TOASTERiA CAFE — Restaurant in Da'an District

I come here often enough to be a regular and despite what is normally an above average experience- there are a few consistent issues that it would be great for management to address. I would say on this trip the experience was 2-stars, normally a 3-4 star experience. So the recurring issues- poor organization during busy times. Everyone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off but not doing much. Having managed restaurants for most of my life in all arenas including the most high end to very causal- it's easy to notice when a leader isn't leading or isn't there.The back of the house is alwasy awesome. Food is consistent and comes out quick. Never been an issue there. The issue is the front of the house- training seems to not be very consistent as staff skills and knowledge vary drastically from person to person. Given the typical business of a weekday lunch- I'd expect the A-team to be on. Perhaps the move to open the Xinyi branch has pulled the A-team there. Bottom line is that this is more reason for ownership and management to focus on the older property which has been the bread and butter. My major issues today were being sat at the bar and waiting about 7-min to get a menu and getting a menu only after absurdly having to wave my hands back and forth like a maniac. All four staff who passed my line of sight within 2-meters of me before never once looked up despite my looking straight at them and having my hand up to get their attention. Lack of awareness and the simple hospitality tenet of keep your head up and be aware seems lately here to be lost. Quite discouraging given the typically good service here. Next issue- after receiving my food very quickly- my latte was absent. I have it about 5-min until I flagged the runner/ waiter who said to wait a minute and seemed to never follow-up. Then 10-min later- I flagged another waiter behind the bar who said ok and looked at some tickets then moved on. After finishing my entire meal and waiting quite upset to have been dismissed twice- i flagged what I assume to be the lead (wearing a white dress shirt) who took my order and she said oh ok- checked the tickets and then a few minutes later produced the latte a good 10-min after my meal. Does this pretty bad service happen all the time? No it doesn't. And I understand off days- but this has happened often enough to warrant attention- especially given that I'm at the bar in front of frantic staff going back and forth. Would be great to see an improvement...

Based on the price and high rating, i expected was authenticity, but turns out that its overrated and overpriced. Some may say that its “localised flavours”, i call it lazy and cheating ignorant people. There was simply a lack of effort and passion in food - one can make better Mediterranean food from online recipes than to have them here.

Worst items in my order were:

1. Panini Fourtet - cheese was room-temperature and wasnt even melted (also used low grade cheese), and the bread used was just soft breakfast toast.
2. Hummus with morrocan lamb - the lamb was warm and hummus was cold, so it was super weird. The hummus was bland and did not have any lemon taste at all, whilst the lamb had too much spices and not enough herbs.
3. Halloumi - served at room temperature, and the cheese was obviously reheated. The sun-dried tomato on the side were super salty, whilst the capers were not sour enough. The bread that was served together was way too oily almost like deep fried in butter (not high grade butter also).

Best item I ordered was probably the Affogato… you cant go wrong with Affogato unless you go out of your way to make it bad.

Oh, and to top it off, service leaves a lot to be desired too. Menu is in english but staff refused to take order in english, and give this devil may...

10/10 would recommend, especially if you’re looking for a late night place to eat. I work US time so was grateful there was a place open other than family mart and seven. They are also foreigner friendly; saw many international travelers there.

Food was amazing! We liked everything we got there and the portions were surprisingly very filling. Thank you to the kind waiter who recommended we sized down on our order. We had assumed the Tapas to be very tiny (as almost tapas in LA are) but they were actually a decent size! We got (sorry for the inaccurate names):

The Pulpo Tapas: good serving size of octopus. The Octopus was very tender with the right amount of chewiness. Sauces were amazing as well. Could not stop spooning it on top of our breads and into our mouth.

Nut Salad - delicious! Also surprisingly filling. There was a good variety of nuts and fruits (not just the usual almonds and walnuts here and there). Dressing was sweet and tangy. I’m not a normal beets person, but the beets in the salad was actually really delicious and complementary.

Cream Chicken Pasta - very flavorful. A little on the saltier side but is a good late night treat. Was a little rich for me, but my friend loved it. If you like creamy pastas, this is for you.

Ambiance and service was...