Kanela Breakfast Club — Restaurant in Chicago

FLIES EVERYWHERE, HORRIBLE SERVICE, UNAUTHORIZED CHARGES, AND VERY POOR FOOD QUALITY! I am a local neighborhood resident and I live 2 blocks from this location. I have not been in town for several months so this was my first visit back in a long time. We used to love this location and have never had anything but amazing experiences in the past. Im very sad to say I will never go back again after this last experience. This place used to be packed when we would come because it was so good but this time it was near empty and it all makes sense now. They have a huge infestation of FLIES that swarmed our table from the second we sat down. Our server who's name is STEPHANIA Z was repulsive and rude from the minute we started to order. She made no attempt to get our orders correct and the food came out staggered leaving some of our plates to get cold while waiting for 1 persons plate to arrive so we could all eat at same time. The food was pathetic and the eggs were runny. I ordered an egg white omelet $13.99 but requested to add spicy feta to my omelet and was told no they can't do that and I have to order a BYO version which ended up charging us $22 for the same omelet I could have gotten just adding 1 extra item. She then brought us our bill with an AUTO GRATUITY of 20% with no disclosure anywhere in the restaraunt or menus this is usually a common practice on a party of 6 or more. We also asked for several other things for the table multiple times that were never even acknowledged or brought out. In the end I tried to let management know what was going on and how our experience was because I'm in hospitality myself and run a business that care about our customers. Needless to say management did not care we were unhappy and made ZERO attempts to show any concerns or even apologize at the very least.. both management and servers at this location looked at me with sarcastic faces and laughed as we left the building. This location will go out of business quickly inassure you if changes are not made. The fact that I took this much time to write this review shows how passionate I am about our experience at...

‏Dear wonderful restaurant team,

‏I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to all of you for the excellent service you provided to me and my family during our recent visit to the restaurant. It was an unforgettable experience filled with beautiful moments and delicious food.

‏First and foremost, I would like to thank the friendly and professional staff who welcomed us with a warm smile and a heartfelt greeting. Your service was prompt and attentive to every detail of our orders. We felt genuine care and professionalism in every step of the service.

‏I would also like to thank the chef and the kitchen team for the wonderful dishes you prepared for us. The food was fresh and amazing in terms of flavor and presentation. We enjoyed every bite and there was not a single thing to fault. You showcased exceptional skills and attention to detail in every dish.

‏I cannot forget the cleanliness team who kept the restaurant clean and tidy at all times. The tables were clean, the floor was spotless, and the bathrooms were clean and equipped with all the necessary amenities. You added an extra touch of comfort and luxury to our experience.

‏Last but not least, I would like to thank the management for the ongoing efforts to provide an excellent dining experience for customers. You excelled in organizing the work, training the team, and providing the best ingredients and food supplies. It was a delightful and satisfying experience from start to finish.

‏Dear restaurant team, you are the true heroes and the reason behind the success of this wonderful restaurant. I am grateful to all of you for the dedication, hard work, and skills you put into your daily work. I wish you a bright future full of success and excellence.

‏Thank you again for everything, and I look forward to my next visit.

‏Best regards Bader...

I went to Kanela yesterday with a friend and it was a good experience - the waitress was nice and provided good service, the food was fantastic (the spicy feta omelette is very unique and has a wonderful flavor). It was so good that when my partner and I were deciding where to go to brunch, I recommend he try Kanela too. We went today and the service was really, really bad. We were told a 20min wait and the receptionist took our number down. We walked around outside a bit and came back in a under twenty minutes. When I came back in, the receptionist acknowledged my name and we proceeded to wait inside. Then, we saw people coming in and putting down their numbers. And those people started getting seated before us (same number of people in the party). So we asked the receptionist about it because we were there significantly earlier (over 20min earlier than some of these parties of 2) and he said he’d been sending me notifications a table was ready (even though he knew my name and that we were there)… turns out, he took down my phone number incorrectly. Then, once we were seated finally, I was given a glass with very prominent lipstick prints on it for my water. I asked for a new glass, and the second glass still had lipstick prints on it but I gave up and just wiped it off myself since our server wasn’t waiting on us. Our waitress took an order first for a table that was seated after us, and we were sitting ten minutes with no one even taking our drink order. We were definitely forgotten or just not cared about.

Overall, the flavors here are great, and whoever created the recipes for this place (and the entire cooking staff) has my respect. BUT the service was such an extreme disappointment today. Really sad since the place has such...