shakshuka has only three ingredients (eggs, red sweet pepper and tomato sauce).

A proper shakshuka should have at least a little onion and garlic to elevate it to the next level and preferably another vegetable (ie leek or mushroom because it is a versatile dish and it is summer so there are plenty of cheap and nutritional options around).

Needless to add there are no herbs or chilli (there is not even any black pepper) which is generally the case in Central Europe and why I bring my own organic Indian 🇮🇳 cumin, black pepper, fresh chilli and organic Italian 🇮🇹 dry oregano else it is inedible to me.

The coffee is of acceptable quality but it is best to come early on days that are not busy (i.e monday and tuesday) because like in most cafes in Hungary the baristas keep the fresh milk outside the fridge and with the lid open to save themselves 5 seconds on opening and closing the fridge and 4 seconds to unscrew a milk carton lid.

This inevitably means that if you drink an espresso with milk at 10:30 - 11:30 am there is a chance the milk has been out of the fridge since 8 or 08:30 am and that is not great...

We chose this café based on its high rating and popularity — it’s a small and cozy place with a pleasant vibe. However, due to its popularity, it gets quite crowded during peak hours (around 10:00–10:30 AM), especially on weekends. I’d recommend coming earlier if you want to avoid waiting. A few groups left while we were there simply because there were no available seats — maybe it’s time for the owners to consider expanding. Just an observation.

As for our experience — the food we ordered took unusually long to arrive (about 30 minutes), and the order was incorrect when it finally came. They said they’d redo it, but in reality, they just added the missing fried egg to the already-prepared dish 😼. We had to follow up a few times, and by the time my food arrived, it was lukewarm and everyone else had already finished eating.

To be fair, they did refund the dish for the inconvenience, which I appreciated. While sorting things out, we also noticed other tables had similar issues — missing items like bacon, and dishes being returned to the kitchen.

As for the food — honestly, it was not particularly impressive. That said, my husband really enjoyed the granola —...