Sertinos Café — Restaurant in Beaumont

I had a horrible experience with the "owner Mr. Cliff" this past week. On June 18th 3 of my friends and I visisted sertinos at 5 pm. It was my birthday on the 19th so they decided to surprise me with cake, and one of them had just got off work so he grabbed himself a burrito. Now I know most companies won't let you bring outside food in (frankly when I started going to sertinos I didn't because I thought it might be insulting). However, a couple months prior I had asked one of the associates if it would be acceptable for us to bring a pizza in, and he responded that many of their other regulars did the same and we were welcome to. Since then a couple co-workers and I have frequented Sertinos with outside food, though we always buy drinks and the such. On June 18th we were confronted by Mr. Cliff, who walked up, put his hands on his hips and asked us, "And what do you think you're all doing?" In a very rude manner. I responded "Oh.. We were going to eat and play a few games sir." He angrily said, "Not in here you aren't! I won't have you eating any outside food in this store! You can get out!" We were all shaken, as previous to this experience all of Sertinos staff had been very kind. I told Mr. Cliff we had some this plenty of times and apologized, but he wasn't budging. He once again stated, " You can eat all that outside and stay out there, or buy a sandwich." We all quickly moved outside, and he continued to watch us menacingly. I understand most people think young adults and teenagers go out of their way to cause problems and see how far they can stretch the rules, but we were truly just trying to celebrate my birthday. We are all co-workers so we never really have the time to really sit down and chat anymore. On this day there were plenty of empty tables, and we were causing no ruckus. We very briefly sat down and hadn't had the chance to buy our drinks and snacks that we always purchase yet. As we are regulars some of the employees know me order by heart and always recite it to me and happily make it. It makes me feel very valued as a customer, especially because many I know by name and have had polite and entertaining conversations. Mr. Cliff undoubtedly gets teens everyday abusing the WiFi and air conditioner, and as a manager it's his duty to make sure all customers follow the same rules. In fact, If it's that important of a policy it's also his duty as a manager to insure all employees are trained properly so they know the policy and convey the information to your patrons (instead of allowing it for months), and/or place a sign in the establishment so all customers see the aforementioned rule. My complaint isn't entirely about the fact that I've been apparently misinformed for months and the staff hasn't been trained to approach customers with correct policies. My problem is that my three friends and I were repeatedly told to leave rudely and embarrassingly loud in front of the few other patrons enjoying their books and games. Never in my life have I been looked down on in such an abhorrent manner and had someone assume I was looking for trouble and breaking rules. If Mr. Cliff had approached kindly and said something along the lines of, "Hello, I'm the manager on duty and i have to let you know that we don't allow outside food in the building. You're welcome to sit outside, but until you're finished you'll have to sit outside. Thank you for understanding." That is very respectful to patrons and I would have felt horrible for breaking rules and been satisfied with the exchange. Howbeit that was not the conversation that occured and instead I felt harrassed and mistreated not only as a person but a customer at my home away from home. I would like to reiterate that I've always had an amazing experience at Sertinos, however the first interaction I had with the possible owner was very poor indeed. I've informed the group of 8-12 people that regularly enjoy game night with me and I don't believe we'll return...

ATTENTION THOSE WHO WANT TO RENT THEIR EVENT ROOM I had previosuly reserved their event room for a meeting with my employees. We showed up right before 9am (our reservation was from 9am-12pm). There was a lady, whom I believe to be the manager on duty, tell me that "Im sorry, this is the second time this has happened in two days, but someone double booked this room." I was very upset and told her, "What are we supposed to do? I had employees drive over an hour for this meeting and now I have to send them back home." She got frustrated with me and pointed me to the main dining room (which was FULL of people drinking coffee). I let her know that the whole reason we booked the event room was the fact that it has a projecter we can use to project all our meeting notes on. She just said, "Well I dont know what you want me to do about it. These people reserve this room every Saturday for a defensive driving course." I gathered up my group and we ended up having our meeting next door in a taco shop. Which was a disaster to say the least. I dont fault this manager for how she talked to me (as I was VERY angry and had a lot of attitude that I was giving over) but I was dissappointed in the fact that she didnt try to remedy the situation by blocking off another portion of the cafe and offering a comp on the reservation price. There were different ways she couldve handled the situation...Needless to say, the Business Christmas party of 25-30 people we might've had there isnt going to happen. There are plenty of other places we can rent to have our get togethers. I just wanted to post this review so other Business Owners dont make the same mistake I did and book a reservation with this place. If you do, call the day before to ensure they didnt...

Sertino's is always a shot in the dark depending on your mindset. As long as you have an "I just enjoy coffee" mindset, Sertino's will never disappoint. Some further explanation:

Tea is almost always a miss here. My wife is more of a tea drinker, and more often than not the tea is nothing more than slightly-less-water-tasting-water rather than actual tea. We brew tea at home regularly and never have to use the quantities of sugar or sweeteners one must use at Sertino's to get a semblance of flavor. Simply put, they use half the proper amount of tea leaves in their single cup servings.

Pots are a different story, and you can expect some excellent tea if you intend to stay a steep in the laidback atmosphere. I recommend their Jasmine, although their Earl Grey scratches several itches more often than not.

In terms of coffee, it all boils down to who is working the counter. We've had excellent coffee and regrets in equal measure. There is an older gentleman there during the day that makes some of the best coffee I've had. At night you take a gamble with flavor. Lately however I will say the quality has been better than what I've become accustomed to, so I feel four stars is adequate.

Lastly, Sertino's offers a small selection of made to order sandwiches, as well as ice cream, pastries, and grab and go desserts and drinks. I haven't delved too deeply into those aspects, but the times I've done so have never resulted in buyer's remorse.

In a nutshell, go to Sertino's if you want coffee but like the idea of branching out into other indulgences in a nice environment.

Word to the wise: be mindful of school hours as this place can become packed very quickly with...