Al Cafe — Restaurant in Birmingham

I’ve been a regular at Al Cafe for the past three/four weeks, usually coming in 4-5 days a week. The food is consistently good and reasonably priced, which is why I kept returning. However, my most recent experience has made me reconsider.

Last week, I tried to convince a friend to give this place a try, but he declined, citing strange customer service from a previous visit. I defended the place, admitting that while the service can be a bit off, the food makes up for it. Unfortunately, I now see his point more clearly.

A week after that conversation, I phone-ordered a chicken salad, as I usually do. The person on the phone asked if I wanted it as a meal with fries and a drink, which I found odd for a salad, but I went along with it. The person taking the order had a very strong accent, making it hard to understand him, especially over the phone.

When I arrived to pick up my order, I was given a box, paid, and left. To my surprise, when I opened it in my car, it was a chicken burger, not the salad I ordered. I went back inside, smiling, to explain the mix-up, and instead of a simple acknowledgment or an offer to correct the mistake, the cashier started arguing with me, insisting he had repeated the order back to me correctly. I explained that I had difficulty understanding him, but he only became more agitated. At that point, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle, told him to keep the money, and walked out.

This experience has unfortunately left a sour taste in my mouth. Despite the nice food and reasonable prices, the poor customer service has overshadowed everything else. Regrettably, I won’t be returning. The staff could really benefit from some proper customer service training to prevent this from...

I wish I could give it a 1 star. Called these guys after I had a good experience the first time. But was I wrong. Ordered 2 Full English breakfasts. Order took 1.5 hours to arrive. Upon arrival it was missing the 2 toasts and sausages. So I called them up and they told me to wait another 45 minutes and they will send the rest. 1 hour later I get a call from the driver who tried to tell me that he checked my food in the car and it was complete, but he will still deliver whats remaining but I will have to wait another 45 minutes. Called the shop and got such a disrespectful response basically accusing me that im lying about the missing toast and sausage. All in all, waited around 5 hours, so I told them to cancel the whole thing, just to be spoken to as if im begging for free food....

Very nice cafe. Was small but really big variety. I tried chicken sandwich n it was really good. Milkshakes are good. And loaded fries was huge. Really happy.close to lower essex street. I think all of our office is gonna turn up there now 01 feb. 22. Went again and food was again top class and reasonably priced. The only drawback is atmosphere as all.the young youth and road men come there. Not a family friednly place . Howevere. Take away would b good. Try their Alcafe special wrap and...