Helena's Chocolate Café and Crêperie — Restaurant in Carlisle

I really wanted to like this cute cafe and I felt confident about it given reviews and it was busy when we came in on a Sunday morning. We were a party of three and all ordered savory crepes, turkey and provelone w/ red pepper mayo, a ham egg and gruyere, and a steak egg and gruyere. We also ordered hot chocolate with whipped cream, and drip coffee for a $30 total. It took about 10 minutes for our crepes to come out and they came out nice and hot and are made of buckwheat so on the thick side. The turkey and provelone was the best and ham egg and cheese second best. I would say avoid the steak and eggs it was horrible bland misc meat and just dry. I had to ask for red pepper mayo to salvage it but was not good waste of almost 9 dollars. The coffee was okay and the hot chocolate was tasty but not hot more lukewarm but I still drank it. Lastly, we decided to give their cake and cookies a try so we ordered the peach vanilla cake and an almond and a Nutella macaroon. The price per macaroon was $2.12 each complete rip off given how small and stale they were. It was very disappointing because they tasted like they had been on display all week. The cake was not dry just not great the frosting was very thick and had hints of peach. I'd say stick to the cheesecake they leave stuff out until it goes away so it's not fresh. Not a bad place not a great place but I get why people come to it as it's one of the few cafes on the mainline and it's close to the college so must attract a lot of students. I'd prob skip them the next time I come or try a sweet crepe instead. Staff was beyond sweet and the review is not a reflection of the exceptional and friendly service...

The crepes were alright, not authentic in any way but they weren’t entirely bad at all. The hot chocolate however, was horrendous, about the worst hot chocolate i’ve ever had. With no flavor, or even sweetness to make up for it(which if you can make a good hot chocolate it doesn’t need to be sweet.) Usually, in a real french restaurant, you won’t get your typical American knock off of water and powder, and even so, something from another place in the U.S. would still be better! Even a 2 star hotel buffet would have better hot chocolate. When my friends went up to get a refund, the process of getting a refund was unfortunate. The customer service there was not good, I think maybe they could take some lessons in how to be nice. Of course they were busy, but personally as someone who also works in the food service industry, it doesn’t hurt to at least not be cold and distant. All we needed was for them to be a little bit nice, but they simply treated us as if we were just something to check off. And then when my friends went up to get a refund, they were again cold and made it seem like it was a huge pain to get 8 dollars back, and 4 dollars is a lot for a bad hot chocolate. They eventually got it to my friends, but none of this had to be this difficult. All it would take to change things is to just be kinder(yes even when there’s a lot of people ordering) and maybe they should just remove the hot chocolates off of their menu because it’s not that hard to mess up and yet...

The owner of this restaurant is not autism friendly. I’ve been here three times. The crepes and macarons are always delicious. The front of house staff are amazing. My daughter is autistic and we usually ask for her meals to come in pieces. For instance, Instead of sticking the components in a sandwich, put them on a plate instead. I’ve attached a picture below. We say it doesn’t need to be pretty. She will eat more because they aren’t mixed together. I’m sure there are children who aren’t on the spectrum that would like their meals this way. On our previous visits, the staff at Helena’s have been over the top in accommodating my daughter. Today after our order went to the back, a server came out to tell us that they would make our order today, but would no longer accommodate our request at their restaurant. The server was perfectly nice about it. I apologized for requesting this on a busy day. I clarified if we could still order her sandwich in pieces on a quiet day. I was told it was the owner who said they wouldn’t do it again. Being a parent of a child on the spectrum is extremely isolating. We don’t go out often and are prepared to leave immediately if she bothers anyone. In nine years, though, not one restaurant has told us they wouldn’t serve us for politely asking for help. Helena’s...