Frothy Monkey — Restaurant in Chattanooga

It's unfortunate that I should have to write this review due to the absolutely horrible experience that I had this morning (9:10 AM). I went to Frothy Monkey this morning to meet with a well known artist who I commissioned to hand paint a dress for me for the Spectrum Gala at the Hunter Museum since I'm on the Art Selection Committee board. When we walked in, we had to walk to the other side of the room to wait to be seated (there were about 10 people (maybe) in the restaurant. It took a second to be acknowledged, but when we we're, we were shown to our seats which already had venues and water glasses. A young woman filled our water glasses and then walked off. No introduction. As we sat at our table, I noticed the artist looking around for a server since it had been 12 minutes since we were seated. I began looking around as well and was concerned that it took so long for a server to ask for our drink order. As a wife of a man who has managed restaurants since 2001, I know that protocol should be for a server to get the drink orders within a few minute time span once a customer is seated. Once the server approached since she also noticed us looking around, I asked her name (Lexie H) since she didn't tell us and didn't greet us at the table. From the first moment, her demeanor was that of either not wanting to be there, in a bad mood, or didn't want to serve our table, but the poor attitude was blatant. The artist who I was with noticed our server (Lexie H) telling another server to go to our table. By this time, it had been 15 minutes since we sat down and finally ordered two coffees (rosemary honey latte with oat milk) and I ordered a mimosa. The new server then asked if she could take a food order, but this time 20 minutes had passed. We ordered food and I brushed off the lack of greeting and hospitality as a one off since I've never experienced this level of service as a diner. No server came to refill our water the entire time we were there. I noticed that Lexie had another table who came in and she greeted them with courtesy and a smile. When your service is lacking, these are things that you notice. After finishing our food, the newest server approached our table to ask if we were done. We decided to order two mimosas. After 10 more minutes passed, we figured the server must have forgotten our mimosas. Lexie H then approached our table and sat the check down and said, "I'll split it if you want." (An assumption) I couldn't believe what I heard so I said, "excuse me?" And she repeated it as she was walking away, "I'll split it if you want." OK, so here is where the last straw occurred, not only were we not asked if we were done or if we needed anything else (to-go box, more water, or even if we were ready for the check) we didn't get the mimosas that we ordered yet noticed that they were on the check. I approached the bar area and asked the more pleasant server if she could remove the mimosas since we were brought the check before we even received the mimosas (or before we were even finished dining). Lexie then said, "yea, I'm getting them." (The mimoas). I told her to cancel and I gave her my card for the tab and asked for the manager. The more pleasant server pointed to Lexie (I'm assuming she is the team lead or the shift manager on duty). Lexie then asked, "what's the problem? Why are you asking for a manager?" The artist who I was with had now approached the bar area and heard her ask and responded, "We would like a manager because of you and your unprofessional attitude." Lexie H then responded and said, "well Heather Allen is the manager, but she's not going to be here today." I asked her to write Heather's number down for me and that's when Lexie H responded, "I don't even know what the problem is." I then told her that the service that we received was horrible and I also asked foe the other servers' names so that they would not be disciplined for any action because only Lexie H was the one who was extremely rude, unprofessional, and dismissive. Continued on...

First of all, let me start out by saying my husband and I have been enjoying our visits to the Frothy Monkey for about a year and a half. They have had a few menu items that we really enjoy, and the service is usually fairly decent. Only one server (Elizabeth) have we ever thought was truly exceptional and made our experience a very positive one.

Today, however, we had a very poor experience, and I'm sad to even be leaving this review. The menus were apparently recently "upgraded." For a vegetarian like me, this means fewer options, and they also got rid of my favorite breakfast item (the Bob). They've raised all of their prices, also. I do understand food prices everywhere are rising, but I ended up ordering avocado toast for about $12, and I honestly make better avocado toast at home. It was mediocre.

But what really disappointed me this morning was the poor service we experienced. The staff are usually friendly, so no complaints there. But I had my 10-month-old son, who is getting increasingly mobile, in his highchair. I was switching him to my lap and thought I had cleared everything on the table out of his reach, but apparently his arms were just long enough to quickly shoot out and grab my latte mug. He spilled it everywhere: all over the table, himself, me, and the floor. I still consider myself a new mom (he's my first baby), and was totally caught by surprise at his speed, as he's never done that before. But I was quite embarrassed.

I know our server saw it happen, because not even a minute later, as we were still trying to clean up the mess, our food arrived and she refilled my husband's coffee. I have to say, I wasn't expecting any of the staff to make me a new drink and bring it over because it was my fault, but that would have been over the top excellent customer service if that's what had happened. Good customer service would have been bringing a wet rag to help me clean the mess. Mediocre customer service would have been offering to bring ME something to clean with (rag, more napkins) so I could clean up the mess myself. But none of these things happened. Instead, our server and the other staff who witnessed the accident completely ignored that it had happened. No one offered to bring us anything or to help at all, and as I mentioned, they were around our table while we were still trying to clean up the mess.

I'm so saddened by this lack of empathy and helpfulness, especially when it's so difficult to manage an active baby while out and about. My husband left a nice tip anyway since they would have to clean up extra after we left, but I honestly feel like our server didn't deserve it (and I'm normally all for tipping well!). With this poor experience, the different menus/mediocre food, and prices raising, I'm afraid we won't be back. We will find a new...

I’ve always loved the building and atmosphere of Frothy Monkey. However, over the years the quality of food and logistics of the restaurant has gone downhill to me. Today I had a black bean and quinoa burger that was EXTREMELY bland. It tasted like it had zero seasoning. I had to add a ton of mayonnaise for it to have any flavor. Also, the side was a tiny little blend of greens with balsamic dressing (no other vegetables or toppings on the greens). There was also no soup available, which I was bummed about because I always got soup when I used to come pretty often. As for logistics, I came to eat, then enjoy coffee while I studied. I stood in the long line at the bar to order and noticed when I got closer to the front that the sign said “take out orders only, see host for seating”. So, I got out of line because I wanted a table and the host proceeded to tell me if I wanted to sit somewhere a while to study, I would need to get back in the “take out” line and find a table on the second level or sit at the bar. There weren’t any comfortable tables (I.e. not a tiny hightop table with bar stools) in the second level area, and none available at all at the high bar. So I chose a seat at the low bar on the right side of the restaurant. I sat there for a few minutes and none of the 5 people working in the bar area spoke to me. So I stopped someone to ask if I could order. They told me the bar area I was sitting in was just for people waiting on their takeout orders? I ended up giving up on studying since there wasn’t any comfortable seating up top and just got a table with the host and left after eating. It was very confusing trying to figure out how the logistics there work now. Before, you walked in and they asked if you wanted a waitress, a takeout order, or if you just wanted to order and hang out. Then proceeded to take your order or give you a table with a waitress. If I remember correctly, they also gave numbers if you didn’t want a waitress, told you the area you could sit in, and your food was brought to you. Now if you don’t want a waitress, you have to wait until after they call your order to get a table, or get your second level table then leave your stuff to possibly get stolen while you walk down when they...