Temptations Cafe — Restaurant in Brookline

This establishment, while cute and cozy looking, the staff are anything but. My girlfriend and I were planning on completing some work and ordering some coffee and food. When I arrived, there was no seating available due to social distancing needed between tables (understandable). So, we sat outside. It is the first day of autumn and it sure felt like it! We waited until a table was available. Once a table was available we made our attempt to go inside and find our spot and settle in. Except that wasn't allowed. If you are looking to work or study at this establishment you must make sure that you order food RIGHT away! It is pretty common that I am on the go and very busy with any list of things, the same applies to my girlfriend and many others. When finally finding a spot and sitting, a Temptation Cafe employee came over and asked, in a very confrontational way, if we were going to order anything because these tables are for paying customers only. When responding that we were just settling in and needing to do something important quickly for work they stated that they had seen us outside already and that we must order. While I can understand that a business requests its patrons to order food, this situation was handled very poorly in regards to their employees and management. When telling them that it was not appropriate to react in that way they said that we can leave and made no attempt to salvage any business they might have ever received from us. Our qualm is not at the fact that food must be purchased, it's the fact that the employees were rude from the very beginning. It is not a welcoming environment to do work in and I would be on edge if I had to go and work there wondering if I am going to...

Pretty fun place! It's fairly empty most of the time, so Temptations is a good place to be productive. The environment doesn't have much personality to it - the establishment was fairly empty and decor was very neutral - but it's okay! The service was also pretty good. When I visited, they had local Berklee musicians play in the evening - they were all great! That was a good experience. The location's good and it's fun to support local businesses.

The most important aspect of a cafe to me, though, is the food, and I was really disappointed by what I received, especially for the price. All of the ingredients on my sandwich were low-quality, and the lettuce was dry and stale! There was no sauce or other strong seasoning or flavor to the sandwich. The chocolate chip cookie was also pretty disappointing - it was thin and crispy, but a bit dry and eggy at the same time, and the chocolate used was - frankly - terrible! I had trouble finishing. I would not recommend getting food here. I'd be okay with all of this if the cafe were cheap, but I ended up paying a price I associate with high-end cafes in the Boston area - of which this is not.

Didn't order a drink, though, so I can't speak to that. This place is worth trying out for a beverage if you're in the area! But...

Unfortunately I had a bad experience this morning with the natural orange juice I usually get from this place. The juice was fermented/bubbles like kombucha and it tasted like old. I explained them the issue and that I wanted another orange juice, I asked them to check the rest of the orange juice out, which they did, and said that that’s the way they all taste, that it might be the case or the season (implying they were good), and they kept the rest of the orange juice cups for selling. Right now my stomach is not feeling great because I swallowed the first sip, I feel like at some point I’m going to throw up. I’m worry someone else is going to get sick from it. This place should take a more responsable and respectful approach toward the costumers and their complaints, specially when it comes to offering only fresh food to avoid costumers to get sick.

I don’t feel good writing this review, but I think is important to share this kind of experiences to hopefully to contribute to a...