Three Dollar Cafe — Restaurant in Georgia

Went here the evening of 11/26/2024, when I entered I expressed to the hostess that I would like a menu and wanted to place an order to go. I got said menu then proceeded to sit at a table near the bar while I browsed through the menu. The young lady/hostess approached me at the table and asked whether I would be placing an order to go or would be dinning in. I explained that I was getting food to go but would like to perhaps order a drink while I wait for my food to be prepared. To which she explained that I would need to order from the “there” and pointed towards the lobby area rather than the table so as not to confuse the wait staff. I explained to her that it did not matter to me which location I ordered from. I simply wanted to order my food, get a drink while I wait and that’s it. If I need to order from the waitress instead that’s fine with me. This comment was not made in a rude or offensive manner by any stretch of the imagination, despite this though the hostess simply walked away and proceeded to make her way towards the waitress presumably to make sure that my placing the order with the waitress was permissible. I’m not sure why she suddenly walked away in the middle of our conversation because she failed to state what her next move would be. I however, took that as a sign that my patronage is unwelcome here and politely excused myself from the establishment. I was within the restaurant for all of 3 minutes. I say all this to say….instantly the customer service was lack luster. Attitude was written all over the young ladies face. She was a fairly young Hispanic girl with what looked like a face piercing to be specific. Nonetheless, I made my way across the parking lot to Santo Cielo, and was greeted with a smile a friendly positive attitude, asked the hostess here if I could sit at the bar, place an order to go and order a drink while I wait for my food ( I asked this due to my experience at $3 cafe on the premise that maybe just maybe my request is out of the norm.) in any event the young ladies response was absolutely,the bartender will be happy to assist you. I sat at the bar, ordered my food and had a drink just as planned. The bartender was really friendly and ultimately I decided to dine in while there because I enjoyed the bartender’s professionalism. Moral of the story….i will not be going back to $3 cafe, this visit was only my second time visiting and most definitely will be my last. As a side note, on my first visit I did the exact same thing I intended to do this time, order food to go and while I wait order a drink. The same Hispanic young lady was the hostess on that night as well. My advise to her, regulate your emotions and be consistent. Whatever arrangements that ought to take place between you and waitstaff should be negotiated between you and said waitstaff. I, the customer do not need to be privy to whatever “isms” that might exist amongst staff members. I just came to get food to go, and have a cocktail while I wait, instead that goal got unnecessarily complicated for reasons still unbeknownst...

Hello, I am writing you to tell you what I have been experiencing and observing at your establishment that I'm pretty sure you are not aware of. Im just going to jump into it Jasmine who works mainly the bar and sometimes the floor (young black girl) runs that place as if it’s her own. She literally “runs” the staff as if she is pimping them out. They wait on her hand and feet, what she says goes, they serve her at the bar and she eats for free. I’ve seen her eat and drink for free and leave without paying. She gives out free drinks brings in her family to get the same treatment. She gives free drinks to regulars for increased tips. She has Kayla wrapped around her finger. Kayla brings in her new baby girl and boyfriend and they eat and drink free, take shots that jasmine give them and everything. I have watched them for some time and it’s getting out of control. They will do non verbal communication thru their eyes then start laughing. There are two other ladies and one man that she runs like that also, I can’t think of their name at the moment. This is totally unprofessional!! And the only reason that I am seeing this, is because they are ignoring me and im sitting there waiting patiently for them to serve me.

So just to back track I received very bad service from Jasmine around my third visit, so I tipped accordingly. I don’t tip according to the amount I spend, I tip according to the food and service. So when I came in the next time she ignored me didn’t greet me and barely came to check on me while sitting at the bar. I have had other customers notice them ignoring me and get their attention for me. Time after that I sat right behind the bar and she made another person wait on me as I know this was her section as well and she had someone who was covering the patio take care of me. I have been there several times since and her attitude is just aweful and seems as though she has turned everyone on the floor against serving me correctly. I had recently given it a break and had not been back to there until this last week and Kayla was working, she started off “ok” and service got worse as the night went on. She barely checked on me, refilled my drinks, asked if I needed anything after getting my food. I literally had to walk to register and call her name for help. Than she came 20 min later. I return back because you all am have great food, and I visit all of the Three Dollar Cafes but at this point it has gotten way out of control and needs to be charged for theft if nothing else because you guys are loosing money big time and I’m sure other customers are seeing this also.

Thanks...

Date night. First time at this location. First time ever being at a $3 Cafe. Located off of Chamblee Tucker exit from 285 South. When you get off the exit go right and the shopping mall is on your right. You'll see the $3 Cafe is located next door to a pool hall. First appearances, it was very nice from the outside they have a balcony and the music selection was pretty good. When we walked inside there are billboards with drink specials food specials plastering the walls and you mainly see the highboy tables. There are some lower regular size tables closer to the front of the restaurant. They also have an upstairs area that's the balcony and it's outside. Too hot to do that in the summer in Georgia. Very nice vibe our waitress was very nice and friendly, it wasn't too crowded, so all the staff was helping each other and they were all pretty nice. There are TVs mounted on the walls and the bar and of course they were playing sports. The food was very good. The sampler was so big that we couldn't eat it all. The chicken tenders were moist and tender and delicious. The mozzarella sticks were so big it was ridiculous. The wings were good, it was more food than we expected and the nachos were amazing. You get served on a little tray so there's plenty of room to make a mess if you need to. Didn't get a chance to sample the drinks but I'm sure they're just as good as the food. The music selection was everything from royals to rocket Man to Bone thugs. It was a very eclectic playlist with every genre even country. I enjoyed it very much. The bathroom is located on the end of the bar. Would like to go again because I enjoyed the food so much and now I know exactly what I'm going to get. Check out my pics...