Googans Galley — Restaurant in Essex

I hesitated writing this on my first visit as I’d hate to leave a review that doesn’t reflect an establishment as a whole. After 4 less than desirable experiences, I’ve decided it’s worth it. My 2 most recent visits have been the worst ones yet and the reasons I will not be returning again.

Last time I was there I got condescending comments from the male cook. I always get a tuna melt, I always sub the English Muffin for sourdough to go. This visit I got my order to realize it was on an english muffin and I apologized to the cook for being a pain but I had asked for sourdough. I asked him to remake it (as it wasn’t what I ordered). Obviously aggravated with me, he snatched the sandwich and said “That’s not how we make it” - Fine, a bit rude but I get it, I’ve worked in a kitchen. After waiting a total of 15 minutes the sandwich was remade he tossed it on the counter and called out for the order. I waited longer than expected and decided to eat it there even though I’d ordered it to go. This struck another nerve as the cook said “eating it here and you didn’t even order it for here” in an aggressive tone, I was kinda taken back and didn’t say anything and just left it at that.

Today I decided to give it one more shot as the food is alright and there’s not many option in the area. I walk in to 2 people sitting in the dining area and 6 employees working front end. It seems like some of them are training & again I’ve worked customer service, front of house, kitchen and I also manage a business, I’m familiar with it all and not too judgmental when it comes to being a patron (I know it can be tricky). I once again ordered the Tuna Melt on sourdough. I wait 10 minutes nothing yet. I look around and the man next to us gets his order. I go up and grab a water, see some orders sitting on the counter (no one is cooking or crafting orders at this point) I talk to the girl and pay for my drink & sit back down to wait for my order. 10 more minutes go by and no one has said anything to us or called out our order (it’s small in there). The girls are laughing and chatting. Finally after 30 minutes of being in there one of the girls looks to us and asked if we had ordered something and I said yes…. the order that had been sitting on the counter for over 20 minutes at this point was in fact my order and we were just never informed it was done?

Every time I’ve been I’ve had a slightly off experience, but these two stand out enough to actually mention.

Over all the food has been very inconsistent in portion size and taste, the employees seem to not take orders properly and they certainly do not care about the...

I ordered a large black English or Irish tea to go and a cup of coffee (around 1 PM on Saturday, the sixth of September). When I went to the car and smelled the tea, it was neither. It was early gray (bergamut). Mistakes happen. Yet what happened afterwords was not acceptable. When I went back in an told the same server that it was not the tea I ordered and expected, she told me that she would take care of it. She took my paper cup. As I watched, she dumped half of that and added more hot water (in the mean time, for some reason, she walked into the side room on the left) and returned the tea. When I went back to the car, it still smelled like earl gray, yet not as pungent. There was no tea bag in the cup. I think she added more hot water and thought I would not notice. She thought this way she would cover the mistake. It was disappointing and somehow it dampened our enthusiasm about your...

My husband and I went here in November. We ordered sandwiches to go because we were planning to bring them on a hike. While waiting for our order, my husband and I grabbed a seat ( it was not very busy) and one of the staff members asked again if we would like to take the sandwiches to go. We confirmed. When we got our order, the sandwiches looked so good we wanted to have a little there and then pack up the rest for the trail. While we started unpacking the sandwiches that same staff member yelled at us and said “this is exactly why I asked you if you wanted to take these to-go”. Trust me it was aggressive. After that, we felt very uncomfortable and decided to leave. No I won’t be back. Never in my life have I been yelled at for being a customer who’s excited to eat a restaurant’s...