Willalby's Cafe — Restaurant in Madison

The diner itself is cute and cozy. The food is good. Unfortunately the service is horrible. We waited an hour before our food arrived. In the first thirty minutes they changed our order because they didn't have the supplies needed to make the order. It would have been nice if they would have checked to make sure the supplies were available before the beginning of the order instead. Tables came in after us and were served and left before we had our order arrive. Our order was missing and I had to tell the waitress that we had been waiting for an hour. We figured after waiting an hour we should at least have our tea comped from the bill as a courtesy. We tried to politely tell the waitress what was wrong and she wouldn't listen and talked over us and walked away while we were talking. We talked to another employee and told him of the situation about having to wait an hour for our food and the order not being correct. We are vegan and the order came wrong, there was real butter on the toast, not vegan butter. We were also missing food from our order. The guy insisted it was vegan butter because the menu said so, not actually checking with the kitchen. After we talked with the guy (either the manager or owner) he agreed to take the tea off our order. He came back to our table and told us that this is just how their restaurant runs and actually told us because they comped our tea to not come back. Both our waitress and the guy were insulting and minimizing, saying everyone has to wait long, I come from a family of professional restaurant people, one being an executive chef, another a sous chef, even at peak hour in a restaurant you shouldn’t wait over thirty minutes for food, much less over an hour. If the order isn’t correct, it should be made so. They didn't treat us good at all. They were not courteous or friendly, once we lodged a complaint. They don't seem to take feedback well at all and blame the customer for their mistakes. Where's the accountability? I've never been treated this way in a restaurant. The way they treated us was as bad as posting a sign on the outside saying you can't come in if you identify a certain way we...

Yikes! Really not great experience today for brunch. They were busy, and it’s small so I totally get that part. However, our server was just very nonchalant, among around, and not very friendly. She took our drink order, and we made it very clear that we were ready to order and we waited probably at least 20 minutes for her to even come back to fill up my coffee or acknowledge us. She had not stopped back at all to ask if we were ready to order at all in that 20 minutes. At which time I said politely “We are ready to order when you are”. And she said “Oh yeah” She very clearly forgot she hadn’t taken our order yet. We were sitting close enough where we could see the tickets and the food in the window, our food was in the window and had been been sitting there for a few minutes. And then she said to the other server “I’m gonna go outside” Leaving our food in the window and not dropping it off. At this point, we’ve been there probably about an hour waiting to order and get our food. She took orders from at least one table (that came in after us) before even coming back to our table, and like I said she forgot to even take our order. She did not stop back one single time while we were eating to check on us. The other server was much better and helped us out way more than our server did. Extremely disappointing and don’t feel the need to come back. It’s disheartening, because I’ve heard for years how great Willaby’s is. The food was great, and the other server was good, but our server was terrible and did not make for a great...

Decidedly unthrilled.

Jaded, unenthused server was surly and incommunicative. Needed to be told to take our order (which is odd, because it was the only server working), and still walked past us two more times before stopping.

Wasn't very busy, maybe 60% capacity, and the food still took over 30 minutes to arrive without any indication from staff that this was unusual, certainly no apology for the long wait.

Food was unremarkable; a generally bland version of typical greasy spoon fare. Despite having five types of toast, apparently they don't ask what you want and default to "wheat." Never heard of that before.

Carafes of coffee passed us without a single refill offered or given unless we asked, and then with vague annoyance. We requested a final cup to go (since refills had been sparse), but were denied; they don't give travelers (however, if I'd brought my own 24 oz. mug, they'd have filled it), but they're fine with me sitting and sipping 'til close, hogging a seat and spending no more money. Peculiar business logic.

No online menu, and I can see why; there's not a single entry of note to justify the apparent hassle of posting one.

The cash-only thing (a common Willy St. convention, I know) is annoying, especially when the ATM charges a $1.75 fee.

Can't say I understand the generally high reviews. I can forgive a deficit in an area or two and chalk it up to a fluke first visit, but across the board, Willaby's just doesn't serve up a pleasant experience. We...