Magnolia Cafe & Bistro — Restaurant in Alexandria

This rating is mainly on the services we received, not the food we got.

Our group came around 8 pm, the restaurant was crowded at the time but start slowing down within 15 minutes after we got seated. Our group has been chatting and didn't notice we weren't served water yet so we were looking around to get someone. They were definitely busy so we waited a little bit longer, so by the time we got water, it was 20 min in. It means for 20 min after we got seated, no one was coming to greet us.

Then around 8:39 pm, we have tried to flag our server down twice so we can start ordering. She keeps saying "Wait a minute". After the first wait a minute, she went to the table next to us to start taking order. Another 10 min goes by, she was flagged down by another table at the corner and she went there right away, cleaned their table, provided them a check. Then, she ran back to do her other work. We saw that she was done with the check and attempt to get her attention for the third time, this time, she still said the same. We asked if she intends to serve us or not and she still asked us to wait. Our group waited another 5 minutes before she came and took order.

The experience made me felt we were being discriminated for being the only Asian there (the other two tables obviously were not).

Other than that experience, the food came out very fast. Great presentation and tasted good. Our group had...

This was my first time coming to this place to enjoy it with my daughter and a friend of mine. The first thing I see is our server eating at another table not washing his hands after he ate. He greeted us…Didn’t write the order down so he forgot to put in my hot and sour soup, I asked for a hot premium chocolate drink.. he gave me a iced cold drink that tasted like chocolate milk.. took a few sips and it wasn’t to my liking so I asked for it to be replaced…he didn’t ring it in.. so I had to ask the young lady for the replacement..so now at this point he probably started to get annoyed because I can hear it from his voice.. there was a young lady with a blonde hair that mostly took care of us while our server only probably had two tables at that time disappeared…So as the check was dropped off we asked for it to split one of the meal on a separate check…when he dropped it off less than a minute he rushed us and said “are you ready to pay?” With an attitude.. so to be fair that server I still tipped him 15% but the rest I gave to the young lady that was kind enough to help.

I myself work in the service industry and I believe how I treat my tables is how I want to be treated going out.

WE ENJOYED THE MEALS VERY MUCH!!! IT WAS VERY SAVORY. WE WILL BE BACK BUT WILL DEFINITELY ASK FOR A SPECIFIC SERVER THAT DESERVED...

This is a gem of a place, almost hidden inside the Sisters Thai restaurant. It's located in a beautiful neighbourhood in Old Town North. There's plenty of street parking available but you can also easily use the DASH Bus Route 30 & 31 to get here. There's a bus stop right next to the cafe.

I'm not sure if the owners are the same but you're allowed to use the restaurant seating even if you want to order from Magnolia. Which is what happened to us since the cafe seating was closed by the time we got there around 8:45pm.

The facade, interior and overall decor of the cafe is modelled after European street side cafes. It is a beautiful place to be.

We ordered 4 desserts: Nutella Banana Crepe, Toffee Cake with Ice Cream, Strawberry Banana Waffle and strawberry choux cream. Each one was beautifully presented and tasted great as well!

Once you've had your dose of sugar and calories, take a stroll around this historic and very walkable area. And the waterfront isn't far either.

Overall, highly recommend this place....