Sleepy Bee Cafe - Downtown — Restaurant in Cincinnati

More than disappointed with choosing this restaurant for our first meal in Cincinnati, and first meal we would end up having having not been able to take a family trip since start of pandemic. I took hours trying to narrow down where our family would eat the day before going to the zoo. I should have gone with Findlay Market. But chose this establishment instead because the offering would satisfy everyone in our trip. Upon arrival we were promptly seated. Which was great. But that would be the only thing that was good. The hostess put us in the back near the kitchen, which was fine because my son would get to see where his pancakes were being made and I did not think anything of it, that was until about 5 mins after we were seated. It took forever for our server, Patrick to arrive at our table. We arrived at the restaurant just after 1p.m. That would be the last time we would see our server, who was polite. We had no less than three other individuals, not Patrick come to our table. As we sipped on very badly made espresso, and really hard to make them bad I might add. I kept having to ask my husband to repeat what he was saying because the location that the hostess put us at, was directly adjacent to a wood column area that apparently the restaurant allows their workers to eat and take breaks. Thats when I saw Patrick, our original server eating. Followed by several other female workers that continually went back into that same area to chat away with fellow coworkers. One girl in particular was rather loud and all I could hear her saying is 'Gru is the best" Gru is my favorite" and so on and so forth. I must have heard the word or whatever "Gru " stood for over 10 times. Other servers, male servers joined in and completely ruined our meal and experience. I saw our food come up and there it sat under lamps until one of the many servers that came to our table went to get it. By that time my sons pancakes and mine were cold. Instead of bringing the syrup to the table with meal we had to wait again to receive the syrup. By then even the butter was not melting and to try to spread it just ruin the pancake as a whole. We asked for straws for our water and were ignored, causing me to get up from table walk over to bar area and reach behind counter to get my own straws. My son is autistic, and this ended up becoming an upsetting ordeal for him. Which in turn got my husband upset. He is black and he says this is what always happens. Seat and stick you in an area where your service will be subpar. Both of us having worked in professional kitchens, we have never worked in an establishment that had their employees break area out on the same floor as guest, regardless of whether it is sectioned off by wood columns. Completely unprofessional. Also, who has a server take a table only to go on a break and never come back to table. Leaving us to have to deal with four other servers, none of which seemed like they cared and looked like they were all just ready to get off work. I will never eat and any of the Sleepy Bee Cafe locations again. I will not recommend to my business friends who go to Cincinnati on the regular. Thanks for ruining our first outing since pandemic began. Upsetting my son before his trip to the zoo and making us waste our money on cold as food and espresso that someone needs to relearn how to make, which is simple, but they could not get that...

Our experience started off wonderful. We ordered lattes at the counter while waiting for our table. They were all amazing. The manager came to our table and greeted us. He was incredibly nice and friendly! About 10min later our server, Angel, came to our table to get our order. I ordered my food, the server asked what sides I would like etc, then I also ordered pancakes for the table share. When the food came out, I only received pancakes. Angel never came back to check on us. I finally found her and told I didn’t receive my order. She told me “Oh, I didn’t hear you order that but if you want to add it, I’ll put your order in” Everyone at the table was done eating by the time my food came to the table. Two of the items I received were cold. I figured someone forgot it in the window because it took so long for me to get my food. During this time no one, checked on us, our food or came by to get us a refill. When the bill came, one of my friends took my bill. She very nicely told the server that I had my order not put in, waited forever for my food, then it was cold. The server said “I guess I can take it off her bill” Which was great and not expected. When the server brought me my new check, she leaned over and quietly said to me “maybe next time you can actually try speaking up for yourself” I was completely shocked to be spoken to that way! She came back to the table with my change. Someone at the table told her that maybe she would know something was wrong if she had come back to the table at least once to check in. Angel, told us that no, I needed to learn to speak up and tell someone when something is wrong. Then launched into a rant about how many tables she had and doesn’t have time for us and us trying to make her look bad by not telling her there was a problem. I would have loved to tell her I had a problem but we never saw her again after I told her I didn’t get my order. I’m completely appalled by my experience. Our entire table was polite, kind and friendly to the staff. Almost everyone at our table is in the hospitality industry. I can’t fathom talking to a customer in the same manner. In the future, when visiting Cincinnati, I will definitely not eat here ever again. I would definitely not recommend this place anyone. There are many brunch places in Cincinnati to chose from, where you won’t have to deal with being lectured and disrespected by...

I was travelling alone from Melbourne Australia and had high hopes from Sleepy Bee after a local tip and having seen an impressive menu online. Service overall was good. I was seated promptly at the bar and got my order in quickly. One of the staff noticed my accent and offered me some local insight into things to do for the weekend which was nice. I ordered a coffee and the chorizo scramble and was offered a side of fresh fruit. The food came quickly but I would happily have waited a little longer in the interest of quality. The serving size (by US standards!) was small. There was little flavour. I could taste sausage but not chorizo, certainly no spice. There were two very sorry looking pieces of under-toasted sourdough and a small cup containing about 15 grapes one slice, of orange and two tiny slices of oxidised green (now brown) apple. My coffee arrived about 10 minutes after the meal which was disappointing and the excuse given was: 'we're very busy and there is only one person on the coffee machine.' As an aside I overheard some talk between the wait staff complaining about a group booking that had been separated, which was unprofessional and probably should have been reserved for the kitchen away from other customers. Overall it was 'fine' but an extremely long way from the basic standard of brunch enjoyed almost anywhere in Australia. They could improve their speed of coffee service by adding another person to the coffee machine (the poor girl was going as fast as she could) and considering how to add some freshness and improved quality control to the menu. I was hoping this would be my go to breakfast a few times during my two week stay but I'm confident I could make a better breakfast for myself in...