Bebettes: A New Orleans Coffeehouse — Restaurant in Asheville

This is a super cute place with a great concept and adorable people working there, but it’s very disorganized, leading to unnecessarily long waits. For such a tiny kitchen space, it looks and feels random and a little chaotic. As somebody who worked in the restaurant business, I really want them to succeed, because they are great… There’s a lot of heart here and great food. A few observations and suggestions for the workers, take what you like and ignore the rest:

Noticed that the main cook, who appears to be a skilled short order cook, was frequently rotating out and doing things like restocking water, and delivering orders to people, while there was a line out the door. I would suggest having this person just stay at the fryer and griddle doing their job, to keep things moving. Also, because they were switching jobs, they were spending a lot of time taking gloves off and putting gloves on.

Noticed that the two people handling food were wearing gloves, but the person making coffee did not, and she was putting her fingers inside the cups when writing names and had just touched her hair. Just be mindful. Frankly I wasn’t that concerned, but probably some people will be horrified.

The beignets are very large, delicious, but heavy and seemed slightly undercooked. Two beignets for a sandwich is a lot. I noticed other diners not eating all of their beignet, and we couldn’t either. How about if you just had one beignet, fried it to crispness, and then cut it in half for the sandwiches? I think it would be a better balance of bread to filling, you wouldn’t have to waste so much dough, less waste by diners and things would move more quickly because cooking would be cut in half. Better margin, too.

Its ok as is, but just looks uncomfortable and takes too long when busy. Keep working on this - I’m...

The coffee is fantastic, beignets by themselves with the dipping sauces are great. The sandwiches were alright, better off having the beignets alone. The service moves at a glacial pace. Quite literally a glacier pace. I walked in when I was 6 weeks pregnant & by the time I got my coffee & sandwiches we were celebrating my child's 16th birthday. The Obama administration was shorter than our wait time. In all seriousness though, we walked in at 9:15am & there were two orders ahead of us, a woman by herself & one group of 3 women. We didn't order until 9:50am, coffee came out within 10 minutes. Food came out at 10:15am & we were told we had to wait for someone to cut the fruit. We ate our food…it's now 10:37am as I type this & there's still no fruit. We're giving up on it. We held out as long as we could because it's soooooo expensive. $50 for two sandwiches & two coffees. FIFTY. DOLLARS. I'll pay anything for good food & service though so no big deal on that. The people who worked there were polite enough but never smiled & had zero sense of urgency. They moved so slowly & people kept piling into the place. They never made eye contact or said "we'll be with you shortly" or "we're sorry for your wait." Nothing but dead eyes & movement the speed of molasses in January. I've never seen a more miserable group of people working somewhere in my life. Bless their hearts. I also work at a restaurant but you have to fake it for the customers. They were polite when we ordered & seemed like okay people, maybe just absolutely miserable at their jobs. Idk. I would order the coffee again though. I would order it over the phone/online before leaving from somewhere as far as North Dakota so by the time I drive to Asheville...

I'm big on the Bebettes I encountered when it was on Tunnel Road a few years ago. I love love love beignets and the traditional Cafe du Monde lattes, and that is every bit the experience I had at the original location. There was coffee shop appropriate music - a little lightweight New Orleans style jazz - and plenty of place to sit and chill.

The new location has the same great beignets, however... the service and environment made me not want to come back. I was "greeted" with a sullen glare and an immediate turned back. All four tiny tables were packed. The girl behind the register did not seem to be motivated or bothered by me standing at the register. Even though she was doing something, she - and no one else - never greeted me at all and barely bothered to take my order.

I received my beignets in a paper bag, which showed me exactly what they expected - which was for us not to linger but get the hell out.. completely in line with their demeanor.

They served us the traditional beignets - completely drowning in powdered sugar - but there was not a single napkin to be found anywhere. And then the screaming Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots and Weezer started up. I love those bands, but this was not a place I wanted to stay. 16 bucks for 3 good beignets and slightly burnt (not authentic) lattes, served with a scowl and harsh music and a clear desire for us to never come back.

I won't hesitate to honor their obvious wishes. I'm pretty sure the original owner would not have wished it to be this way.

Very...