Pass the Salt Cafe — Restaurant in Elizabeth City

Ordered a patty melt. Was told it had to be well done, to which I said great. I can't eat anything pink. Melt came without onions, despite their inclusion on the menu. I requested those, waited several moments, melt returned with now cold fries. Meanwhile, my husband had his food, which was a large burger, two patties, very well done. A melt is a round patty on square toast. I bit the corners (no meat due to the geometry) and they were fine (toast, sauce, and onions) but the first bite of burger was bright pink. I literally had to go to the restroom over that. Waitress (who had provided neither silverware nor napkins until after we had our food and asked for them) said because I had eaten "over half" there was nothing she could do, that we were paying full price. Only... I had clearly not eaten half. One bite of the actual meat, but beyond that, over half of the sandwich remained. Had she said it wasn't their policy, that would have been one thing, but she looked right at me, clicking her pen, and told me I had eaten over half when I clearly had not. It wasn't remotely debatable. Then she said they were busy and couldn't promise well done, when she had told me when I ordered that it HAD to be well done. Meanwhile, my husband's much larger burger wasn't at all pink (so, clearly, it CAN be done), plus they forgot his onions as well and he never got them. Mistakes happen. That's fine. But there was no offer to fix it. And to lie to me, to my face, is unacceptable. We used to be regular customers, and generous tippers, but you've lost us over a $9 sandwich, most of which I left on the plate (the rest in the plumbing) and a lie. And next time someone asks me about the food or service, I will not hesitate to share my experience. This was not the first time they've gotten an order wrong, but serving something so pink that your customer is vomiting in the bathroom, only to shrug and say there's nothing you can do while obnoxiously clicking a pen top, is going to be my final impression, because I won't...

Been there twice, disappointed twice. The first time we probably sat at least 30 minutes waiting for our order to be taken. Few of the choices were available (middle of the day). The wait for the food to arrive also seemed really long. We chalked it up to one person waiting tables. Although it was not that busy.

The second time there was only one person waiting tables. Business picked up a little after we were seated. Our order was never taken, did not even get a glass of water. People that came in after were waited on and received drinks.

I regret to say we will not likely return.

This is the message I received for my review just wanted everyone to see this. Not professional at all.

Hi Yvonne. I apologizes if you feel if your wait time was not to your liking, but please remember that we are a very small cafe in a small town so business is very unpredictable we staff the cafe accordingly. There are times that are very difficult to manage when we get a rush of people in, but if we were to staff accordingly to your liking we would of gone out of business years ago. I assume you or your partner have never been self employed or have worked in the food industry, so you would not understand the work and time that is involved to operate a cafe such as ours. It is already difficult enough to make a living doing something you have a passion for, but it makes it even more difficult when a negative review is given on Wait time If you were waiting at a well know restaurant in Norfolk or Virginia Beach and the hostess said it would be thirty to forty minutes would you give them a bad review because of the wait time, but since you are at small cafe in a small town you expect to be served immediately. What gives? Take a chill and enjoy being out with your family or friends. By the way your review would be taken more seriously others if all your reviews...

Wouldn't have given any rating if it was possible...I work in the kitchen and time management is key...3 people go out to eat hamburger steak comes with 2 hambutger patties a french onion soup and a cheeseburger...why does it take 20 minutes between each dish to come out.........so we each get our food in 20 minute intervals...three cheeseburgers and they all come at different times...does the cook know what time management means??? ...lol...French onion soup came AFTER I asked where my soup was after the hamburger steak...might as well go ahead and make it to go since I'm already done eating while my 8 yr old is still waiting for her CHEESEBURGER and French fries...and the Pepsi for the 8 yr old...never came til we went to the window and asked where the Pepsi was...yes I had attitude...didn't give any staff attitude there was noone else in the restaurant and it seemed to be a bunch of............running the place who didn't know what they were doing...never ever in my life 2 times in a row would that happen in my kitchen!! Goodluck to all who goes to this small non organized no time management place...put all the patties on at once even though I know the hamburger steak patties were already pre-cooked... could have used one of those for the 8 yr old cheeseburger patties...never again...and wouldn't recommend this place to anyone ever!!! 2 times in a row the same wait staff....blonde messed up the order and forgot stuff or "didn't hear our order" as she put it 2 times in a row as last time she said "well why didnt you say something" when she forgot our french onion soup...spent 60 on a dinner I wouldn't have paid 20 for...def NOT what it used to be at all.....IMA LOCAL!!! BTW!!!! customers not always right...but take it or leave it...learn time management...