Chateau de Chantilly Cafe — Restaurant in Chantilly

I am absolutely appalled by the treatment received at Chateau de Chantilly today. As a long-time customer, I've always enjoyed coming here to work and relax, but after today's experience, I'll never set foot in this place again. I was in the middle of studying and fully intended to order, but before I could even get to the counter, I was shockingly asked to leave because I wasn't "actively consuming" a product. This is beyond disrespectful and shows a complete lack of appreciation for loyal customers. The sheer rudeness and lack of basic decency from the staff is unacceptable. If this is how you treat your regulars, then consider this my last visit. Goodbye, Chateau dea Chantilly-you've lost a dedicated customer.

09/02 Edit 1: Regarding the owner's response, I have sent an email. I am posting the email I wrote about the experience for visibility. I appreciate the response from the owner. But I do not want to disclose who the employee was because I do not want to get them into trouble since this is nothing personal.

Email from Zack to the owner:

Dear owner,

Thank you for reaching out regarding my recent review. I appreciate your willingness to address the situation. However, I would prefer not to disclose which employee was involved. I believe they may not have articulated the situation as clearly as they intended, and I don’t want them to face any unnecessary consequences as I don't want to get them fired especially when they just got hired according to your response.

I do, however, want to provide more feedback on my experience. I completely understand that as a business, you need to manage the flow of customers, especially during busy times. I noticed the sign stating that tables should not be used for more than two hours, but my partner and I had only been there for about half an hour. I had planned to order coffee and checked the line in front of the counter multiple times, but the line was too long and I couldn't order through the kiosk on the second floor, because it was unfortunately broken.

While I fully intended to purchase a coffee, one of the staff members approached us and suggested that we leave because there were many customers waiting. On my way out, I noticed they were asking other patrons the same question. However, after I left, my partner informed me that my partner provided feedback to the staff member, and the staff member apologized sincerely, which I appreciate.

I want to emphasize that this is nothing personal against the staff themselves. My concern is more about the management approach. I don't believe customers should be asked to leave, even if there are others waiting for a table. I went to this place a lot to study and hang out with people, and I always grabbed something to eat or drink there. I wouldn't come here to study while drinking my coffee because I would think I could get interrupted at some point because I was not "actively consuming" products from the shop anymore. It creates an uncomfortable atmosphere and detracts from the experience that long-time customers like myself have come to expect.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my concerns. And I hope the business can change the policies on seating so everyone can feel comfortable dining and hanging...

TLDR: I had really high hopes for this spot. But the unique operations and subpar flavors left me quite underwhelmed.

I've been exploring local/unique coffee shops in the DC area. I like good coffee, nice pastries and an environment where I can read or study. I discovered CCC months ago online. I was impressed with the wide selection of coffees, drink flavors and food items. For this reason, I had high hopes. I don't live near Chantilly. So, when I had to run an errand in the area Saturday, I figured it was my opportunity to try some new coffee.

The first thing I noticed was the crowd. I went with a friend and was hoping to be able to sit and converse while enjoying our order. I could immediately tell this wouldn't be feasible. There were a lot of people inside with relatively few seating options. An employee later told us that they're opening an upstairs seating area in the next week or two. So, this wasn't a huge con for me. Plus, I figured the crowd was an indication that the coffee/food were really good!

The second thing I noticed was the pastries--specially how we were to get them. Guests have to grab their own pastries in a buffet-style fashion before heading to the counter. I would have strongly preferred to order everything from the counter for efficency and sanitary reasons. The line moved quite slowly with this setup. And while they had plastic gloves and tongs, I could see how some ppl might be hesitant to use this setup.

We mentioned to the person at the counter that we wanted our pastries toasted. He advised that we could use the microwave next to the sugars. Like the buffet line, this was new for me. Other cafés I've gone to toast things for their customers. Microwaves can't give the crispiness that toasters do.

We tried our flavored drinks in the car and discovered they weren't sweetened. The pastries were ok. Not bad. But the ones we got didn't "wow" us either.

Like I said, I really, really wanted to like this spot. It just offered an experience that was too different from what I was used to and expecting. I still would recommend that others try it out...

I have never written a negative review. My motto is, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all but I absolutely cannot stay quiet with what I just experienced.

I was looking forward to trying this place. Came highly recommended by a friend for the food and ambiance. The cake and coffee I got were great but my experience with the staff ruined it completely for me..

I took the time out of my Sunday to go so I can have a relaxing morning. I have a gluten ALLERGY and have to be careful about what I consume. If I accidentally have it, my whole day is compromised. With that being said, they have some baked goods labeled gluten free while others are not (even if it is the same product). I asked the staff about ordering the gluten free option as I thought they were baked differently (gluten free vs non gluten free).

As I saw her reach for the non-gluten free option (from what I thought), I urgently went and tried to say hey! I need the gluten free one (politely). She said "ma'am, it's the same thing" in a rude tone, rolled her eyes and brushed me off in front of an entire line of people...

This is an ALLERGY and even if it was not, it could have very politely and kindly been said that "hey miss don't worry! both are gluten free." I understand how taxing it is to work in the service industry, but this one interaction compromised my entire experience. It takes a minute to be kind.

To add, I complained about this to the manager before writing this review and other than an "I'm sorry".. I got nothing else.

Kindness comes first. If I mess up at my job, I am the first to apologize. The employee who treated me this way even saw me speaking to the manager but didn't come and try to correct anything.

I absolutely will not be coming back again. I feel disrespected and hurt. I don't care how good the cakes are.. I'll take my business somewhere where basic respect and...