Yaga's Cafe — Restaurant in Galveston

We visited Galveston for one night and arrived in the evening on a Sunday. We were pretty hungry and wanted a casual meal. Our AirBnb (which was excellent) had a sheet that referred 4 locally owned dinner establishments. Yaga was of the options. We arrived at the restaurant around 7:00 and my husband and I requested one of the window seats. The decor had a very worn look and floor was dirty like it had been a long day. It was not busy. My husband ordered a TX beer and I ordered a TX cider. Our waiter came back 5 minutes later to confirm our drink order and left again. 5 minutes later he returned to inform me that cider was not available. Fine - no problem. I reordered my drink and we placed our dinner orders. I chose fish tacos and my husband got a burger. The menu listed both plates as coming “with sides”. My husband ordered Cajun potatoes, I ordered sweet potato tots at which point the waiter informed me that my order came pressassigned “with a side of rice and beans”. I politely showed him that the fish tacos were listed under the same category as my husband's order “with a CHOICE of a side”. He agreed and took my order of sweet potato tots. Our orders arrived. My “side” of rice and beans came in two tiny condiment-sized plastic cups and so I was glad I’d ordered the tots. I took a few bites and decided that my tacos seemed very salty. The tots were cold and mushy. Again - fine. I just wanted to eat and go home. I ate all of the tots and finished two of the three tacos but by the third I was literally overwhelmed with accumulation of salt. I was still hungry but couldn’t finish it. I informed our waiter that the tacos were very salty, to which he asked if I wanted water to wash down the salt. Chalking this up as a sub-par experience, I’m ready to leave. No one died, it was just not very good. The bill comes and we’ve been charged for the tots. Now… I’m a bit miffed and so I go up to bar to request the “choice of side” fee to be removed. The first guy I approach starts to contest me when a second guy interrupts (I’m assuming the manager) and sarcastically says “we’ll reprint the menu” but also that they’ll strike it from the bill. We paid, tipped and left. Drab decor, lame...

restaurant name: yaga cafe galveston

Came in here earlier today with my kids and my daughter’s friend. We all looked over the menu, and my daughter’s friend asked the waiter if it was possible to order a BLT with avocado , since it wasn’t on the menu, but they had all the ingredients. I wanna start this off by saying our waiter himself wasn’t disrespectful, and genuinely seemed very kind. he came back and told us the kitchen couldn’t do that. so she ordered something else. A couple minutes pass by and our food comes out, and her plates cold with hair in the food. I told our waiter and he takes the plate and rushes to go make another, surprised, but he genuinely seemed apologetic. Then, another staff member (some brown haired lady) comes by asking us if we still wanted a remake. My daughter’s friend asks about the BLT one more time, and all of a sudden she can make it. Cool. A few minutes pass again, they bring the food out, no avacado. i asked for a side of it, since our waiter was doing a “memorization” thing where he didn’t write anything down, and the same girl from earlier walks by again insisting they didn’t have avacado for us to have… as our waiter is right behind her with some… then, this same woman proceeds to stand in the back of the restaurant glaring at my family as we try to enjoy our meal, even following them into the restroom later on. She gets some of her coworkers in on it as well, pointing to our table and giggling amongst themselves while they all watch us sing happy birthday to my daughter. Extremely unprofessional. I might add that all of the workers here seemed really young and almost inexperienced, like there was nobody to guide them or hold them accountable to correct customer service. really disappointing experience. food also made me and my daughter feel...

We arrived for an early lunch on a Monday with 8 people and happy to have come while school was still in session as the restaurant was not busy at all, maybe 30% full. We were told we if we chose to sit inside we would be at 2 tables but outside we could all be at one table. Instead, we were seated at 2 tables outside and later, when I came inside to use the restroom, I saw that 2 tables had been put together for a different group. First problem with communication but not the last. Some of our group eat vegetarian and some are gluten-free. Not typically a challenge in this time of food awareness except the waitress had no interest in knowing about the menu and as soon as a question was asked about a meal, she walked off and sent a manager over. We learned that for vegetarian AND gluten-free diners, there was a choice between 2 salads. Refills slow in coming and/or non-existent on ice tea and water. Some people were served lunch and others not served at all and the waitress did not even say anything like, "your food is coming soon" or in any way let the 2 people who had not received food know why. she plopped plates down with the help of another worker and just left. it was awkward for those who had gotten food to know what to do: eat or wait. when she came out next time to work on another table, we asked about the two missing entrees and then were told they would be out soon. personally, i would have not left a tip at all but the rest of the group wanted to leave 15%. so: food is so-so, few choices for gluten free or vegetarian and very few for those who are both. service is pathetic...