Cafe Kindred — Restaurant in Falls Church

In my opinion, solid 3.75!

Service No greeting, but received a warm smile. Hence, I'll bypass the welcome.

The place was packed on a Saturday at 10:30 am.

Food was delivered relatively pronto.

The atmosphere was nice. Very family oriented.

Both servers were very professional and willing to engage in a positive way. In other words, not because they were busy, they were going to make you feel like just a number. That is called great customer service.

Another thing that I noticed was that the servers were on the ball, maintaining the location clean. As soon as one person finished eating and would get up immediately, the server or another employee would come and pick up and help maintain the area.

Ordered Eggs Benedict and cornbeef hashbrown Chai Latte

Eggs Benedict: spot on. Cooked the way I like it. What was not spot on was the hollandaise sauce. It didn't have the delicate "pop" hollandaise sauce has. Taste was average. A touch of salt was missing.

Yet, once everything was tasted together, there was almost a bit of harmony.

Cornbeef hashbrown: seemed dry and chewy. Hashbrowns are my favorite, but this one is a no, never again get.

Chai Latte: Beautiful presentation. But watery taste. I'm used to and bold, luxurious, and deep Chai Latte. This one missed the point.

Perfect sweetness. Not like some other places, that seems you're drinking a bag of (as my italian friends say) zucchero .. sugar.

Parking is easy to find. 4 hours FREE, parking. Hopefully, I didn't misunderstand the sign, lol.

SUMMARY: Maybe I'm being too picky. So I'm definitely going back. Again, the staff was very good. And food had it's hiccups but don't we all?

It's a place where i would definitely bring friends and family.

Next time, I'll take one of you and post on YouTube for your reaction. Correct me if I'm wrong!

RETURN FACTOR 💯 %

RECOMMEND A...

First time in here this morning and I am immediately in love with this café.

I started with a cappuccino with their house-made honey lavender syrup. Excellent drink, and I can't rave about that syrup enough.

I also ordered biscuits and gravy. What sealed the deal on this place being a new favorite of mine was everything on my plate appears to have been made from scratch. Delightfully wonderful treat if you like down home cooking.

Lastly, I ordered a French press just to give their coffee grounds a spin. It was very good, not quite great. But I find brewed/pressed coffee to be a very unique preference to the drinker. It was good enough that I would order it again.

They have a nice seating area, half casual and half full service. It's larger inside than it appears, so don't let the street view fool you. There is plenty of seating.

Of note, they do have a somewhat odd "no laptop" rule on the weekends. I was told it was due to their weekend volume, but this seems like something being sold to me as being for the customers' benefit when really it is for their benefit. For instance, when I walked in there were two ladies sitting at a four person tabletop talking, coffee long finished. When I left, they had just left themselves. Well over an hour of just taking up a four top with no purchases made. If the intent is to move people in and out, you can institute a no lingering policy. If the intent is to just look like you're doing something for the atmosphere, well...it's not what I would do as a business owner, but it's also not enough of a deterrent to keep me from returning. It's just odd in my humble opinion.

Still, I...

So this was my second time at Cafe Kindred, I enjoyed their food, but this time I went to visit on a Saturday. It was moderately busy, with plenty of room to sit, work and eat (so I thought). After settling in, getting my workstation set up, I ordered some food, asked the employee for the Wifi password, and sat down to start my task.

After being here for about 20-25 minutes, clearly ready to work, the manager came over and said laptops/work are not allowed. (I thought he was joking because it's a Saturday, so yes, I shouldn't be working, but he was very serious). He kindly asked me to leave; he packed up my food and offered a refund and a cookie.

What's frustrating is there were multiple opportunities for someone to let me know working was prohibited at this cafe. I didn't see any notice on their website, and I don't recall seeing any signage on the door when I first walked in; otherwise, I would not have gone to this cafe. After I ordered and got in the zone, it was strange that I was told to leave the establishment.

I'm giving three stars for the inconvenience; however, the manager was kind considering he asked me to leave; he provided a refund, my food, and a cookie, which I appreciate.

This review is for anyone new to the area looking for a cafe to spend a few hours working at this is not your place; eat the food but don't get comfortable. There are many other cafes and spaces to work or relax; check out Three Whistles...