The Potholder Cafe Downtown — Restaurant in Long Beach

Average breakfast spot with entitled servers and great busboys.

Me and my wife have been living in Long Beach for almost 1y and we live very close by to this place, we’ve been meaning to eat there for a while, it looks cute. Today we finally did it, we arrived there around 12pm and upon checkin in the host asked for 5 minutes while setting up the table outside (he asked for our preference if it was inside or outdoor dining). Once we sat down the FIRST thing that we both said was “these chairs are horrible” - they really are, you basically have to lay down to lean ur back or elbow for support, really poor chairs… Then our server came after about 5 minutes. Our server was this older lady using a blue hat 🧢 and she had a bit of accent. She asked what we wanted to drink, and after about 30 seconds she went on to give a speech to my wife about how she shouldn’t have left home because she had a running nose, apparently our server was not only working at Potholder’s Cafe, but she was also a public health specialist with enough experience to give her personal opinion to customers about their health and life choices. The comments made by this server made our experience there horrible besides making it super awkward; And to make it clear, my wife tested negative for Covid 4 times this week, if she had symptoms of Covid or anything related we definitely wouldn’t have left home, she just had a running nose… it happens.

Now let’s get to the food, which is why we went there in the first place.

We ordered iced coffees, and the server said that they don’t have it there BUT she would make an exception for us. it was one of the worst iced coffees we ever had, it was as absolutely “watery” - we couldn’t t drink it.

We also ordered the Frankie special for both of us, and it was GREAT! Big portion, well cooked eggs according to our preference (over easy and sunny side up) and tasty bacon. Pancakes were great too!

The busboy that brought our food was awesome, he was super polite and asked if we needed anything else. He had a great vibe! He was a young dude using a black baseball hat.

In an overall this was not a good experience and it’s unlikely that we’ll come back. It’s really unfortunate, this place does look cute and it’s very close to where we live.

Date of visit: 05/01/2022 @01:01pm PST (check out time) we arrived around...

I am so upset. I traveled so far to try this place. I made a trip out here to go whale watching and came to this place because of the reviews. Man... my waitress was slow...and rushed me like no other. I gave her an order and she asked for my menu and I said "oh wait, I think I might change my mind, one second please. After getting her attention, I added a third entree and replaced my French toast with a waffle. She told me she already put the order in and I couldn't change the order. No attempt to even try. While I was ordering, I told her my son and I don't eat pork and had said this specifically to her when ordering. When my chicken fried steak comes out, she told me it was pork sausage in the gravy. I asked for her to take it off and she told me they don't take things off. Again, no attempt to help the situation and no apology. I gave the entree to another table. It turned out for the best because the boy didn't like the meal he ordered and enjoyed the meal I gave him. I still had to pay for it of course. Since I gave my third entree away.... I was going to order a different entree because we were going to be there for a while and I wanted food to go. The waitress came by once and asked how things were. I said not too good and she walked away. Lol. I couldn't even add apple juice to my order. Before finishing our food, she came by with the bill. She didn't ask me if I wanted anything else. Very unpleasant experience. She was not warm or friendly. I didn't want to tip her at all but I did anyway. Why tip when there are no accommodations and service is like this? That's like me going to watch a water show and I tell my guide I do not want to get wet, and he seats me in the splash zone. If I tell you I don't eat pork and I'm looking for non pork options, why not direct me to something different. Oh I know why.... she didn't know either. Be educated on the menu and listen to the customers. Lastly. I got up and the busboy took my Togo tray and put it on his trash cart. I was so upset by then. I just grabbed it and walked out. I will never ever go back here again. Good waffles but bad experience and thus socks tremendously. 75 bucks for 2 people down the drain. Thankfully whale watching later saved my...

Rude staff. Went in, put our name on the list, and they sat 2 people ahead of us. When I realized what happened bcuz my other guests mentioned it, I asked about it to the hostess. A waitress interrupted, with quite the attitude, talking down to me and my guests, "Ok ok, I'm seating you now!".... with a hurry up hand gesture, trying to hurry us and get us away from hostess. Not once BUT TWICE she did that, no apology from the rude waitress.

First off "lady" (and I use that term loosely,) I WAS NOT SPEAKING WITH YOU! I have a right to ask the host, what happened. Second, I don't appreciate you rolling your eyes, than laughing with another employee about the incident! KICK ROCKS!

For what it's worth, the manager/owner did try to make things right, including offering to serve us personally and an apology, (which is why I'm giving 2 stars instead of 1) but by the end of the interaction with that other girl, I was VERY UNHAPPY and didn't want to eat there. That girl should NOT be working there, she is not customer service oriented....stick her in the back WASHING DISHES!!

On top of it all, I was visiting a relative and a guest to the City of Long Beach, which seems to be very rude and uninterested in being a tourist destination. This place also seemed to act as if visitors aren't very important. You don't know who's coming to your city, but particularly around the holidays, YOU SHOULD KNOW YOU'RE GONNA GET OUT OF TOWN VISITORS AND TREAT EVERYONE AS IF YOU WANT THEM TO RETURN! If your employees don't know that, TRAIN THEM! They should know it.

For some reason, decent customer seems to be a lost art. Please get some better employees and fire...