The Cottage Cafe, Bakery & Tea Room — Restaurant in Bluffton

This is usually one of my favorite breakfast/brunch places to eat at but that got ruined for me today. Server forgot the cornbread, had to ask her for it. She did not know what was 86’d on there menu, and had to choose something else to eat. Once receiving our food, asked if we needed anything else and asked for hot sauce. 10 minutes went by, did not bring the hot sauce, forgot my friends bacon and as I had tried to ask her for everything we needed she did not let me finish asking for what I needed and continued to walk away from me as I was speaking. When I still wanted another mimosa and there was about one tablespoon of chorizo on both of breakfast tacos. When bringing out two pieces of bacon that were hard as a rock and stuck together, not edible at all while being served on a huge plate. She also dropped off a glass of water that I did not ask for incase I was “thirsty” instead of giving me a second to open my mouth and speak and ask for another mimosa. Did not ask how my food was, even though she noticed I did not touch it for about 15-20 minutes until she finally noticed I pushed it off to the side like I was done with it. Advised her what was wrong with it and then asked if I wanted anything else or for them to remake it and to why I did not say anything to her, at that point I lost my appetite and became very frustrated with the whole situation. And why I did not say anything was cause she never gave me a chance to speak cause she continuously kept walking away while talking to me. Then when receiving the bill, she said she was going to take care of the side of bacon that she forgot to order, and still charged us and then when removing my food from the bill, wrote on the ticket unhappy customer. That is extremely unprofessional to have seen on a check. After my friend had complemented the chief on a tattoo, he walked out and gave him a cookie but saw my plate was untouched and did not ask how it was at all or if there was something wrong. I have never been this disappointed with...

Very disappointed in quality, and service. When I first arrived I was presented with a Pie instead of a Black Forest Cake! Was 1st told it's what I ordered, then was told "oh I'm sorry I never saw one before so I didn't know". When my cake was finally located and shown to me I was very put off by the kid sprinkles and cheap plastic balloon just stuck in the middle. My cake only slightly resembles a black forest with the cherry topping but having been served a pie first the several staff members trying to assure me the cake was right brought no comfort at all! I wasn't excited about purchasing a cake that looked nothing like my expectations. My fear was that I would dive the hour home and cut into something totally wrong. Staff offered to scrape the top an re-do the decorations and that it would be quick, but their attitude and still attempts to talk confidently about all the mistakes up to this point are only more discouraging. The place was small and cramped even after the lunch rush. On our trip up I was thinking it would have been nice to stay for lunch but after everything I have seen and experienced I barely wanted to leave with what I came to purchase. Not sure all the awards on the wall we're earned, unless this cake tastes out of this world I will not be returning! Update: We paid $53.95 for the cake. They fixed the top only by scrapping off what wasn't covered in sprinkles and put merichino cherries in it's place. They made no effort to compensate for the gross presentation of the cake, or the legenth of time we waited on them to find our cake and then fix it. Once we got home yes the interior was chocolate but this cake was not a proper black forest cake. So we will not be returning to place again, too over priced for the results we were given and the treatment from the...

We made a reservation for afternoon tea, a summer tradition for the girls in our family. The experience was not the lovely ladies tea we envisioned. It seems that afternoon tea here is on the decline, and if the business can't do it justice, perhaps they ought not serve it at all. The floral table cloth was pretty. The music was highly inappropriate. The tea selections were abundant, but the server wasn't knowledgeable about the varieties. The sandwiches and sweets were delicious and plentiful. The fruit was okay, but the scones were dense/dry. The server did not give the traditional description of the selections, some of which we couldn't identify, and explained that it was only her third tea service. Although the room was decorated with beautiful tea cups and teapots, we had to drink from clunky white stoneware cups and saucers. There were French doors to close off the room, but they were left open and other patrons were seated close by. Each person received her own tea pot with a diffuser insert, which was nice. But we weren't told there was a diffuser until some of the tea had steeped too long. We explained that our 10- and 6-year-old granddaughters are experienced tea participants, but the server kept offering things like cups of lemonade with lids and alternate food selections for them, diminishing their participation in our special afternoon. Finally, we were rushed at the end because the cottage was closing. The server seemed anxious to clear our table and bring to-go boxes too soon, interrupting our lingering conversation. (Our tea began at 2 pm and we weren't informed that they close at 3). For the price of three full Tea for Two services, we shouldn't have been rushed. Paying and dividing the cost 4 ways was unnecessarily difficult...