Coffee House Kako — Restaurant in Nagoya

PSA to foreigners: Xenophobic coffee house.

TLDR: While the food is comforting and ambience is cosy, the service made this experience horrible. A constant battle for attention for basic things. Really disappointed because we were really excited for this place.

For context: We came on Tuesday at 11:50am - it was not crowded and not as busy.

Read on for a more detailed experience review:

Not-so Welcomed Arrival Experience

My boyfriend and I were practically SHOO-ed out (hand gesture included) of the restaurant when we knocked and asked if there were space for 2. Once we were let in we saw our tables set up and though “oh they just wanted to set up our tables” but strange… they immediately let another Japanese lady in after us without waiting and was warmly ushered to her seat which only then they proceeded to set her table up.

The Fight for Attention (Part 1): Ordering

Again, the Japanese lady was attended to first and had her food served to her at lightning speed. Though she was seated next to us at the bar, the guy server kept his head down and pretended not to see us when we tried to order.

When ordering the lunch set, we accidentally tried to order one of the special blends on another page - the guy server aggressively flipped the page back to the lunch menu and said drinks could only be ordered from that set.

The Fight for Attention (Part 2): The Missing Spoons

Our soups came without spoons and again we tried to get their attention. I managed to get the guy server attention and was the one who asked for the spoons. He seemed genuinely sorry but only faced my boyfriend to apologise despite me being the one who asked? He passed BOTH of the spoons to my boyfriend and only apologised and interacted with him. Eye contact and interaction to me was avoided at all cost.

The Fight for Attention (Part 3): The Bill

Again couldn’t get their attention. Gave up on the guy server and asked the other female server for it.

General attitude of staff to other customers:

Got to say they are super sweet to the rest of the customers. Gave children parting snacks and sweets to thank them and sent them on their way.

All in all, if you’re not a local Japanese, please save ur appetite for somewhere else that is...

·捲頭髮男店員是我這趟日本行程遇過最粗魯最沒禮貌的人，討厭外國人嗎？非常不友善 ·黑咖啡超級不好喝，是煮好一大壺倒出來，很苦很酸，不順口。 ·店內有一半空位，超不積極帶位。 ·往前走Bucyo，可以登記名字，店員也很親切很積極帶位，也有友善的一人座位。如果不想壞了心情，就不要來這家店，去別家店看看吧👍🏻 . 週二早上7:45到看店外沒有人排隊，也沒有寫姓名的板子，我就打開門走進去，連一句話都還沒說，男店員一看到就超大聲的說：等等！並且大力的揮手叫我出去。 我跟另外兩位韓國人就站在門口等，過了10幾分鐘男店員出來了，他就先讓後面兩位進去，然後又叫我等等，往店裡面看一看（但一個人的位子明明就放好了，還故意要往裡面看）才讓我進去。想當然也先幫另外兩位點餐上餐，我以為日本人很注重排隊順序，不知道男店員為什麼要這樣。 店內就一男一女服務人員，女生負責做土司男生負責倒飲料洗杯子還有帶位，店內有10個吧台座位，兩桌四人位共18個位子，我在吃的時候四人桌有一桌是空的，吧台有五六個空位😅但外面明明排了長長的人，男店員悠哉的洗完杯子又過了10幾分鐘才出去再帶一組人進來。 吐司上面的紅豆不會太甜，鮮奶油也不會膩上面有四種果醬，吃完一份也不會太飽，味道還好。 黑咖啡，超級難喝，超酸超苦，是煮一大壺倒出來的😅雖然不貴，大家期望別太高。 . 各位如果時間寶貴，也想保有旅遊的好心情，往前走還有別家店可以試試

. • The male staff with curly hair was the rudest and most impolite person I encountered during my trip to Japan. Do you dislike foreigners? He was extremely unfriendly. • The black coffee tasted terrible. It was brewed in a large pot and poured out—very bitter, very sour, and not smooth at all. • Half of the seats in the store were empty, but the staff was very slow and unmotivated in seating customers. • Just walk a little further to Bucyo, where you can register your name. The staff there is friendly, proactive in seating customers, and they even have solo-friendly seating. If you don’t want to ruin your mood, don’t come to this store. Try another place instead! 👍🏻

On Tuesday at 7:45 AM, I arrived and saw no line outside. There wasn’t even a board to write down your name. So, I opened the door and walked in. Before I could say anything, the male staff member shouted loudly, “Wait!” and aggressively waved his hand to shoo me out.

I stood outside with two other people, waiting for over 10 minutes. The male staff member came out, seated the two people behind me first, then told me to wait again. He glanced into the restaurant (even though a single seat was clearly ready), then finally let me in. Of course, he took their orders and served them first. I thought Japanese people valued queue order, so I don’t understand why he acted like this.

There were only two staff members inside: a woman preparing toast and the man pouring drinks, washing dishes, and seating customers. The restaurant had 10 counter seats and two tables for four, a total of 18 seats. While I was eating, one of the four-person tables was empty, and there were five or six empty counter seats 😅, but the male staff took his time washing dishes before seating the next group of people waiting outside.

The toast was topped with red bean paste that wasn’t too sweet and whipped cream that wasn’t too heavy, with four types of jam. It was okay and not too filling. The taste was just average.

The black coffee was awful—extremely bitter, extremely sour, brewed in a large pot 😅. Although it wasn’t expensive, don’t expect too much.

If your time is valuable and you want to keep your spirits high while traveling, walk a little further and try another shop. . • 남자 직원은 이번 일본 여행 중 만난 사람 중 가장 무례하고 불친절한 사람이었습니다. 외국인을 싫어하시나요? 정말 비우호적이었습니다. • 블랙커피는 정말 맛이 없었어요. 커다란 통에 끓여 부은 건데, 너무 쓰고 너무 시고 전혀 부드럽지 않았습니다. • 가게 내부에 자리가 절반이나 비어 있었는데도, 직원들은 자리 안내에 너무 느리고 적극적이지 않았습니다. • 조금만 더 걸어가면 Bucyo라는 가게가 있는데, 거기서는 이름을 등록할 수 있고 직원들이 친절하고 자리 안내도 적극적이며 혼자 앉을 수 있는 자리도 있습니다. 기분을 망치고 싶지 않다면 이 가게는 가지 마세요. 다른 가게를 찾아보세요! 👍🏻

화요일 오전 7시 45분, 가게에 도착했는데 밖에 줄이 없었습니다. 이름을 적는 게시판도 없어서 문을 열고 들어갔습니다. 그런데 한 마디도 하기 전에 남자 직원이 큰 소리로 “기다리세요!“라고 외치고 손을 휘저으며 저를 밖으로 내보냈습니다.

저는 다른 두 명과 함께 문 앞에서 기다렸고, 10분 넘게 지나서야 남자 직원이 나왔습니다. 그는 뒤에 있던 두 명을 먼저 들여보내고, 저에게는 다시 기다리라고 했습니다. 가게 안을 둘러본 후(혼자 앉을 자리가 분명히 준비되어 있었음에도 불구하고 일부러 둘러보는 척했습니다) 저를 들여보냈습니다. 당연히 뒤에 들어간 두 사람의 주문을 먼저 받고 서빙도 먼저 했습니다. 일본 사람들이 줄서기를 중요하게 여긴다고 들었는데, 왜 이 남자 직원은 이렇게 행동했는지...

Food is good, coffee is ok. But service is very rude. The lady has been very rude. We are two adults and have one 1 year old baby. we ordered two coffee with two toasts. The baby is with us and just took one piece of our toast, the lady ran to our table immediately and asked us to order one more drink for the baby because he cannot eat our food. I said ok and order one more orange juice. For this cafe, you will get one free roast when you order one drink. So we have been waiting our toast after ordering the orange juice. After 20 minutes wait, I asked the lady if the toast still coming. She speak in Japanese and ask me “ do you want it? Do you really want it??” Since I can speak Japanese so I answered “yes” and the after 3 minutes our toast finally came. We felt really uncomfortable for this lady’s service. She only speaks English when she ask us to order. When we asked what we should get, she started speaking Japanese? Even the food is good, we will never visit again. There are too many good food in Nagoya. Not...