The Barista Lab — Restaurant in Geneva

Great coffee and (I used to think) a very nice place. I was there a couple of times and was very happy, also consistently recommended it to my friends. However, if you would like to have a cup of coffee during your work day and keep working using your laptop, I suggest you to look for another place.

I had received some sad news in the morning and wanted to cheer myself up with some coffee and cake but yet to continue working (totally normal pretty much in any café). Thus, I went to Barista Lab. I ordered, paid, said down and after a few minutes I was approached with my order and informed that I am in a "no laptop area" (not marked anywhere!) and that I have to close my laptop or move into the area that is "for people with laptops". It felt intimidating to have to collect my things and move to this "area of segregation of people who work" and all this while other people were looking at me not understanding what is going on. The area that is allocated for those working on the laptops is, at least on the right side from the entrance is only good for making you want to leave as quickly as possible. The music speaker is located right above you, you are allowed to sit in the bar area on high stools and if you are not 175 cm tall, you are out of luck, since the distance between the bar stool and the table is too big. Also, and, at least on the left side, the chair cannot be moved closer to the table, which makes it impossible to properly keep your arms on it.

I do not have problem with the rule that laptops are not allowed in a certain area in certain times. I understand the nature of the rule, but normally, in places where I met that before, it was clearly communicated at the entrance door or in other explicit ways before you make a choice to stay. My review would also not be the same (or rather, I would not have written one, since my boyfriend has already written you a good review here when we were there together last time) if I was just told that there is such a rule and that next time I should take this into consideration.

Overall, it made me very sad and while I like the place for the quality of coffee specifically and other times, the service, I will stay away from now on, because this situation was a clear manifestation of "customers turnover over loyalty" attitude.

P.S. Please avoid low-key shaming me for the review as you do with other comments that give less than 5*, but rather work on...

The food is good, what I have the problem with is the hospitality. The morning I went there the coffee machine was broken, so we could only have Americano. Fine, could happen to anybody. I would expect a bit of flexibility to make up for it. But when I ordered Norwegian toast and tried to replace the egg with a bit of salad (as I’m sensitive and it’s a fair trade I believe) they said it’s impossible, so I got it without any replacement and still paid full price. After the breakfast (so, two full meals) me and my friend wanted to get pancakes, but the portion was too big, so we asked again can we get mini pancakes from the kid’s menu. No again, it’s only for the kids. I would understand if we didn’t have any food before, but I don’t see the point in this case, we weren’t exploiting the system in any way. I won’t come back, the food is not worth the hassle and if you knew how much I love brunch, you would take this very seriously. Geneva is getting some decent options for brunch and this is simply...

Déplorable.

J'arrive, je m'installe, après un moment je demande si le service est au bar ou aux tables, car je ne connais pas l'endroit. On me dit que c'est à la table. Pas de soucis, je me rassois et j'attends.

Après 15 min j'en ai marre et je vais au comptoir, je prends ma commande et là on me dit "vous êtes à la table avec l'ordinateur? On a une politique d'interdiction d'ordinateur le week-end, ça vous pose problème? Ben oui, je viens pour ça, travailler et me restaurer. Alors je questionne, pourquoi cette étrangeté? Pour prioriser les clients des brunchs, on me répond. Ah oui, mais là il est 15h, il y a plusieurs tables vides et je viens de commander à boire et à manger, ça compte? Non, la serveuse reste inflexible.

Franchement, on sent que la priorité, c'est pas d'être chaleureux contrairement à ce qui est présenté, c'est de maximiser la facturation du nombre d'avocat sur tranche de pain par place assise. Ordinateur ou pas, je ne suis pas près de retenter l'expérience. Si la politique zéro numérique est si importante, alors faut l'annoncer d'entrée de jeu, sinon faudrait essayer d'être un minimum cohérent avec les excuses avancées.

Edit suite à la réponse du propriétaire: Ma note reflète mon expérience personnelle, c'est à dire très mauvaise. J'ai perdu une heure en transport, en attente et en déplacement pour trouver un autre café. Je ne porte pas de jugement sur autre chose que le service. Je ne vous reproche pas votre politique, vous gérez votre café comme vous voulez. Je critique la manière. Si ça ne vous plait pas d'avoir une étoile, il suffit de retravailler le contact avec la clientèle. Votre réponse est mensongère. La serveuse a très littéralement dit "on privilégie les brunchs", ce qui m'a choqué. Si ce n'était pas vrai je n'aurai pas eu a justifier de mes consommations. À défaut d'être témoin de cette discussion, merci de respecter les témoignages des autres, même ceux qui vous déplaisent. Votre site Internet ne mentionne pas votre No Laptop Policy, et sur place c'est écrit sur un papier de 10x15cm collé sur la caisse. Pas de mauvaise foi s'il vous plait. Je suis venu pour passer un moment de détente, seul, hors de chez moi, pour avoir des activités créatives personnelles pour la première fois depuis des mois. Que je fasse ça sur mon ordinateur me regarde et merci de ne pas imposer la définition du...