Christophers Cafe & Catering — Restaurant in Lynn

My mum is always going on about how wonderful Christopher's is. She says the owner is so lovely, the food is great, etc., so I stopped by this morning, expecting a good experience. I also chose Christopher's, so I could give love to a local business. The local business didn't give me love though.

I stopped in to place a take-out order. I went directly to the cash register to order. There were 2 associates at the register: one associate was on the phone taking a customer's order, and I believe the other associate was waiting for him to finish so he could use the system. Neither of them acknowledged me, which made me think perhaps they were trying to subtly tell me that coming to the cash register isn't their protocol. OK, that's fair. I had never been there, so I didn't know.

After a couple of minutes of standing there awkwardly, I asked a server walking by, "Can I do a take-out order here?" She said yes. Oh. So, the cold reception wasn't a hint; it was just poor service.

A couple more minutes pass, and the associate who was waiting for the system says to me "We'll be right with you" (and he said it like he was bothered). It literally took him 5 minutes to acknowledge me. (In my profession, I could NEVER have a client standing in front of me for even 5 SECONDS without acknowledging them.)

The other associate hangs up the phone, then the two associates start squabbling about how to use the system. Then the phone rings, and the same associate answers it, and starts inputting another customer order. I continue to wait.

After 3 minutes, I decide to leave because I feel unwelcome. I know there are many people who would be fine with waiting 5 minutes to be acknowledged, then watching 2 associates have a spat, then being skipped over for a customer on the phone, then waiting another 5 minutes to place an order. That service level just isn't for me. I, myself, would never want a client to have an experience like this one.

As I'm walking toward the door to leave, the associate finishes his phone call, then calls out to me, "Miss! Miss!" I...

Incredibly unprofessional response to a terrible dining experience. Here are the facts: First of all, it was not explained to us at any point that the kitchen was understaffed. Second of all, if it was understaffed, that is YOUR FAULT. You employ and schedule the staff. It’s not the customers responsibility to graciously (re:sourpuss) accept AN HOUR wait for food because you didn’t take care of your responsibility to hire and train a sufficient number of workers for the day. When we spoke to the woman (I’m guessing Paula) to ask about our food, she said that on a busy day it takes 20-30 minutes to receive your food and that it should be out shortly. At that point, WE HAD ALREADY BEEN WAITING HALF AN HOUR. We moved outside and waited ANOTHER 15 minutes until my fiancé again enquired about our food. WE were told that it was “next up.” We then waited ANOTHER 15 minutes without receiving our food and decided to leave due to the outrageous wait and lies about when we would eventually receive our food. During our whole hour at the restaurant, we were not checked on once. We didn’t even receive drink refills. We had to seek out staff ourselves to enquire about our food. We don’t even know who David is. We certainly weren’t checked on by anyone with that name, or any other name for that matter. Not only does the owner not take responsibility for the restaurants’ ineptitude that day, he denies responsibility (which he mind-blowingly places on us instead) and uses thinly veiled racist language (re: can’t “listen or understand”) to describe us. Judging by your atrocious grammar and misstating of facts, the only one struggling with comprehension of the English language is you. Appalling service, and an even more appalling response. Two thumbs down for this...

So just to start this off. I'm 18. I've lived in Lynn my whole life. I even went to the after-school program, Greggs House that's down the street from this wonderful place. I only found out about Christopher's Cafe a few months ago from my grandma. Our visit was on the day that they had a special fremch toast that was made with coffee cake. I'm a sucker for French toast AND coffee cake. So this was a match made in heaven. Everything from my meal to the waitresses and the environment was perfect. I even got to meet with the owner himself. At first I was taken aback by how nice he was. I was under the assumption that a rich tycoon had owned the place ( as everything looked fancy and really well taken care of ) only to see a regular guy wearing slacks and either slip on shoes ( or crocks. I swear I saw some rad crocks ) who just loves to bake. He took his time to tell me how it all started. Where his grandparents ( or parents I have a horrible memory ) had started it as a bakery then he renovated it into a breakfast place. As our meal reluctantly came to an end and I still had half a plate of food left over ( I don't have a large stomache to fit all of those great coffee cake French toast slices in it ) I just had to give my compliments to the chef. I've been itching to go back ever since. As a matter of fact, I'm making my second visit later this week~

Point of my long ramble: Go here. Now. You WILL...