Zisters — Restaurant in Elm Grove

My family chose Zisters for lunch to celebrate our infant son's baptism. I wish we hadn't. We encountered poor food quality and customer service. What's worse, the manager was petty, childish, and passive-aggressive. To begin, I asked our server if they were able to cook a burger rare. She confidently responded "Yes!" My "rare" burger arrived medium-well with very lackluster toppings. The egg, supposed to be sunny-side up, had no yolk at all and the white was charred. The avocado slices were browning and badly spotted. The bacon was overdone and tough. None of these were a big deal, and I didn't mention them to the server. Out of politeness, I only mentioned the doneness. According to Cambridge, medium-well means "cooked so that it has a small amount of pink in the center." According to Burger Republic, medium-well "has a slight-pink center," while rare has "a cool red center." The burger was obviously very overdone. No problem; these things happen. I showed my burger to our server. She explained that the kitchen staff always cook burgers to specific temperatures. I wasn't standing in the kitchen while it was being cooked, so I can't speak to that. I do know that a) people make mistakes, and b) sometimes thermometers are either misused or inaccurate. Do they honestly think we can't tell? That we just order our preferred doneness without knowing what that means? I would have been okay with a medium-rare, or even a medium, if the beef was higher quality. But it wasn't. In an effort to be accommodating, I suggested that they please simply cook a replacement patty and I would transfer my original toppings over. Industry standard would dictate they remake the entire dish. She seemed somehow irritated, but agreed. When I cut into the new patty, I could tell immediately that it was only cooked for maybe 20 seconds on each side. It was basically raw, other than the thinnest outer layer. They were willing to risk serving a customer a raw beef patty immediately after explaining how they had to cook all of their burgers to specific temperatures (regardless of actual doneness). Something just wasn't adding up. Had they been unable or unwilling to cook a rare burger in the first place, I would have gladly found something else on the menu. There's nothing wrong with that, and it's the reason I asked. This was all taking some time, and my son was getting fussy. We needed to settle up and get going, so I just asked for a to-go box. Once we got the bill, I noticed that our server had charged an extra $6 for the replacement patty. For expediency, I brought this to the manager's attention. The entire principle of that is clearly wrong. After the manager conferred with the server, she said that she charged for the extra patty because I "had eaten the first patty" (I hadn't) and that she also "did not charge for the gluten-free buns" (two of my family members had ordered burgers with gf buns, which are a $1 upcharge). When I explained further what actually happened, she replied (verbatim) "We don't do that." Apparently they don't correct mistakes that they have made, or, without stating so, they expect their customers to pay to have such mistakes corrected. Feigning conciliation, she said she would remove the charge for the patty but insisted that I not take the second patty home. Again, completely missing the point. In the end, I took nothing home anyway. I had only eaten my side salad and a couple small bites of burger toppings. I left the rest. So the manager did remove the $6 charge for the patty, but snuck on two "custom" charges for gluten-free buns at $3 each (not $1) in retaliation. I walked up to the manager once more just to clarify that that's what she had done. She smiled sarcastically and said "Yes, that's right." Zisters demonstrated a deep lack of pride, principle, and integrity. The manager deceptively and willfully manipulated a custom charge to equal the cost of a replacement item. Her behavior was brazenly childish, petty, and misguided. There are so many other restaurants around here that simply do...

I have visited Zisters 3-4 times over the years and up until this most recent visit, had good experiences. One great visit in particular jumps out in my mind when my husband and I visited, sat at the bar and had amazing fun service from the bartender. She had great recommendations, was working super hard during a very busy morning and we overall really enjoyed the experience. Sadly, our visit today led me to leaving this review as I was so unbelievably disappointed that it trumped our prior experiences.

Upon entering for this visit, the host was very friendly, cheerful and immediately seated us. We enjoyed a table by the open air patio/garage doors. The patio is lovely as is the vibe/interior of the space. Upon our server asking our drink order, I had asked if they had both cold brew and nitro as I couldn't remember what I had upon our visit at the bar. Our server said they had both. I ordered the cold brew with a side of vanilla syrup and my husband regular hot coffee. Turns out my cold brew wasn't cold brew but iced pot coffee. Many don't see a difference but as I mainly drink cold brew, it was pretty noticeable as far as flavor. We were also charged the same price and it definitely tasted like chilled pot coffee. Despite adding the syrup and creamer, I wasn't able to finish it. It's also worth noting that upon our bar visit (where I must've had the nitro because it was super tasty), I was given a full container of vanilla syrup (little metal cups that they use to serve the creamer) and upon this visit, it was maybe 1/4-1/3 full. Note to self, get the nitro.

As far as the entrees, I got the same meal I had upon our bar visit (the herbivore bowl) and weirdly this time it was super bland. I added a bunch of salt, stirred it up, had my husband try it, even added sausage to the order this time, etc... but he was in agreement, it was super bland. My husband for the most part enjoyed his omelette but his potatoes were nearing black in color for how cooked they were. I contemplated taking the rest of my meal home and jazzing it up myself but ultimately decided i'd rather share my feedback/ask for the item to be removed from our bill as I barely ate any of it. I've probably only asked for this one other time in my life and I honestly feel bad doing it because the servers always feel bad and obviously everyone wants to enjoy their experience but hey, it happens. I had a few bites of my husband's food and my english muffin and was fine with not eating my meal.

By the time our server came back to check on us, my husband was just about done with his food and when she offered me a box, I was polite, honest and apologetic that I just didn't like it/it was bland and asking if they could remove it from our bill. She apologized, took the plates and walked to the back. She then returned to say that per her manager, they are unable to take it off the bill and did not offer anything (i.e swap for another item, coupon for return visit, anything). At this point, my food was already gone and even though I mentioned that to her (I couldn't even take it home to try and jazz it up myself now), she apologized again and walked away to grab the bill. I was honestly shocked and super disappointed. I rarely if ever am dis-satisfied with a meal and upon experiences at other restaurants, I've even had servers take items off the bill without even asking if they find out you're unhappy (i.e they ask how was it and we say "okay" having enjoyed most of it). Ironically, my husband and I both said that even though we didn't like the "cold brew" either, we felt it would be in bad taste to say something about the coffee as well.

I've worked in the service industry, we've dined at many types of establishments for years and I have never heard of an establishment refusing to remove an item from a bill when a customer has been unhappy. To make an unhappy customer pay and leave without giving them anything is really sad and disappointing. Not only that but then paying $40 plus tip for 2 breakfasts/2 coffees, one of which you didn't eat? It's...

Review for Easter Sunday. First time at this establishment.

Food: 3/5: We specifically selected this restaurant for Easter because of the vegan options. My dish was absolutely amazing. No complaints on the quality of the food or portion size. As a vegan though, I have concerns about ordering. I selected the Herbivore Bowl, vegan. Before our waitress walked away I asked what kind of vegan cheese was added to replace the dairy cheese and she said “you want vegan cheese with it..?” Vegan means no meat, no diary, no animal product at all.

I’m glad I checked. Was it a busy day or she didn’t know what vegan was compared to vegetarian?

When I received my dish I was nervous so I confirmed the egg and cheese were vegan and I was informed both were vegan. I asked about the side dish of butter. The individual who brought my food out was unsure. She went to confirm and returned to tell me it was dairy. She took it back, but did not offer vegan butter for my toast.

Again, while my food was delicious I had to ask multiple times if it was vegan. I believe that any restaurant that advertises parts of their menu being vegan or emphasizes that anything on their menu can be vegan should really have confidence in what they are serving and ensure it is 100% vegan.

With that being said, I originally ordered French toast and was later informed that they could not make it vegan. There is a statement on the bottom of the menu that says they can make anything vegan. I have to wonder if they can make a lot of the items vegan or if they just say they can. It’s a little disappointing because I really wanted French toast and they had vegan products for it…

Atmosphere: 4/5 Inside it is a good vibe, comfortable and welcoming. 0/5 Immediately outside the front doors there are areas to smoke. It’s 2023 and this is the most disgusting thing to see while approaching a place to eat. I’m also allergic to cigarette smoke so it was a big let down for a new place with a great menu!

Service: 1/5 Depends who this is for. We had an original servicer that was not really aware of the vegan menu and opinions or what vegan was. She was okay but disappeared and it was not busy. 5/5 Another server started a conversation with us and took over and was awesome!!! He had recommendations, suggestions on vegan menu items and was just so kind. He put a second order in for us as well since we didn’t see our server come back. Not sure if they rotate tables?

Gratuity: 0/5 20% is automatically added to your bill. Is this a holiday thing? Not sure. We usually do 20% min and above that for excellent service but that’s just ridiculous. This is not Bartolotta’s where I’d be okay with a minimum of 20% automatically added for the white glove service. This really gives me bad vibes. We were a party of (2) and I did not see a disclaimer nor was I...