Cravings Café — Restaurant in Columbus

I am not usually in this part of downtown early enough in the day to be able to eat at Cravings Cafe [they serve breakfast and lunch and then they close at 2:30 p.m.] but I ate there twice recently within a period of three days.

For many years while arriving downtown on the #3 bus, I would notice Saigon Palace Vietnamese Restaurant but I never actually ate there because I am not usually in that part of downtown. About 1½ years ago, Cravings Cafe moved in and replaced the walls that face N. Front St. with windows and definitely has improved the appearance of this space.

On 5-22-2019, immediately after I had attended a hearing at the Ohio Statehouse, I visited Cravings Cafe for my first time and ordered and ate a "Cravings Club" sandwich [roasted chicken, thick-cut bacon, cheddar, shaved apple brussels sprout slaw, and rosemary aioli; served on a toasted brioche roll] and an order of fries.

On 5-24-2019, immediately before a meeting with the staff of a U.S. Senator at the Federal Building, I ordered "The Classic Breakfast Roll" [thick-cut bacon, "over medium" cage-free fried egg, cheddar, and rosemary aioli; served on a buttery house-made brioche roll] and an order of "Greek Hash" [potatoes, toasted za'atar, and capers].

The food at Cravings Cafe, both times, had been delicious; the service, both times, had been friendly; I definitely plan to return [but only when I am in the area at the appropriate time].

In case you want to know this, Cravings Cafe has self-serve water [a reservoir of cold water and plastic drinking glasses] and self-serve napkins at the south end of the...

The food I’ve had is interesting and good! However, for someone who orders for pickup on a short lunch break, the timing of the orders being ready and available to grab by the predicted time is not consistent enough (appears to be an understaffing issue which I know must be really hard to navigate). I will also say I have asked for condiments and utensils multiple times (which is an option in their online store) and have never once received them, which is extremely frustrating. Utensils don’t appear to be available in the dining room either.

As many places utilize, they really need a spot that’s dedicated to picking up orders for bags that are ready, because having just one person to hand out orders (which requires taking names), take dining room orders, and then deliver dining room orders to tables does not work when a line is out the door. If your food is truly ready by its predicted time and it’s just sitting there out of reach because you have to wait in line for someone to take your name and hand it to you, that is very frustrating and defeats the pickup purpose.

The main woman who staffs the front is always super polite and does a great job at acknowledging you even if she can’t be with you, which is huge! She keeps her cool and is so professional. I just need something a little more predictable than this if I’m going out of my way to get lunch...

I had a terrible customer service experience at this place recently and the food was not good either becaue it was very cold. I arrived at 12:15 for lunch and ordered food and I waited until 12:55 to get it. Apparently they had a large call in order, because the place was not busy when I got there. When I got my food I told the lady who gave it to me my lunch break was over and asked that she warn me next time if it was going to take this long (and I do not believe I said it rudely, I was simply trying to give her feedback). Rather than apologizing she snarked that I should call ahead next time. I found this response odd because they do not advertise that you need to call ahead and they are essentially a lunch place. Then when i opened my sandwich a few minutes later it was very cold, and it was a grilled sandwich, so I suspect that it had been ready and they forgot to give it to me. To be honest they usually have good food, but considering the customer service I'm not going back...