Abita Springs Cafe — Restaurant in Abita Springs

A family member that lives in Abita Springs selected the Abita Springs Cafe for a late lunch on the afternoon of October 16th 2021. When we arrived the place was a little busy and we were informed that there would be a 15 minute wait for an outside table. This was not a problem, so we waited our turn which was as we had been told, about 15 minutes. We were seated on the porch at one of the six or so all but 2 empty tables along the front of the porch with a lovely view of more all empty tables along the side of the porch. The waitress appeared quickly, and took our drink orders which were soon on the table. We made our food orders from the menu, nothing special or out of the ordinary. About 15 minutes later our waitress returns with 3 of our 4 orders, and states that it will be just a few more minutes for my order. Five minutes later, nothing. Being the only Black person seated at the table, actually the only one at the restaurant at the time, yes I'm beginning to feel unwelcome to say the least. My wife refuses to eat without me so her food is getting cold but she is getting hot. At this point I was simply going to cancel my order but before I could stop her she left the table. In less than a minute she comes back with the waitress in tow. Seems my order must have been sitting in the heating area. My order of fried catfish looked nothing like any I had ever seen before, I would describe it as 1/8 inch strips, skin on that were cut off the sides of fillets and would normally be thrown in the trash but not this time. The strips, 5 of them were arranged on a bed of french fries. The other three orderes which were served to the White people at our table looked perfectly edible and appealing. We were informed that my order would be taken off the check and it was, I paid our bill and we left. I have always felt welcomed in Abita Springs, but at The Abita Springs Cafe, not so much. The fact that these people would serve skin on catfish strips (they were supposed to be fillets) to a customer for any reason speaks volumes about this place. We have been to countless restaurants and cafes across the United States and most of them will hold all orders for a table until they can all be brought to the table at the same time. It is considered an insult to not serve everyone at the same time. Yes, I do feel that I was treated in this "special" way because of my...

Review edits to respond to owner:

This place is super cute; however, there is little indoor seating for larger groups; it’s too hot to sit outside with no fans, no shade, nothing. The umbrellas do not cover much at all.

Anyway, I’m sure it would be a 5-star spot if you sit inside.

They would not put tables together for us to sit inside with 3 -70-year-old women.

Unless you enjoy sitting in the heat, I wouldnt come here at all with a group.

In response to the owner, my review was 100% “fair”. With your 10’ picnic tables outside and your 3’-4’ umbrella that kept nobody shaded, yes- we were moved to a larger table indoors. We did NOT request to be outside, we were told that a party our size could only be sat outside as no room inside. I mean the several empty tables couldn’t be pushed together…

Our food was served incorrectly: one meal had the incorrect meat on the plate and, when “fixed”, all they did was remove the wrong meat (spicy sausage) but it left the spicy grease all over the eggs hash browns & biscuits. Another meal didn’t have the candied pecans in the waffle as requested. Another meal, eggs were wrong.

Although the service was top notch and the building was cute, I didn’t go there for the charm of an 1890’s butcher shop- I went there because we were told how great the food was. Also, you can’t control the weather- however, you could easily build a covering to accommodate your guests (carport or pergola or even an air conditioned building) without affecting the historical integrity of your butcher shop. I was there to eat at a cafe- not a butcher’s shop. I do not agree with your very defensive response but notice a pattern when I look in your past reviews...

My wife and I are mot strangers to this place, we travel from Baton Rouge on any given Sunday to eat here. We should have skip today. We arrived to a packed house, no problem. When a outside table opened up we sat. Our waitress came up in a timely matter. This was the highlight of her service. When she returned the coffee order she so quickly we had no time to tell her, there wasn't any Sugar on the table. Finally she returned to take our order, first and last thing I told her was about the sugar, 10 minutes later I had to retrieve my own sugar. Then we waited 45 to 50 minutes with no sign of our waitress, watching couples who had ordered after us receive thier meals. Finally I asked waitress at the next table about our order she happily when to check and surprisingly here comes our order. One could see by the gloss of the cheese from sitting under the heat lamp a while. With the exception of the grits, everything was cold. We would have told her however she again became MIA. Forced to eat what we were given, we did not our waitress until the now empty table next to us was seated. And then it wasn't to she returned with thier drink order did she check on us. Once we told of the shortcomings, she stated she was gone to tell the manager. Surprisingly, her returned check in hand. She kept the check in hand told us the manager took care of the check. If I was the manager, I would have come out the apologize in person or the waitress was covering her you know what. The food up today has always been great. Service today sucked and management not caring means this place is on a...