Elk Bakery - The Garden — Restaurant in Verona

We went to Verona on a day trip during our stay near Lake Garda. My sister suggested Elk Bakery as they’d got there earlier. We turned up, and had to wait to get a table. One became available but it was another 15 minutes before they’d allow us to sit down. It made no sense at all, and when I asked they got a bit shirty with me.

Food wise, I ordered two sweet pancakes, and one fluffy pancakes. The pancakes that came were identical. I’m a bit of a connoisseur of pancakes and all pan fried batter based deserts. What we got were basically all a poor attempt at American pancakes. Slightly over done and not fluffy. I basically expected two crepe orders (sweet pancakes), and one American style big fluffy pancakes. They were somewhere in between.

My wife ordered the protein pancakes with granola and pistachio sauce. Well, unless banana is granola, they got this wrong. And the pancakes looked under cooked.

I feel like this establishment has earned a reputation and got a bit egotistical about it, and so let their quality slide. It’s clear they can do food, but they just kind of can’t be bothered. Like it’s more than their jobs worth.

It was a shame. The women serving us were nice enough, but at best, it’s a mediocre establishment, and at worst, it’s an eatery of inflated ego which really ought to get someone in who understands pancake nuance.

(I’ll add, my brother in law had the bacon and egg bagel and enjoyed it, and my sister had salmon and avocado on toast and also enjoyed that, so I’ll give them...

The food looks great, but the attitude is something else. Wow. I was in Verona as a solo female traveller. First time. Just arrived. I wanted to grab some lunch here. First they ignored me when I was waiting at the door to be seated. Then they gave me the worst table. When I kindly asked whether I could move to the one next to me, which was at the wall with a comfy bench, they said it wasn’t possible because it seats three people. It was one bench spot plus two chairs on the table. All they had to do was turn the one chair around and then the table I was sat on would have had three chairs and sat three people. So silly. They also repeatedly said that because I was by myself this was the only table they had. It just was blatantly made up and poor form. It seems to be about maximum profit at this place nothing else. When I then told the waiter I changed my mind and wouldn’t be eating in addition to the smoothie I had already ordered, it was all over. I could literally feel their eyes on my back, wanting me to give them the table back. Originally, I wanted to have a nice and relaxed lunch over some travel planning. But not like that. I just paid and left. Well, I went to the till, they ignored me like they did when I was waiting to be seated, and then I paid and left. Chaotic organisation and profit...

I really wanted to love it because of all the great reviews, but sadly just didn’t - and I hate giving bad reviews! I think it’s become one of those popular places that are a just bit over hyped (I agree with one of the other reviews that says people perhaps just like it because it’s instagrammable.) Service was fine, menu looked great on paper, and the food came out okay - nice crispy bacon (although if you want ketchup with your bacon think again - it has to be ordered from the kitchen and takes 10 mins) and the eggs were fine, but overall nothing spectacular. But worst of all, both my partner and I were actually quite sick afterwards - the milk in the cappuccinos tasted a bit funny and I wonder if it was off. Perhaps we were just unlucky and came on a bad day, as everyone else...