Wandering Bison Coffee — Restaurant in Hot Springs

This place bills itself as a cafe but it takes about as long as a regular restaurant, if not longer, to get your food. It's really cute on the inside and looks like a modern and hip place. The food was average and tuna salad was good, but there's a bunch more negatives than positives. When I ordered the tuna salad croissant, I was told they didn't have croissants, which is fine. The woman suggested sourdough bread or toasted sourdough bread. I tried to convince her that a panini type tuna sandwich would also be nice (think tuna melt) and she insisted warmed-up tuna salad would be "gross". An odd interaction but I didn't press further because I didn't want to be annoying. And then came the wait. We waited forever and ever for our food. I sat in the armchairs, I perused the wall art, until I finally stationed myself by the coffee machine to stare down the people that work there. Other people, who had come in after me, had started to complain about the wait, so I had to speak up to make sure the order was retained. I watched and watched as one man with a ponytail made all of the food. He never dawdled and worked hard. The woman who took our order was pleasant but disappeared, never to return. The dyed-red-haired woman pumped out the beverages quickly and did her best to stay upbeat and positive to all the customers. The problem wasn't really with these 2 as employees but their setup. They needed at least 1 other person working and definitely another cook. Their kitchen is small, much like in our houses, but an assistant could have thought ahead or prepped for the main guy, maybe worked the griddle, etc. When we eventually got our food, it wasn't delivered to us in to-go boxes, as we requested, thus another error in the chain. Like I said, the tuna salad was good but it was literally just tuna salad and bread. No lettuce, tomato, or...

I try so hard to support local, but I’m absolutely tired of awful service. I have a flour allergy, and can never keep straight which coffee shop uses which flour so I ask often (which can be annoying to them, but the affects of an allergic reaction are not fun). I asked politely if they could remind me what kind of flour they use and Heather absolutely embarrassed me in front of people I knew and her staff stating “you ask often”. I only remember asking once, but I am still confused why it matters how many times I ask. And instead of her ensuring me that she doesn’t use that flour she wanted to argue with me about how many times I asked. It was an unfortunate way to start my birthday morning off. :) How rude of an owner of a restaurant.

Today, we stopped in (trying to be the bigger person) and paid extra for salsa (which used to be free) on the side of a burrito, and it was forgotten, like always. My avocado is typically forgotten. Things you pay extra for are always forgotten.

Also, awhile back the cashier who touches the money also boxed up my brownie for me without gloves 🙃 can imagine how disgusting this came across…..

I want to support local businesses in Hot Springs. But when you pay $15 for a burrito (or burrito in a bowl) and things are forgotten, on top of being rude to a repeat customer- it sure makes it hard to keep going back.

The coffee is not great, the food is very bland and the overall customer service is terrible. Unfortunately, I will not be back — crossing my fingers Heather can turn things around but I can’t help and assume this is why they lack...

We were staying nearby but wanted more than just a cheap hotel breakfast AND wanted some good coffee, so we tried here. One of the best food stops on our vacation.

FOOD & DRINK: Had a variety of drinks, all of them good; both my wife and I got dirty chai lattes, and they were really nice.

For food we had a variety of breakfast sandwiches and burrito, and it was all top notch.

SERVICE: Big smiles and friendliness from the cashier to the folks who made or delivered our food and drink.

AMBIANCE: Feels new, but also well loved. Lots of local art for sale on the walls. Quite a crowd for a Sunday morning. The parking in front of the store was full, but we were able to find something on the street.

NET-NET: My only regret is that it's unlikely we'll be in Hot Springs again any time soon. If we are, though, I've tagged this place for a definite re-visit (and bought a sticker to...