The Buzz Cafe — Restaurant in Kenosha

We had been looking forward to trying The Buzz for quite some time, and after a full day of great stops in Kenosha, we made this our last destination before heading home. Unfortunately, it ended on a disappointing note.

When we first walked in (Saturday afternoon around 2 PM), I was excited to check it out, I often blog about coffee shops and highlight what makes them unique. I asked the barista where they sourced their beans from, and she responded that they came from Milwaukee and were made special for The Buzz. I thought that was really interesting, but she offered no further detail. If I worked somewhere with beans roasted exclusively for our shop, I’d be eager to share more about them, maybe even encourage customers to visit the roaster.

I then asked her what their most popular drink was, because that’s what I wanted to try. Instead of answering, she simply pointed me to the specials board and their regular menu. While that’s helpful, it didn’t answer my actual question about their best-selling drink, the one customers rave about and keep coming back for.

The biggest disappointment was the service. Rather than welcoming or enthusiastic, the barista came across as dismissive and uninterested. As someone who has worked in coffee before, I know the excitement of telling customers about a café’s signature drinks or unique features. Here, I felt unwelcome and brushed off.

It’s a shame, because the shop itself has potential, but the lack of hospitality really soured the experience. Service and passion are just as important as the coffee, and sadly, The Buzz missed the...

I stopped in for lunch with my girlfriend and was happy to see a smoked salmon sandwich on the menu with aioli, tomato, avocado, smoked salmon, leafy greens on 'sourdough bread' for a price of $12, indicating it was going to be worth it.

First of all, there was no sourdough bread. I was given normal, poor quality sandwich bread, not even an attempt to make the bread half decent. I find it unacceptable to lie on a menu about the item you're going to receive and as a baker myself, I found it offensive.

My sandwich was very dry as it was missing aioli, a reasonable mistake if the sandwich was $12. The salmon I received was 'hot' smoked salmon, which they should specify on the menu. At this point I was thoroughly disappointed but was half way through my sandwich so I was going to eat the rest and walk away feeling regretful that we ate there. I bit into my second half of the sandwich and noticed a clear gelatine like substance in the salmon, I inspected it and found that it hadn't fully defrosted yet. At this point I could even finish it, so I had to send the food back and was immediately offered a refund with no apology.

I ended up going to the coffee pot diner down the road and got a better quality meal for nearly a third of the price! These modern, 'hipster' cafes that are becoming more popular are supposed to encourage people to eat things they wouldn't normally make and to make healthier choices. Instead, on this day, the cafe was simply overpriced with no pleasant server/customer interaction. Yup, very...

The service was non existent, half a dozen people standing around doing nothing. It's a self service restuarant with the exception of ordering, when they get around to taking your order. I ordered a gyro and a shot of whiskey. Even though they had a bottle of whiskey and sell other alcoholic beverages, they said they cant sell the whiskey. It had to be in the coffee. The gyro was almost entirely onion, a small, singular piece of lamb that did not run the length of the sandwich. With as many onions as they had on the sandwich you would assume it was at the very least flavorful. It was not. It had little to no flavor minus the burned spot on the bottom part of the wrapping. The pricing is quite a bit higher than it should be. They've got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for 9 dollars. The look of the building is a shabby look. I personally don't like eating in a building that looks condemned and slated for demolition later that week, some may so I don't weigh my criticism of that too heavily. On the positive side, it wasn't busy. Although I think I understand why it's has less foot traffic than 3rd and Allen street after the shootout at the O.K. Corral. All in all, I wouldn't return there unless I was famished with no other options.

Ps. I forgot to mention the salad. Nothing creative to say, it was just disgusting. Normally I love a side salad. But this...