The Station on Kings — Restaurant in Lewes

This is the second time I’ve been to this place. My good friends own a place in Lewes and we visit. They joke that the attitude and bad service are legendary, but the food is really great. I, on the other hand, do not think it’s so funny how bad the staff/svc are. The first visit I gave them a break - everyone can have a bad day. But this 2nd time was with multiple employees and at different phases of the experience. The employee culture and environment are pervasively bad.

The first experience was with the hostess. We rode our bikes over and we were waiting for my friends husband to join who is handicapped. They refused to seat us until he arrived and went so far as to tell us if they seated us as a 3 and he joined us, they would refuse svc. Now do the math… the tables are 2s and 4s. Would you rather sell 3 or 4 meals for a group sitting at a 4 top? “It’s policy”.

After you get your table, it is YOUR job to go back and stand in a long line at the counter to actually order your meal. The older woman at the counter was so unfriendly and seemed put out that she had to take our order; very impatient. Once we sat down, our food came out at different times and they missed one of our coffees. (This was older rude lady’s fault at the counter). My friend asked for her coffee and “they checked - she didn’t order one” and then the waiter walked away. We were dumbfounded. No attempt to take responsibility for the ladies’ error or even take her fresh order, let her pay and get a coffee. So so weird how bad the service was.

Finally, as we finished our meal, that same older woman was now on a table bussing shift. She cleared some of our dishes and my friends husband kindly complimented the food we had to the woman. She looked at him and then walked away. NOTHING. Again - so weird. I guess we didn’t move out of her way fast enough because she came back and started reaching over us clattering and stacking the dishes in our faces which obviously was her way of saying “time for you to leave”.

We left permanently. Not sure why a place is in business that isn’t interested in creating a delightful experience for their...

Rarely do I leave reviews, but I’ve had such a terrible experience in service the last three times I’ve been here that I feel compelled to. I’ve been coming to this place since the middle of the pandemic and the food and coffee are great. However, the service has significantly gotten worse over the years. Multiple times I’ve been given a table where someone is already seated, and given how cramped the place has become from added seating and the additional stuff they’re selling on the side, it’s been difficult to navigate through crowd and the place—especially when you’re carrying a plate of pastries in hand. I love the concept of being a garden/coffee shop/beach shop/full restaurant, but the place is just entirely too small for all the things this place wants to be.

The serving staff are especially rude (the ladies at the counters and bakery are wonderful though), at one point one of them got annoyed with me for following up on coffee that he claimed I had not paid for—which I had (again, I’ve been here numerous times, it’s not like I don’t know how the place works). I offered to pay “again” even though I was already charged $20 for coffee and a pastry, and though he declined my offer, the “tude” was still there. As I sat waiting, a few other tables complained about the same issue and not getting their coffee orders right, or at all. On another occasion, I ordered a salad, which was great, but no one bothered to get me utensils. I had followed up multiple times and after 15 minutes, I just stood up and found the utensils myself. I also asked for a glass of water and two different servers said they would get back to me (they didn’t), the third server said they don’t serve “free water” and that the only water they have are bottled—which, if true, I would have been happy to get up from my table and pay additional for, but again the level of annoyance I received for even asking for such a basic thing was such a turn off that I just...

I'll start with the good. The food and coffee were outstanding. I had the smoked salmon toast and look forward to recreating it at home. It was absolutely delicious.

That's where the good ends. The flow of the venue is very confusing. The sign says to see counter for a table. There are three counters - pastries, coffee, and an unattended one (at the time). We lined up at the coffee counter and ordered our drinks and thought "this is a COUNTER. We'll get our table here". The clerk curtly said "which table?" We didn't have a table yet, but I saw two tables open, so I said "ok, we'll take table 10." She responded "but you need to get a table number." I said "Again, table 10 is empty. We'll take that one." Very rudely, she told us she needed a table number, and we had to get a table from the other counter. So I went over there and waited a bit before she realized I was standing there. She gave me table 10 of course. All of this is wildly inefficient. Then when you're ready to order food, you have to go back up to the counter (with a long line). Wouldn't this be easier with a server?

We enjoyed our meal, and a busser came by to gather our empty dishes. The snotty clerk from the coffee counter kept looking at us as if thinking "when are you going to leave?" because it was coming up on closing time. We left promptly at 4 (their closing time), and no one said "have a nice day" or "thank you for coming in". The rude attitude almost seems on purpose like it's some kind of schtick.

Prices were kind of high. I didn't look at the merchandise but it was pretty cute.

I'll give it another try because the food was good, and staff can change. But I don't think I'll be recommending it until the...