superette — Restaurant in Gainesville

UPDATE: "Co-owner" Maya Velesko's narcissistic rage shines forth once again in her response to our review. Instead of apologizing for making our party ill (our credit card company already refunded us), Maya, like an irritating little fly guarding a trash pile, has actually convinced herself that we, living on the other side of the country, would ever want to revisit her dumpster fire of an eatery that made us ill in the first place, when we frequent reputable establishments with actual service and edible, non-emetic food.

We care only about warning others of our experience so they don't suffer as we did.

Keep up those great business practices, Maya.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Hey, Gainesville, have you ever wanted to explore a career in hospitality and pay a "dining" establishment for this honor? Have you ever wanted to view the contents of your stomach after a being served a meal that revisits you like syrup of ipecac? Superette then is your go-to destination that features pay-to-work hospitality and a complimentary GI cleanse.

My party of three patronized this dining establishment, hoping for a rustic enological retreat in Gainesville, but soon learned that "rustic" meant "predating or ignorant of" food safety norms, when we revisited our meal in reverse and experienced the gut-cleansing "culinary arts" of this "magical space."

We ordered nearly $100 worth of "imported artisanal food" and wine "curated with love" (in actuality, a $30 bottle of Prosecco marked up from $7) and were first surprised at the mere request for a tip for a fully self-serve counter service establishment that requires that customers set and bus their own tableware from a communal bin.

After securing some seats at a table and busing the plates and utensils thither, we noticed, among other anomalies, that we were given only two dolmas instead of the three we ordered and an artisanal olive plate served straight from a can.

Politely noting the missing dolma, we encountered Superette's "elevat[ed] standards in hospitality, service, and quality," when the staff expressed surprise that we dared to bother them with such a "minor" service issue and accused us of miscounting our dolmas, before begrudgingly supplying the missing dolma in the Superette spirit of "community and camaraderie."

At the conclusion of our "thoughtfully sourced" meal, we all began to feel nauseous and had to leave before finishing our wine. We revisited our fine meal at the porcelain eminence, and, as our rejected meal flowed through our GI tracts in reverse, we rethought our poor choices in dining establishments.

We've dined at many actual luxury restaurants that are priced far higher than this sad little place - from Daniel Humm's Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan to Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Yountville to charming Ristorante Allegria in Napa, after a day of wine tasting at Alpha Omega - and have always provided glowing Yelp reviews for their food and service, but owner Maya offered no apology in her reply for making us all ill and, in a fit of narcissistic rage, actually mocked us instead.

While we normally do not bother to rate or review forgettable mediocrities like Maya's Superette, the food poisoning was enough for us to make an exception and warn others about it. Instead of mocking customers whom her "eatery" made ill, Maya should perhaps spend some time on self-reflection while waiting in line at the next Black Friday sale at Walmart where she likely gets her "thoughtfully sourced" food.

In sum, Superette is a great place if pay-to-vomit self service is your thing. Remember when Lady Gaga got in trouble for puking paint artists? If serving "food" doesn't work out, Maya can always turn Superette into a postmodern pay-to-puke exhibit memorializing the lost art of serving garbage disguised as...

Wow... what a shame it is to have to write this review. My boyfriend and I used to love Supperette. We were frequent customers and always raved to our friends about the food. While the service has been hit or miss in the past, our most recent visit was so disappointing that we’ve decided not to return.

We arrived on a Saturday at 9:30 PM. Despite being told we could be seated, we were later informed while ordering that we could not order entrees because of a "late night menu", which was something we had never heard of before. Still, we were flexible and ordered small plates.

While seated in the garden, we noticed a large cockroach running across the floor. Understanding we were outside, we politely asked to move to a table closer to the interior. After our food arrived, we saw a cockroach crawling on the table and several more on the ground. We immediately alerted the staff.

What followed was quite shocking to us. Not just the presence of bugs but the lack of urgency, professionalism, or even basic courtesy. The waitress we spoke to in the beginning showed no concern, made no offer to replace the food that had been touched, and seemed more interested in her cocktail than addressing the issue. After waiting, we had to follow up with another staff member ourselves, who was not aware of the situation and had to go inside to double check.

Eventually, someone we assume was the manager came out. Instead of offering an apology or any form of understanding, her first words were, “Well… you’re in Florida. There are going to be cockroaches.” She told us we could move inside but warned us that they were closing and would be putting chairs on tables and cleaning, essentially making us feel like an inconvenience for eating during a time they allowed us to. Also, it’s generally considered basic restaurant etiquette and standard hospitality practice to begin visible cleaning only after the last guests have left, or at the very least, after informing diners and ensuring they don’t feel rushed. Especially given how quickly we we ordered and were eating, it felt unnecessarily dismissive.

For the record, their listed hours on Google state that the restaurant closes at 11 PM on Saturdays under their Dinner hours. This has been consistent with our previous visits; typically, the kitchen would close at 10 PM and the restaurant itself at 11 PM. At the time of this visit, it was no later than 10:15 PM. While I understand the restaurant may have adopted new hours, this was not communicated to us when we arrived. In fact, we were told the kitchen closed at 10 PM, which matched our expectations. We were seated without issue and placed our order promptly and before the kitchen closed.

We completely understand that outdoor dining can come with occasional pests, but the unprofessional attitude from the staff was unacceptable. No one offered to replate our food, made us feel welcome, or apologized for the incident. While I truly understand the cockroach situation was out of their hands, there was no customer-first mentality from the staff. The lack of empathy and hospitality was astonishing.

Needless to say we won't be returning-- not because of the cockroaches, but because of how poorly the situation was handled...

Update: Yes we were served and attended to our needs, and even though they were busy, that was not the main issue, rather her tone and demeanor, which she believes is having strong boundaries. I cannot speak to the experience of the other people ate there, just for my group. She says did not try to guilt us into not leaving a review, but her comments say otherwise. Saying that a review will disproportionally impact her as she is Arab and a small business owner certainly seems like just that. It is also a weird thing to say, even if she can't admit it. When I am in an uncomfortable situation, I don't bring up my race. And when were we told no? She said the food would be coming but take time because of the reservations. If she did at any point, that was definitely not the problem. Also, we asked for her name to ensure specific feedback in our review, not to be hostile. I truly hope she realizes this, because again, look at the way she responds to negative reviews here, it's just not healthy. If she responds here, it will only reinforce this.

Original: We visited this restaurant for lunch after a family member's graduation. Since they only accept reservations for groups of 10 or more, we couldn’t reserve for our party of eight but were seated outside, which was nicely designed and comfortable.

Without a reservation, you order at the counter, and food is brought to your table. The food was good, and they accommodated our dietary restrictions, which we appreciated. However, the portions were a bit small for the price, and some items, like a side of fries, took longer to arrive than expected.

When we politely asked about the status of the fries, the lady assisting us (the owner, Maya) responded with a stressed and passive-aggressive tone, making comments like, “You have to understand we’re busy, and you don’t have a reservation,” along with other remarks that felt unprofessional. I understand that the restaurant was likely busy, but that’s still no excuse for behaving that way, especially as the owner. Her response came across as dismissive rather than helpful. Later, after we asked another employee for her name, Maya confronted us directly, urging us not to leave a negative review. She mentioned being Arab and running a small business for 30 years, explaining that negative reviews could especially impact her, but this comment felt strange and unrelated to the situation. As a minority myself, I don’t consider race or ethnicity when dining, and I felt her response was an attempt to deflect criticism rather than address our concerns.

Her attempt to guilt us into not leaving a review only made me more determined to share my experience. For a business owner, this is a bad strategy and reflects poorly on the restaurant.

What I found particularly surprising was that Maya often responds negatively to the 1-star Google reviews here, with a pattern of long, defensive, and emotional replies that harms the business's image.

While the food itself was fine, the experience was overshadowed by unprofessionalism. Improving this would make a...