Gabriel's Cafe & Grill — Restaurant in Loxahatchee Groves

Very rarely do you encounter a food service business where the service is so poor and lacking that you don’t even get to taste the food. Unfortunately, that was my experience today at Gabriel’s Café and Grill in Wellington. If I could give it zero stars I would but sadly 1 is the lowest rating available. As a new resident to the Wellington area I figured I’d try breakfast close by and support local establishments in my community. My intention was to order 1 order of French toast to go…but after entering and informing the maître d / host of my to-go order intention he looked at me from top to bottom and said “we are not doing that today”. I didn’t get his name as I should have but he was a bald middle aged man with glasses. I was dressed appropriately and don’t think I “looked” like someone who shouldn’t be served.

Bald middle aged maître d man with glasses then said “wait let me check in the back", something told me I should have just left at that point since I was initially being denied service for no apparent reason other than perhaps it was a busy Sunday brunch hour but nevertheless, I stuck around and hoped for the best. He then came back and asked if I had a large order or not, before I could even get the words “one order of French Toast please” out of my mouth he proceeded to lecture me about how busy they were and he doesn’t want his staff wasting time putting my order together if my intention was to order a large amount of food. As a business owner myself I thought the purpose of a business is to actually serve customers, especially in the food service business. One would think that being “busy” is an enviable situation to be in and NOT a reason to turn people away…but more importantly inform someone how they can’t be bothered with your measly order of French Toast.

Thankfully my senses kicked in and I let him know that I didn’t want to inconvenience him and walked out. I ended up going to Hillary’s Restaurant and Deli where I ordered the deep fried French Toast, it was one of the best I’ve had and it came with service and delightful attitude from staff to match the exceptional food. Next time you’re in Wellington don’t go to Gabriel’s Café and Grill; drive instead to Royal Palm Beach Blvd and try Hilary’s…you won’t be disappointed unlike the disappointment and lack of respect you’ll most likely get at Gabriel’s Café and Grill in Wellington at the hands of middle aged bald maître man...

Being a local resident of Wellington my fiance and I are always looking for a great breakfast place. We tried Gabriel's several years ago and decided to give it a try again. We were quickly reminded why we stop going there to begin with. We went around 11:30 am on a Saturday and got a table right away. What appeared to be a bus boy got us some drinks then the waiting began. We waited for 15-20 mins for a server to acknowledge us and come take our order. I was a little distracted by our server chomping gum while taking our order. I ordered a turkey reuben sandwich and my fiance ordered the works omelette. He informed the server no breakfast sausage in his omelette but was okay with polish sausage. She then said ok so no sausage in your omelette. The food came out promptly and hot which was a good thing but I examined my reuben and was looking for the thousand island dressing that typically comes on every reuben that I have ever ordered. I proceeded to finally get the servers attention and asked where the dressing was and was treated as if I was inconveniencing her when she replied with you didn't ask for it. Now finally eating my fiance cuts into the middle of his omelette and notices that it is not completely cooked. Nothing says YUCK like a runny egg omelette!! He gets the owners attention and lets him know about the omelette not being completely cooked and even shows it to him. He takes the plate and brings it to the back to do what we didn't know. Then comes back to the table to inform my fiance that next time you come back you need to order your omelette well done because the way it came originally is the way they cook omelettes. Which in turn made my fiance feel like the owner was blaming him for ordering an uncooked omelette. So then the server brings back a plate with what appeared to be a new omelette and he cuts into it realizing that all they did was take the filling from the old omelette and surrounded it with new eggs and put it on a plate along with some old burnt hash browns. So to sum it up the servers are rude and the owner is clueless. We will not be going back EVER....and that is a shame because they are only a few blocks from where we live. My advice would be to go else where and don't waste your money or time on...

Today I had the real displeasure to have breakfast and right from the get-go, Gabriel the owner/host was rude and arrogant.

We asked to sit inside and then changed our minds to outside as the day seemed nice for an outdoor breakfast.

He seemed perturbed about having to seat us outside, but what really disappointing for us was his rude treatment of one of the waitresses/servers, a Latina woman.

She was very good with us and the other customers seated outside, but he spoke rudely and mockingly in Spanish to her to stop gossiping and called her a "Tortuga" (turtle) and to clean up tables, all of which he said in Spanish.

My wife and I being bilingual heard this and felt that it was rude and just not professional at all to do not only in front of customers but generally in treating his employees in such an almost disrespectful and racist manner.

In fact, I think she spoke English fine enough to get us coffee and other things to make our experience a good one.

The food from our American waitress, not the Latina server also came out a bit on the cold side, with eggs hashbrowns, and grits to add insult to injury.

What I would say is that this owner has an attitude problem, is likely a bit racist, and just doesn't have any emotional empathy, he should have never treated his employee in that manner.

When I paid the bill I asked him why he did that and that I didn't find it respectful and that he had ruined my morning breakfast for my wife, she cried while eating because she felt sad, angry and frustrated that Maria had to be yelled at and disrespected by the owner Gabriel.

Gabriel said to me instead of apologizing and saying that he didn't measure his language in front of his customers, he said that "he jokes with his employees like that, with that arrogant and disrespectful tone all day long."

He definitely doesn't care, he's arrogant and thinks it's okay to joke or more like bully his employees, they deserve respect and he's not justified to think his treatment is okay because he's the owner/boss and feels entitled to speak however he pleases.

Needless to say, this is the last time I spend my time or money in an environment like this, recommend you pass and just try somewhere else if you're in Wellington or nearby looking for a...