The Happy Tart — Restaurant in Falls Church

I had an okay first experience two years ago dining in and thought about coming again for brunch with my gf.

Turns out there were only outdoor seating available probably because of Covid 19. Not sure why when every other restaurant we've been to has been mask free and mostly full seating options.

The only seat available was at a table without the umbrella set up and we had to ask them to set it up for us. Someone responded that we can do it ourselves but to make sure not to let it fall off while bringing it out, so does that mean we're liable for the damages if we made some mistake? Not sure but luckily someone else set it up for us but that still sent bad vibes my way.

We got a mushroom savory crepe, a strawberry cream crepe, and salmon omelet. The crepes were very hard to cut and pick up with wooden cutlery which functions worse than plastic.

The savory crepe was very disappointing and didn't really have any taste. It was also just hard to properly eat because the wooden knife didn't have an edge at all.

The strawberry cream crepe was ok after you wrap it up and eat it like a wrap/burrito.

Not a big fan of the thin crepe and dry texture in general. But that might also be due to the difficulty in picking it up with wooden fork.

The salmon omelet turned out to be pretty good.

My gf also ordered a cheesecake and some crepes to go for her friend who is depressed due to a breakup and by the time we arrived to deliver her the food, we find out that the cheesecake was forgotten and not in the bag.

On top of already being disappointed with the seating options and food quality... I honestly can't understand the high rating for...

I ordered the pancakes and eggs with a side of rosemary potatoes and chicken sausage. The food was simply a huge disappointment. The pancakes were not even near to being warm, the eggs were cold, and the potatoes were cold, hard, and stale tasting. The chicken sausage was lukewarm and was the only semi-appetizing item on my plate. I'm sure the pancakes would have been better if they were actually warm/fresh off the skillet. It is also worth noting that someone who ordered a meal after me was given their food before me. So, I can only assume my food was sitting in the back which is why it was brought to me in the condition that it was in. This is in part why I also rate the service low. The food was served on a paper plate, so the server would have obviously known the food was not hot or even warm to the touch. Any good server would have noticed this and immediately asked the cook to remake the food, and then notified the customer. Instead, she knowingly served me cold food. I didn't even attempt to finish the food; I tossed the plates in the garbage & left because I didn't have time to wait for my food to be remade. Noting that other reviews also mention the bad service. I also ordered two cupcakes to go. The cupcakes were ok, not worth buying again, and they were oddly very oily. I noticed the cupcakes were oily because they were touching the side of the box and there's two huge oil spots on both sides where the cupcakes were touching. I highly doubt I will...

I love their chocolate chip cookies. We went for lunch, and paid for an order of 16 cookies, understanding that they would have to bake them. No problem, we wanted to relax a while. They got very busy, so we waited patiently. After 90 minutes, my fiancee told a staff member that we were still waiting for our cookie order. Apparently that was not enough, because another 30 minutes later, we went back up to the counter and no one was aware of our order; the employee we had spoken to had not followed up. The employee who had taken the original order came out and told us that she had gotten so busy they had not started to bake the cookies - but, no worries, they only take 20 minutes to bake. Because that seemed like a short time, I agreed, rather than just ask for the purchase to be refunded. These cookies are to die for. But after yet another 45 minutes (!), I approached the counter again, prepared to ask for a refund, when they came running out from the back with a couple boxes saying that the cookies had finally cooled enough to be boxed. Huh? Staff apologized, but never once did they do anything to try to encourage us to come back. No "coffee's on us next time", no "please come back, we promise this is a one time occurrence"... nothing. Is that because they know that food allergy sufferers have few, if any, other options? I would have given 5 stars if my (expensive, paid in advance) cookies had only been delayed 2 hours, instead...