Mudhouse Crozet — Restaurant in Crozet

The last few times my wife and I were at Mudhouse, the staff seemed indifferent at best. For one of the visits, I asked for no foam in my latte and got foam. In another one, I asked for a specific ratio of milk to coffee in my cup and got a confused look from the batista. In both cases, the coffee wasn't that great.

A number of years ago we used to visit Mudhouse in Crozet on a regular basis; we really loved coming here. It has become a shadow of its former self. We will likely not be back.

For the record, this is not a Mudhouse issue, per se. It's a generational one. For example, we started going to Burger Bach in Short Pump about five years ago and absolutely loved it. Then covid hit and we stopped going for a while. When we went back, the service quality had dropped significantly. Same poor quality service at the Burger Bach in Charlottesville. So we stopped going to both.

Update: There was a NY Post article from 1/9/24 that very well captures what my wife and I have been experiencing in the last 3-4 years:

"Gen Z grads are tanking job interviews, struggling to find full time positions: study"

Excerpt:

"More than half of employers surveyed said Gen Z candidates struggle the most with eye contact during interviews."

This is EXACTLY the issue my wife and I have been dealing with in restaurants. The wait staff never make eye contact with us and they just race by our table. My drink is typically almost gone before I am able to get someone's attention for a refill.

This lack of desire to interact with customers is the problem, whether it's Mudhouse, Burger Bach or elsewhere. Again, not everyone or everywhere, but definitely most wait staff in most...

Atmosphere is the best part of the coffee shop, in my opinion, 5 stars for that. If you’re looking for a great study spot, working spot, or place to relax, they did a great job with the atmosphere: chess table, comfortable couches, nice music, tables/chairs, and open floor plan. Though, they could improve on the number of outlets, and their outdoor seating is nearly non-existent. Since there’s little outdoor seating, I’m glad that they enforce their mask policy inside.

The coffee was just ok - hence the 3 stars. I got a lavender latte, which was decent, but not good enough to warrant the price, which tends to skew fairly high here, even for a “regular iced coffee.” They do have a happy hour though on the lavender latte though, which can help with the price if you make it in time. I also got a cold foam cold brew, but the taste of it did not excite me. Could get pretty much the same cold foam cold brew at Starbucks, which I actually would prefer to this one believe it or not. Also, the cold foam at the top was not very thick or flavorful.

I also got an Apple kolache as a pastry, which tasted pretty good, and is quite a unique option as far as coffee shops go, which I appreciated. It’s more of a “sweet bread”, but is not as sweet as a typical pastry would be. I wouldn’t go out of my way for it, but if you’re there, I’d give it a try (ask for it warmed).

Taken together, if you’re in the Crozet area or if you’re looking for nice working vibes with decent coffee, definitely check it out. If not, I wouldn’t go out of my way for the...

My family and I were visiting Crozet this past weekend and during our stay we stopped at Mudhouse Coffee for breakfast. The two baristas working behind the counter (one girl and one guy) did not greet us when we came in and only spoke to us after we walked up to the counter and waited for their conversation to end so we could order. The display case only had one breakfast sandwich and 2 quiches left at 10am. My husband took the breakfast sandwich and my parents and I all got a piece of quiche. Both my mom and dad were given cold pieces straight from there cooler. Mine was heated. My mom had to ask twice for hers to be warmed up because each time it was still cold. My dad also had to ask twice but was ignored by the two baristas the second time while they waited on customers although he clearly was standing in line with his quiche in hand. I saw them look at him several times but I guess they were annoyed we kept coming up to have our breakfast warmed to an edible temperature. Who eats cold quiche?! When we were finally able to eat, the quiches had NO flavor! The coffee was good but we would never recommend this place for food. The tables were all dirty, the water was empty and there were no napkins stocked although when we came in the baristas were just standing around talking with plenty of time to restock. We had breakfast the next two days at Greenhouse Coffee just down the street and the coffee, food and staff...