Berry Sweet Kitchen — Restaurant in Apple Valley

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A DINING EXPERIENCE WITH GREAT FOOD OR SERVICE, THEN YOU’RE BETTER OFF GOING TO YOUR LOCAL PERKINS

This establishment lacked everything and provided the bare minimum, if that. Let’s start with order placement. They give you a menu and tell you to scan the QR code on the table to place your order. Mind you, the price on the app ordering is a little more than what is listed on the physical menu they gave you.

On top of that, the app requires you to select a tip before placing your order, but what exactly is the tip for? There’s no real service involved in the ordering process. You order everything yourself and even have to get up to ask for additional items. It feels misleading and unnecessary.

Now, the food. My cousin ordered the chicken and waffles and a side of hash browns. The chicken was 3 pieces of chicken tenders on the waffle with some sauce. Not very tasty, and the hash browns were lacking flavor. I don’t think it is right to charge $7.50 for a side of hash browns that taste like nothing. The hash browns were not served with any cheese, garnishes, or sauce, just plain with hints of black pepper.

I ordered the chicken tacos and banana chocolate chip pancakes. The chicken was tasty; however, the corn tortillas were super thin, and they only gave one per taco. Normally, I’d be fine with that, but the juice from the chicken soaked through the thin tortilla, and it started to fall apart, making it difficult to eat. The chocolate chip banana pancakes had very few chocolate chips, if any, and lacked flavor.

Finally, the service,or I should say, lack of service. There was a self-serve water station, which was never mentioned to us, and we also let the server know this was our first time here. We had to get up and ask the server for something each time. We wanted sour cream and extra butter for our sides, and each time we had to get up and talk to someone. Not once did they ever come around and ask if we needed anything or if everything was good. It would’ve been nice if the waiter came to take some of our empty plates, but they only came at the end.

Lastly, while trying to switch plates on the small table we were sitting at, I spilled my water. Accidents happen. I would like to note that we did sit by the bar and workers saw when the water spilled and when I was trying to clean it up with tissues. No one came over to help. Again, I had to go flag someone down to help us. We sat right in front of the bar where workers saw us. While the person was cleaning up, I asked where the restroom was and rushed to clean myself up because water had spilled all over my pants, and I was a little embarrassed. I came back from the bathroom and sat down to finish my meal. It would’ve been nice if they had at least offered to refill my water for me, knowing what happened. I was a little embarrassed to get up with soaking wet pants to refill my water.

Also, what’s up with the olive oil dispenser bottles filled with syrup?

Overall, I would not recommend this place—the food or the service (or lack of). Some places I would recommend, and that this place could take notes from, are Jensen’s, The Original Pancake House in Burnsville, and Gary’s in Lakeville.

I agree with all the one-star reviews and wholeheartedly second the one that said, “came in hungry,...

Just. Terrible. We will not ever be going back and I recommend to avoid this place at all costs. And by costs, I mean three people, three entrees, two plain coffees, one Pepsi equals EIGHTY-ONE DOLLARS. The weird self-serve thing is just awkward. The employees go out of their way to make sure they don't lift a finger to help you. If you ask for water, they just kind of shrug and mumble something about it being over there somewhere. You find your own table and order your own food at the table with your phone and are forced to pay AND TIP up front. I'm still not sure what I tipped for, not one single employee came to our table except to literally throw the plates of food down. The food that arrived was some of the worst we've ever had. Blueberry pancakes were ice cold, the blueberries mushy and flavorless. Biscuits and Gravy - the biscuits were flat and sausage gravy was a cold, lifeless glob of flavorless wallpaper paste. Eggs Benedict - this entree was the "warmest", served only just slightly above room temperature. The poached eggs were quite odd - hard-cooked yolks inside but the outside had the texture of half-melted whipped butter, and tasted like vinegar. The hollandaise was runny and flavorless, even the paprika seemed to want to run and hide in some corner of the room. The hash browns were barely cooked (on one side only), just enough to provide them with a slight brownish-hue, giving a visual representation of being crispy while not actually being so. I might have tried to log a complaint with an employee, but there was such an extraordinary air of apathy and indifference from every worker there that I just knew it would fall on deaf ears and wouldn't make it any further than the floor at which they affixed their gazes. Also, don't even think about coming here with a wheelchair or even a walker, the tables are so tightly packed together, there's barely a few inches between the backs of chairs to get through. I believe a visit from an ADA representative would yield a...

Guys. For the love of all that is holy PLEASE ditch the "use this QR code to order on your phone" flow. This is aggressively inhospitable to inflict on your customer base. Do you really not understand how bad this experience is? Speaking without exaggeration, it's painful to the degree that it feels like hostile intent to be forced into entering a credit card billing address and thirty other fields on a webform before I'm even allowed a sip of coffee. If I encountered this as a senior citizen, my brain would divide by zero and I might have an aneurysm right on the spot.

Speaking of aggressive inhospitality, being prompted to tip the waitstaff when in fact the customer basically has to serve themselves (coffee, water, fetch condiments, etc) is completely insane. I actually can barely tell what the floor staff exist to accomplish besides hold the floor down. Provide real wait service or stop asking for tips commensurate with provision of real wait service. To do neither is an insult.

The food isn't bad. It isn't great. It costs about the same as you'd pay at comparable places (I checked). The issue is that when you factor in all the service you're not getting, the value you receive is dramatically lower. Quality-wise, these guys might be a half tick above Perkin's or Denny's (and a half tick below Hope) but after you factor in everything above it's clear you're getting utterly hosed (in a rather high-friction uncomfortable manner).

The payment flow thing is enough to inspire me never to come back on its own. The "be your own waiter and tip us for the privilege" routine is outrageous and at best a failure to empathize with your customers. Next time I want to serve myself I'll...