Behind the Bookstore — Restaurant in Edgartown

Was in here yesterday and have been coming to the Vineyard for over 14 years. We were excited when the book store opened this quaint cafe that was secretly tucked away behind the store a couple of years ago.

The coffee is great but over time as they grew the service is very slow and the waitstaff is not the friendliest plus it is very expensive. Would expect more for the prices.

Yesterday waited over 25 minutes after we ordered (which was another huge wait in a tight crammed space) for the waitress to then tell us they were out of the porridge? And we never got the griddle cakes we ordered at the same time. She offered scrambled eggs and bacon in place of the porridge but then said that would cost more. My husband said he wasn't paying more for waiting all that time for them to then tell us they were out of something. He said we would like that but we aren't paying more for it. The waitress gave us a dirty look, didn't say anything and just walked away.

While we waited to see if we were even getting the eggs finally a little plate of eggs and bacon showed up while our griddle cakes still didn't arrive?? I said something to this other girl who brought the eggs and she said she would look into it.

Finally maybe 10-15 minutes later burnt griddle cakes arrived with barely any yogurt or blueberries. Our kids were starving and so were we so we ate everything since we waited forever but it was less than favorable.

My son got a bottle of coconut water which was $8.50 which was pretty outrageous!!! We also had the berry galette and the inside was so bitter they need to sweeten the berries a little to balance it.

It was just a disappointing experience which really didn't have to be. Last year we had to wait a pretty long time also and you barely have any room to order inside standing also.

I never see an owner or a manager or anyone walking around asking anyone how they are or if they need anything. This would help the business. We could have used extra plates and it would have been nice to let someone know our experience other than a nasty waitress.

Also while waiting for the bathroom you can see both the prep spaces. We watched an employee eat a sandwich in the prep area and continue to prep. Employees should be allowed to take breaks to eat which is not only unsightly but is also unsanitary.

It has so much potential to be more. Like many places in Edgartown it does attract the pretentious but we did manage to have one decent conversation with one friendly person.

Hopefully this place will improve and really shine through the prices, service and partial mediocre food.

Still undecided if we should give it another try next time or skip it...

The service here is truly terrible. I came in at exactly noon on a weekend for lunch. I ordered an iced latte, and the woman taking the order missed the "iced" part when putting the order in. I gently corrected them when I got the hot drink, and the woman who took my order told me, in a sarcastic tone, "If you wanted it iced, you should have asked for iced." That's it, no indication as to whether they would remake the drink, just condescension, even though she was the one who got the order wrong.

She was then rude to my friend, who asked her a clarification question about some of the specialty drinks on the menu before ordering. She gave him an attitude and rolled her eyes at him. Working behind the counter doesn't mean you're obligated to educate anyone who can't google what a latte is, but when you work somewhere that makes specialty drinks but doesn't explain what they are on any of the menus, people will have questions.

It took around 40 minutes to get our orders, even though the place wasn't crowded, and we ordered sandwiches off the menu without substitutions. Another friend split off from our group, went to go get a meal at a different place, ate it, and came back before we even got our first sandwich. Sandwiches were ~$13 and bad. The brisket was dry and my other friend couldn't even get halfway through her turkey sandwich without giving up. I also got a biscuit, which was stale and greasy.

Long story short, we overpaid so that someone could be mean to us while we waited a long time for our bad food to arrive.

After I left them a bad Yelp review, their barista Mikhail decided to create multiple fake Yelp accounts to leave BTB 3 different 5-star reviews under 3 different names and send me multiple messages ranting and raving about other customers. Mikhail went out of his way to make a bad experience worse even days later, and personally messaging me multiple copies of his same incoherent ramblings is beyond creepy and inappropriate. No customer should expect to be harassed like this by an employee, ever. I have screenshots of him doing this and admitting it was him up on Yelp.

I spoke with BTB manager Elana about Mikhail's harassment. She said that he had removed his reviews addressing me and would not be harassing me further. As of 11AM on 7/8, his review is still up! Mikhail is still working at BTB, and was not disciplined. I am disgusted with BTB's customer service and baffled as to how they plan to prevent future harassment given that they have no control over employee actions outside work, and they imposed no consequences for...

My first visit to Edgartown. Staying with friends and the early bird that I am didn’t want to wake sleeping beauties up. So I decided to venture out for an early morning stroll to downtown for a cup of coffee. Along my walk, I hear birds chirping, early risers walking and jogging saying hello. The breath of fresh ocean air so delightful. And to top off my walk towards Main St., 2 beautiful deer leaped across the road left me feeling serene and grateful. I was looking for places to go to grab a coffee and came across Toccopuro. Cappuccino and a poppy seed muffin was delightful and staff were friendly and welcoming. Heading back to sleeping friend’s house I came across Behind the Bookstore and thought to venture in to see what the menu looked like. I went in and the woman at the ordering counter greeted me with a friendly smile. So far so good. Pastries looked amazing! I proceeded to order a couple items and asked if there was anything they could suggest for someone with gluten sensitivity. While I was placing my order a young man came along and assisted with my order putting items in a box. When I asked for a tissue to separate the “gluten free” pastries from the other ones, it was as if I had asked him for his right arm. His attitude shifted from somewhat friendly as he was placing pastries in the box on the counter and just left it there wide open as if he was “done” with helping me. I then asked if he could help me close the box as the pastries were overflowing and he did with what I perceived as with an attitude of annoyance and entitlement. He is young and I’m sure deals with all sorts of personalities being in the service industry. I know what that’s like. I worked in the service industry for over 20 years. All sorts of characters. Anyhoo… I immediately went from having feelings of joy to feeling like “I won’t be stopping here again.” I don’t care how good the pastries look. Funny how things can look so amazing on the outside and can be quite sour on the inside. And then I realized the poor kid hasn’t quite evolved to his potential. I went from taking his uppity superficial attitude personal to having empathy and compassion for his unaware self. And continued onward with my joyful morning feeling grateful and blessed. Happiness is an inside job! And how happy and delighted I am, that I had this experience to remind me how beautiful and messy humans can be. Pastries are...