The Works Café — Restaurant in Brattleboro

The Millennial Chum and I made this the first official stop on our VT adventure, taking a much-needed break from the road after crossing the border into the Green Mountain State. Brattleboro looked to have an actual downtown (this stretch of 91 was pretty rural, so civilization as it were seemed hard to come by) with eating options a little over halfway to our destination so it was a natural fit. The Millennial Chum picked this place after seeing it across the street, remarking that it looked pretty popular with mainstream breakfast-y options. Hard to argue.

In a lot of ways (not an insult), this feels very much like a chain - reminiscent of a Bagelsmith (which might not have extended its regional tentacles this far north from the NJ area). There are TONS of options, and you can understand why a lot of tourists/travelers passing through would stop here; it's fast casual and will almost undoubtedly have something you like. We got there right around lunchtime and just missed a gigantic line, which was pleasing. We'd only been in Vermont for a few minutes, so we were still adjusting to the fact that everyone kind of looks a little like Bernie Sanders, especially the street musicians outside. Anyway.

I was pretty famished from our journey so I got an egg and cheese sandwich with Vermont Cheddar (when in Rome) on sourdough, along with an intriguing looking cinnamon chip scone with maple drizzle. The sandwich was decent but a little too greasy/messy. I finished most of it though, save a few crusty scraps. The Cheddar was definitely a strong flavor so if you have issues with the cheese dominating the egg, this is not the option to get. I was a bigger fan of the scone, which probably would have been pretty run of the mill if they hadn't included the maple drizzle - perfect complement to the cinnamon. It didn't last long.

The one real negative here was the disorganization/service behind the counter. It took close to 20 minutes to get our food, which as brunchy options go was pretty low maintenance. The Millennial Chum got a smoothie and a pickle (literally just a pickle). One thing I noticed is that the woman behind the counter had difficulty anticipating the use of bags, which kept making each order more time consuming. As an example, she had an order of five breakfast sandwiches, four of which were ready earlier than the fifth. Instead of asking or even assuming that a bag would be needed (and how could it not? The sandwiches outnumbered the person who ordered them by four!), she just had them piled up at the counter. When the fifth came, the person...asked for a bag. So that took an extra 20-30 seconds of moving around, looking for a bag, and finally putting each sandwich carefully into the bag. And the two or three customers after this also ended up asking for a bag once their orders were ready to go. They could really use some management in that regard, which would make a big difference during the busier times of the day.

I'd forego this place in the future and go to one of the nearby options, even if you have to contend with a...

Ordered two burritos and two drinks for me and my wife. My wife went to find a seat as I waited for our order. After some time, I noticed drinks that looked like ours on the pickup counter. I approached the woman at the counter (didn’t catch her name, but she had a mohawk-style haircut and gauged ears with large conic ear jewelry) and asked if these were indeed our drinks. She said yes, so I took them to bring to our table since I thought it would be hard to carry everything at once. As I took the drinks, I noticed the woman had an annoyed expression. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, although apparently she was bothered by my grabbing the drinks. How do I know this? Well, I went back to wait for our burritos and was waiting there for a long time. I was wondering what was taking so long and thought I’d see if the two burritos that had been sitting on the counter were actually mine. They were! This passive aggressive woman never called out my name! When I went to ask if these were my sandwiches, she said yes. I said that I didn’t hear my name and she said without looking at me and with a rude attitude, “You were walking to your table and didn’t hear me.” Our table was not that far from the pickup counter and you can hear names being called out from the far end of the place. Believe me when I say that she NEVER called my name. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I grabbed my drinks and she took it personally? But wait, there’s more! As we were leaving, we happened to pass this woman on the way out. I happened to cough (covering my mouth) as she walked past. She then turned towards me and yelled out, “Disrespectful!”. WHAT? This person needs to find a job outside of the service industry or seek psychiatric help. Look at other reviews…there are MULTIPLE complaints of the staff being rude to the customers. Note to upper management: Why do you continue to let these people work for you? I will NEVER eat there again. To anyone reading this, I highly recommend The Porch, also in Brattleboro. Wonderful people working there and the food is soooo much better. Don’t believe me? Check them out...

I am stuck home with a broken foot and ankle. Since I’m on crutches, I can’t go grocery shopping. I’m basically SOL for a couple weeks. So, the Works Cafe was going to be a literal life-saver for me.

Friday Dec 22nd, I ordered 4 items on Doordash. Only 1 item arrived- a greek salad (and it did not even taste good- wilted lettuce, soggy cucumbers and tomatoes). I called the store and the guy who answered could not provide an explanation how this happened and could not do anything about it. I called DoorDash and was only able to get a partial refund. So that ended up being a $21 salad when all was said and done.

Saturday Dec 23rd, I gave the works cafe another shot. I ordered a bunch of things on DoorDash- 2 different bagels with different cream cheeses, a side of bacon, a kale chicken ceasar salad, a chocolate peanut butter smoothie, a banana, a big fruit cup, a chai, and a pastry. This food was going to last me through the weekend and get me through my basically bedbound christmas.

Knowing what happened the day prior, I called the store immediately and asked the staff member to confirm that they got the full order. I asked her to read me the full order, she kindly obliged.

The order arrived, and the big fruit cup was still missing. Even after confirming. The chicken on the salad was pink/grey and some of the greens looked brown/slimy. The shake was the consistency of water. The chai was awful. The banana was green and won’t be ready to eat for days. There were 2 tiny bites of bacon in a cup. The only thing salvageable were the bagels.

I called the store to see what happened here and to see what they can do. Nothing. 60something bucks down the drain.

I am not one to usually complain- I worked in and managed restaurants for over a decade. I know mistakes happen. But twice in a row, plus after confirming directly with staff, just sucks. A standard good practice would be to send a gift card for the multiple inconveniences. Even if the customer doesn’t want it- offer it. You do SOMETHING to...