Café Zupas — Restaurant in Burnsville

Cafe Zuaps. That’s it that’s the review. We could end this right here with me telling you it’s basically Panera but much better in every aspect humanly possible, but that would be selling this establishment short and truly wouldn’t do justice.

Now if you asked me on a deeper level about my experience…..I would say, please, grab a seat fireside with me and lll paint you the picture of what every fast casual restaurant in America should use as their blueprint. Now let’s begin. Zupas, starts with a “Z” which is the last letter of 26 belonging to the alphabet. Now If you use the logic of tech company “Apple” who chose their name based on the fact that it was at the front of a phone book, and most importantly in front of rival “Atari”, they might tell you Zupas is a bad choice for a name. That being said, even though it may be last in the phone book you will not find any restaurants landing on the 864 pages prior of Zupa’s call number that does the job better than they do. The first thing you’ll notice when you walk inside is the plethora of garden fresh ingredients bestowed upon you that look as if they were grown and harvested right before your eyes and carefully sprinkled in your meal. It begs the question who is supplying these delicious, crunchy, succulent vegetables?? Well whoever it is an impeccable job is being done. When you arrive at the counter you’re greeted with some of the kindest and emphatic team right at your service. Once your soup, salad, bowl, or sandwich is ordered, the zupas team locks in and prepares everything right in front of you to the highest degree of excellence possible to ensure your taste buds salivate with every bite. Now here’s the thing folks, you can go lots of place and get decent to good food and some individuals are fine with that but I’ll tell you what zupas knows how to take a dish and elevate it like no other closing the gap from good to great. I’ll let you in on the secret, it’s the sauce and seasoning. A good sauce is what truly makes a difference and zupas has quite simply put, nailed it right on the head. The Korean BBQ sauce I had in my bowl just felt right on my tongue and had an extensive amount of flavor. Now your probably thinking to your self “my good sir you have much convinced to try this new restaurant what possibly more could you have to add?” Buckle up because this is where it gets good, because If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my Zupas adventure, it’s that they will never settle for mediocrity. Oh no that’s not an option. When you get to the till and await your bill, the cuisine crafter places a sweet roll and chocolate covered strawberry’s onto your tray, complimentary of course. Complementary???? Who does that??? In this economy??? You gotta be crazy?!?! Why yes you don’t get to this level perfection by being ordinary. I mean, excuse my French, but who doesn’t love free sh*t am I right?? I sat down with my food the meals great it’s the whole 9-yards, crafted drinks, lemonade, iced tea, I would have expected nothing less from a great establishment like this. Now the above being stated, I must throw in a suggestion or two because as close as they are, nobody’s perfect and that’s okay. In my humble opinion those complementary rolls I was talking about earlier should be kept warm and squishy. Just some food for thought, pun not intended.

Final review is a 4.82, great job team 👍🏻🤙🏻

Also would like to state I am in no way shape or form sponsored or being payed by directly or indirectly from the great folks over at zupas I am just sharing my thoughts on my personal experience at...

Terrible service tonight. 5pm to 6pm Really disappointed With a friend and we ordered the same sandwich I wanted wheat - got white Ordered the Turkey avocado club Friend had great chunks of avocado Could have fooled me - My avocado was missing - took it up to question it and was told Avocado was put on it and no offer to fix. When looking at the menu-I truly believe they gave me the Turkey bacon avocado on white. Asked about goat cheese - was not offered it and they said there was an extra charge for it. Two days earlier I had with no extra charge. I asked about croutons and was informed extra charge also. I did the pick two with tomato basil soup. Total bill with cup of water no extras was 14.06

I had been there two days earlier at lunch time- 12:15 to about 3pm - great service and great food. Had Italian combo on wheat on Wednesday. Did the pick two with glass of water. Had been offered goat cheese or Parmesan cheese (flaked) and I took a bit of both to taste with soup. Food and service were great. The goat cheese was awesome in the tomato basil soup. Bill was 14.06

It is crowded when busy. Actually sat at same table (different friends each time sat first. I had suggested even though loud because food was good- a bit pricey but good). Had the next table feeling like it was at my armpit and I could have carried on a conversation with the family who sat next to us. The acoustics are not great. It is loud! Music and conversations from crowd. Sit next to someone you are having a conversation with if you want to hear. Busing your table. Garbage was overflowing and dishes stacked so high it looked like they were going to topple over. Took some time for the dishes to clear. Garbage was still overflowing. I watched people from the angle I was sitting dump fluids in bucket by the bussing table. Not sure if that is what it’s for. No signage anywhere.

Menu is very challenging to read and does not list items in sandwiches or salads. I had not realize there was fountain beverages on first visit. Didn’t see it on the menu either.

I wish I had thought to take pics of sandwiches around me for comparison. Unfortunately did not take any photos. My suggestion is to study your menu option on line before going. Great food. My opinion is on my experiences at lunch and at dinner two days apart. Was thinking this would be a fav restaurant on my list. Not so much. It will be an option. They need to improve signage and sound absorption within. Prices are on point for homemade and fresh- it’s the extras and the cost that is not good- extra basics of one or two items should be included. Cheese and croutons. When they are running a blender for prep- it is also loud. Occurred numerous times . Both my friend and I stopped to see what the noise was - almost sounded like a vacuum cleaner.

At dinner, the only person that was very cordial and helpful was the server at the soup. The others needed to step up and do better customer service. I usually give rave reviews - not...

We visit this location often, and usually have a great experience, but today however was the complete opposite. We placed our order and waited in the pick up spot as usual. This was at 3pm, and there was no one ahead of us in the drive through so I thought it'd be relatively fast. We waited a long time, and then two other cars came and parked next to us to wait for their orders. After at least 10 minutes, a woman came out with an order and brought it to the car next to us (that had arrived at least 5 minutes after us). The car went to leave and then came back and parked again. The woman came out with another bag and switched it with the driver, then brought the bag to our car. Turns out she gave them our order by mistake. Not a huge deal, but my daughter and I didn't feel comfortable eating it now (the other car made me feel uncomfortable in the first place). She rudely said 'we'll have to remake it then'. I was very polite and said I'd appreciate that. I felt the need to go inside as from her attitude I wasn't sure that she would remake it. We went inside and I could see the confusion from the other women working there, and heard comments like 'it probable wasn't even opened' I walked up and told them what had happened and how I Really appreciated them taking the time to remake it, and they were SO cold and rude to me. There was no 'I'm sorry this happened', or any kind of remorse AT ALL. My daughter and I had to watch them to make sure they actually would remake it, and the whole time I could see how irritated they were by it. I understand it may be a hassle, and I didn't want that to happen...but it wasn't MY mistake after all and we had already paid for it! We don't eat out often, and when we do I want to know my food is handled properly. On top of that, I've not been feeling well and wanted a quick drive through experience where I could get some soup to feel better. The fact I had to go inside with my daughter to insure they remade the meal made me so upset. To make matters even WORSE, when we got home we discovered our order was WRONG!! I'm assuming I got someone else's salad ( I ordered a sandwich). I watched them as they remade our food, but they had so many containers and must have put them in the wrong bags afterwards.

I have always had good experiences here, and this was always our 'go to' place for good food and customer service, but today I was only seconds away from demanding a refund!! When the woman handed me the bag, I was SO nice to her and said thank you so much (even though SHE was the one who messed up...which happens to us all), but she barely even looked at me and didn't say anything. This experience today was the complete opposite of what we usually have here and because of it, I don't know if we will be returning to this location. The food is always so good, but with the service this bad...it's just...