Salt + Honey Bakery Cafe — Restaurant in El Paso

We were huge fans of the old Salt & Honey Cafe and waited weeks for the new one to open, but left disappointed. Sometimes change isn’t always a good thing.

We went today (Saturday) and it’s the first weekend since they opened at the new location, so I expected it to be busy. The new location is a nice new building and much larger, but not necessarily in a nice surrounding area. We were told a 2hr wait but we knew it would be worth it based on our experience at the old location. We ran errands then came back. Parts of the place are still under construction so there was a lot of plastic and wooden boards in the front. We were seated outside and waited probably 30 minutes for our drink order and another 30 for our food order and about another 40-45ish minutes for our food. People who were seated after us got their food delivered long before we did. The staff just seemed very overwhelmed, but I will say our server was very sweet and doing her best.

Also, if you were a fan of the old salt and honey menu, they’ve changed a lot. I understand some changes here and there but a LOT was different. We were disappointed most of our go to choices were gone and replaced mostly with middle eastern options. We are adventurous eaters so Lebanese food itself isn’t the problem, but we went for some familiar brunch food and our options were slim compared to what it used to be. Super bummed with a lot of the food changes. Just keep in mind they seem to be steering away from traditional brunch food and more toward Lebanese cuisine now.

Once we got our food after about an hour or so of being there, we were disappointed the fries and buns were soggy. The French toast was great but it seems their lunch food needs work. It made sense when we also heard they’ve gotten a bigger area and more servers, but the same amount of cooks. The menu prices have also gone up, which is disappointing considering that the quality seems to have gone down.

The old salt and honey may have been quaint, but we miss it and feel like the new location is an entirely different restaurant. One that seems to have opened too early and is underprepared for the wave of people they are receiving. We hope that after a few months, they can get their feet under them and improve but in the meantime, this is not the same salt and honey we were loyal customers to. I’d recommend going during a weekday when it’s less busy and that a familiar favorite isn’t missing from the new menu.

Thank you to our server! She was great and the one redeeming part of this “new” salt and...

I am so happy that we have nice places like this in El Paso. I have been there 3 times and the food has been good. Every time I am exited to go back and try something else. The business owner clearly spent a lot of money in the place to offer a nice environment.

But I think now they should spend money in training staff in great hospitality.

The problem is always the wait and the way the staff handles that situation. They have plenty of sitting but never enough staff.

This last time I went on a Friday afternoon. The wait was 45 minutes. Even though there was plenty of tables. The bar was pretty much empty there were two people sitting there. They had at least 8 more chairs available. We asked the hostess if we could order drinks and an appetizer at the bar because we were starving. She said if we did that she would have to take us off the list for the table. We explain that we would consume at the bar and we would consume at the table. She said fine. But we needed to be sure to close our tab at the bar. Once we sat at the bar, the waitress behind the bar walked over to the hostess and she made sure she took us off the list. I asked her if that is what she did and she said yes because it was not fair for us to wait at the bar sitting down while other people were in the lobby. And that it was not fair that we took up space just for drinks. She said we could order drinks and stand up. We ordered drinks and an appetizer because we couldn’t wait 45, we were starving. She served us very upset. She told us she was not the one that made the rules but she was certainly the enforcer. We rushed to eat something fast so we could get out of her section and back on the list. She was so upset with us that after taking our order she never even spoke to us again. I had to flag someone else to refill my tea and ask for a plastic cup because she made sure to tell us we could not get up with our drinks but she did not serve them in plastic cups.

Needless to say every restaurant has some wait at some point and they welcome you to spend money on drinks while you wait. It’s profit for the place but this place obviously is doing something that attracts people so they very often have a wait. They need to have a better waiting area and system so that people feel accommodated while waiting and not like we are a pest to the waitress that didn’t get a dinning room schedule and is pissed that she has to serve...

A family member and I went on a Saturday morning. It was our first time visiting this place. Walking in, the hostess seemed quite timid to inform us about the wait time. We stated we would sit at the counter and she nervously told us if we sat there once a table became available we could not be seated. No problem. So we proceeded to the counter. The barista informed us if we sat there, once a table became available, we could not be seated. Once again, no problem. As we waited, we watched the barista less than enthusiastically fix drink orders. Okay, everyone has those kinds of days. However, at this point my radar is up.

So, the people sitting next to us get their orders taken, then we are next… I ordered the Moroccan mint tea pot and my family member ordered a hot latte. Good so far. I then placed an order for the brunch board. The barista who’s taking our order proceeds to tell me, “Oh, they are going to love me in the back. They hate making those things and these guys next to you just ordered the same thing.” Of course the guys sitting next to us who had just ordered the board heard. We just looked at each other. We were gobsmacked. No words. My mug had lipstick on the side so I mentioned it to the barista. He angrily washed the cup and held it up near me and said, “Is that good enough!?” Wow. Btw, still lipstick on the side. I cleaned it myself and drank from the opposite side. The tea was hot but just a hint of flavor even after steeping it for a long time. My family member took a sip of his latte and left it. Not hot at all and he didn’t want to bother the already flustered barista. When the food arrived it tasty but nevertheless I ate it half heartedly.

All I can say is I was glad I had a gift card to use. I would’ve been upset if I had to pay for that experience. I have read about all the wonderful reviews so my hopes were high. I wish we had one of those experiences. I don’t like being treated like I’m a bother when I go to support local. One time was more than enough for me. I won’t support this local. I’ll take my hard-earned...