Basic Cafe — Restaurant in Jersey City

Very poor costumer service. I just moved to Newport and this restaurant is 2 blocks away from my building. My girlfriend and I were trying to find a breakfast place that we can frequent every weekend since we do not like to cook on the weekend. We decided to try this place out since their menu looked good and prices are very decent. When we got to the restaurant we grabbed a few menus and sat at a table. We then went back to the counter to place our order. The person that was taking our order seemed very confuse and I could tell that she was not very good at taking or understanding the process of taking an order. When she gave her coworker what we had order she wasn't able to understand what she wrote down and she had to take our order for our food again. Some other guy then had to ask us what it was that we wanted to drink because the first girl that took our order had forgotten or didn't really understand. Once they were all able to take our order we paid for everything and although i was annoyed for the poor service and having to repeat my order more than once I still gave them a $20 tip in cash and went back to our table. When we got our food and drinks we noticed that they had forgotten to give us a banana that we ordered before paying and asked for it both times. They gave us the banana once we asked for it. We ate the food and stayed there a bit longer chatting and drinking our coffees. When we were about to head out and started walking to tours the door the manager or the owner of the restaurant shouted that we had forgotten to pay for the banana and we told him that we paid for it when we placed our order since we ordered everything together. He said that his employee told him that we didn't pay for it and said that he could print the receipt and he proceeded to print a copy of the receipt. I was very annoyed because there were other people there and he made it seemed like we were trying to leave with out paying for a .75 cent banana after we had just spent over $30 plus $20 tip. The way he handled the issue was very unprofessional and unnecessary especially considering that the reason we weren't charged for the banana in the first place was because his employees were the ones that messed up and were incapable of taking a very simple order for a table of 3 people. Although the food was good the whole experience left a very bad taste for us and we will not be going back to this place. Lucky for us there are a lot of restaurants that are walking distance from us and their costumer service is...

I’ve been coming to Basic on and off for 12 years. Mostly because it’s convenient and right next to where I drop my kids off for school. My kids often get after school snacks and we have spent a considerable amount of money purchasing food from Basic over the past 12 years.

Today I spent $42+ for breakfast and my son accidentally knocked over my coffee. When I asked if they could make me a new one, they made me a new one then the owner told his employee to charge me. When I asked him why he said “well we didn’t spill the coffee” 😳

Honestly, I was shocked. I’ve been a patron for 12 years and this is how you treat me? I understand it was my mistake. But it just feels wrong especially the way he did it, cowing in the kitchen, telling his employee to charge me.

The owner is often unfriendly and he seems to be in a bad mood every time I’m in there, which makes the atmosphere tense when you walk in. He never says good morning or smiles. I’ve ignored it because it’s a quick and easy place to get food and coffee on my way to work.

I’m just so disappointed in the whole experience. I of course paid for my coffee. But somehow it all just feels so...

This shop could be so much more. The space is well lit and the interior is pleasant. It has the setup for a great experience. The main problem is the product and execution. The coffee is really subpar, and we’ve tried it multiple times. The beans are very obviously stale, and the ratio of milk to coffee in a latte is way off... far too low. You don’t get the sense that they are coffee connoisseurs or take pride in a good cup. There is no pour-over option for black coffee, only standard Bunn equipment serving up plain drip coffee that sits out and reheats. There aren’t even options for different bean varieties. The equipment doesn’t look particularly clean or top notch.

There are no fresh baked goods within the glass countertop displays. Instead it’s packed with bottled drinks on the right and a hodge-podge of stored food on the left (there is a tub of wrapped sausages sitting out for all to see). On multiple occasions we’ve seen instant ramen packs sitting in the back, used to make the ramen on the menu. Everything has the feel of cut corners, for the likely sole purpose of churning out very “basic” cafe food and drinks... I guess the name is...