The Cottage Brunch & Espresso — Restaurant in Jersey City

Today my husband and I went in after we found this spot on Google. Coffee - very average so I asked for more caramel syrup but still didn’t taste any better. I think the coffee was old maybe? My husband ordered the Walt’s bagel - again very average. The ketchup packets they gave us were expired. We realized this after he already ate some of his food which made me check the expiration date on his drink (ginger beer) & it was expired as well from a year ago. There was dust all over the place. There were small insects where the pastries were stored. We went to throw our garbage out and there was mold and maggots everywhere on the garbage bin. I ordered the cottage bagel and he didn’t bother telling us there was no cream cheese so he brought out a bagel with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, & cheese so I sent it back for the Walt’s bagel. After we left, we honestly ended up throwing out the coffee and to go bagel we ordered because I didn’t want to get food poisoning or an upset stomach. We let an employee know our ketchup & drink was expired & he offered us another free drink. We were so embarrassed because we hate confrontation that we left without complaining any further than we did. We wasted almost $40 because we barely ate anything and grabbed breakfast elsewhere. The place has soooo much potential tbh. It’s beautiful in the back, but extremely dirty. If they cleaned it up inside & outside, threw out all expired stuff, and made their food more fresh, it would be a...

Good food, poor service. We ordered food for 4 people and 1 person's order was forgotten. After being reminded and having their food delivered 10 minutes later (with a complimentary scone, small consolation), the order was wrong. Follow-up order of home fries were requested and charged, rather than being provided as complimentary as would be expected with positive customer service. Home fries were ultimately dry and clearly not cooked to order. Food was tasty overall though not worth the total bill of $90 when considering the wait and service.

Excellent coffee, though. Staff was considerate.

UPDATE: Thank you to the owner for your feedback. To clarify, we were asked to seat ourselves in the back and then order at the counter once ready. Our concern was not with the overall wait time but rather with one person's food being delayed, indicating that dish was forgotten or that the full order was not coordinated to be ready simultaneously. Also understand that food is typically prepped in bulk ahead of time and finished to order to maximize efficiency. I can't say for sure why the fries were dry - only that they were dry. I hope this...

I was looking forward to trying this place when I visited a couple of months ago... While I found the food OK and the backyard "interesting", the service was abysmal... It was super slow, incomplete, rude and aggressive... Still I was such a willing participant that I decided not to review right away... I convinced myself that this was an off-moment that couldn't possibly be the norm... Today I decided to take another look at what people are saying only to find an endless number of reviews that perfectly mirror my experience... Unfortunately that is not the worst part... The responses from the establishment to anything other than a perfect review are right out belligerent and confirm without a shadow of a doubt that service and hospitality are an alien concept at The Cottage... Whoever is writing these responses is doing this establishment more harm than their slow service or incomplete orders ever can... Do yourselves a favor STOP RESPONDING!

I rest my case… As expected and on cue the belligerent Neanderthal responded! 😂 So silly and self-destructive… The public will...